The Stanley Parable

BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM.

Follow the loverly yellow adventure line™ through the halls~

BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM...


     The Stanley Parable is an Indie game that has its roots as a Half-Life 2 mod. The entire thing is a parody and deconstruction of tropes surrounding video games, form the illusion of choice to the innate beliefs of gamers. This game does mess with your head, though not as much as a game like Antichamber.
      What's the plot? Move forward. The plot does not move forward if you don't. It's where you move forward to that determines the plot.

     But, the game starts as thus: Stanley is a boring average joe, working at a company where his job is to press buttons as he is told to do so.
     Now, that's sounds like the first clue in a Doctor Who mystery, where it turns out each button press is a piece of code that would murder anyone who saw two of the sequence in the same proximity, thus necessitating multiple people, and seemingly random button presses. You know, like Monty Python's funniest joke in the world.
     But one day, Stanley discovers that the orders have stopped, and that everyone in the office has disappeared. So he heads off to investigate.
Or stay in his room, if you elect so.

     That is the bread and butter of this game: choices leading to an ending. You are presented a number of them throughout the story. Choosing the right ones will lead to a happy ending, while choosing the wrong ones will give a bad ending. Sometimes. It depends on your view. and your stamina. This game is incredibly short, and impossibly long. I'll explain...

     If you just want one ending, the game lasts about 5-10 minutes. If you want to see them all... It will take more than 4 hours. Even with speed running, it will take at least four hours to get every ending. Why? because one ending requires you to press a button for two hours, and you are then given another button to press in addition to it for another two hours, and then you get another ending. FUN!

     Needless to say, I have not even bothered with that ending. It could impart the knowledge of the universe and grant super powers and I would not care enough to press two buttons for FOUR HOURS.
That is where the game is impossibly long. If you are going for every single ending possible. You don't get anything for it; no achievement, no trophy... You simply get to experience it.
And it is AMAZING.
     I spent three hours in the game experiencing a lot of the endings myself, and despite how cynical it all is, it is quite fun.

     Oh, you're wondering how it is cynical? Well, there is a narrator narrating the story, and talking to Stanley, or about Stanley... Believe it or not, the "good" ending (and the only one with an achievement) is found by following what he says. It is not even possible to progress in one spot without the narrator giving information Stanley would not know. All that the Stanley Parable is, relies on this narrator. He is the one giving a story to your decisions, and allowing you to make decisions... Unless of course, he gets tired of it and simply puts you on a railroad.

Or in one case, an adventure line™.

BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM.


     The game is more of an experience than anything else. But it is more than just a movie, because you do have some choice about the outcome, even if you didn't know what that choice was.


     There is only one thing I can say I am sad about the game: it is too short. I do want more options, and more endings, and more paths. I want the game to have many more branching paths, so more possible endings come about.
      I hope this game gets a sequel... Actually, the game could work on mobile devices, given its very simple control scheme. Maybe they could look into that market as well, and use subsequent funds to make more games.


For story, I give the game a 9/10.
For gameplay, a 6/10. It is just too short, and you realize very quickly how few routes there are, and how you don't even need to be methodical about the endings.
Averaged score: 7.5/10. It has a great and fun story, but that unfortunately left me wanting more, with no way to satisfy it...


Though I do love the Confusion ending.
Because of this music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n7cx1ZmKjk&list=LL3t9wNv2T0xPksf6z_dEFoQ&feature=mh_lolz

BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM. BA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM-DA-DUM.


This has been Fixer Sue.