What is apertureportal?

Aperture Portal is a desktop game launcher for Windows built around a feature Windows never really had: a true console style rest mode. Most launchers either close your game or just minimize it. Aperture Portal actually suspends the running game process and puts the whole PC to sleep, then wakes everything back up exactly where you left off, similar to how a PlayStation goes into rest mode. Beyond that sleep feature, it works as a normal game launcher. It pulls your library together from Steam, Epic Games, and GOG, and lets you add anything else by hand, such as a Battle.net game, an Xbox or Game Pass title, or a plain executable. It also includes a Console Mode, a fullscreen view built for browsing your library from a couch using an Xbox style controller, with keyboard arrow keys as a fallback. While a game is running, an in game overlay lets you pause, resume, exit, or sleep it using a controller shortcut or Ctrl+P on the keyboard, without alt tabbing out. Steam games sync through a browser sign in or a Steam Web API key and track real install progress by reading Steam's own files. Epic and GOG games are detected automatically with no login needed. Cover art can be fetched automatically from SteamGridDB with a free API key, or set manually per game. Installation is a per-user installer with no admin rights required by default, downloaded from the project's Releases page, and it requires Windows 10 or 11 on 64-bit machines. Building from source requires the .NET 10 SDK and a simple dotnet build command, while creating the full installer requires the separate Inno Setup 6 tool. The README notes that Steam sign-in happens through a real Steam login page so the app never sees your password, that Epic and GOG games launch directly rather than through their own client software, and that all library data and settings are stored outside the repository in the user's AppData folder. The author describes it as a solo project that is still rough around the edges and is looking for feedback through GitHub issues.