Quick Look: The Stanley Parable

Love the Douglas Adams style humor in this game

Hm you seem to be trying very hard here. A game is certainly not constituted by shooting people in the head, but that is no big revelation. Damn near everyone who has played a game knows and understands that.

I might as well jump onto the generalization train and say that people like you take enjoyment out of these games partially (if not totally) because it makes you feel smarter and more sophisticated a gamer. And then you can freely run around and say that anyone who knocks this game are just "threatened" by it.

They're not smart enough to get the deeper meaning maaaan.

Yeah, so what? I didn't even like Dear Esther very much either. But that's not what I was talking about.

Some really... weird reactions to games like these, as though these experimental games are going to take over and swallow up all the other games. It's cool, guys. You don't need to play them. There will still be games you like.

I also think there's a tendency to throw these assumptions at indie games that aren't always fair. Just because a game is trying to be clever doesn't mean it's in love with itself. Just because the gameplay is unconventional doesn't mean the developer is thumbing their nose at bigger games.

Anyway, I really enjoyed my time with this game.

Evilsbane, finding ShaggE's comment rather clever and well written, hoped to go against the narrative by not allowing said wall of silence to remain... well silent. Though he to had doubts of how funny others would find it but posted it all the same.

Seems like it's trying way too hard to be clever. It's sorta like Carrot Top. I realize that some people love it, but I really don't understand why.

looks interesting enough. I'm feeling about a $5 bill. If I still remember it when it goes on sale I might check it out.

Sure beats the Endless 8 episodes. Jeese the anime fell a loonnnggg way.

It's not for you. Simple as that.

Carrot Top is a lot of things, "trying to hard" is not one of them.

So that isn't a game. It's an experience. I'm not "threatened" by Dear Esther or Proteus, but I also don't feel that they have enough input from the player to justify calling them games.

What do you think it is then? Have games like Dear Esther and The Stanley Parable created another, strikingly similar medium? Or has the term 'videogame' simply become outdated or too small to define what has become simply an exploration of the form? Or maybe the term is just fine, and some people need to accept that the medium has grown.

Is this game art???

Is this game a game or an art?

The difference between Beyond and this is this is actually clever and has great writing.

I got this game, and it's cool but I expected more. Maybe even a little more closure to the story. Something more like portal.

But instead they cop out and it really just makes the game seem pointless. And in the end the game did my head in, I really couldn't play it for too long.

But the concept of the narrator is one of the best thing I'v experienced in a game to date.

Having them walk through your every move (in the very early part of the level) and then you trying to out-think the narrator and do things clever. Hearing his response and making your way based on the narrators response is very entertaining.

There was a part with some stairs, which was a highlight.

The only drawback is that they really haven't covered every possible situation. There were many times I would be presented with a room, be told to enter it, not move forward and there wouldn't be a reaction. I would be left waiting for a stupidly long time and nothing happens.

I feel like if there was a better game, more storyline and people had more money to make it, it has potential to be great.

I'm looking at you David Cage. I can imagine a David Cage style game, working extremely well with this narrator / choice style gameplay. (But not with the ridiculous fantasy david cage storylines)

Oh man, that narrator really does get to you.

Shame that when you overthink things in this, try to outsmart the game, think their giving you double-bluffs or whatever, their really not. It's far more simple. Theirs really no depth.

Ohh, your comment was almost neutral towards me. So close

Stanley Parable is definitely a game. You as a player have agency in the world, you can interact with the narrator and the environment, there are hidden goals. Its leagues ahead of Esther in that regard.

I feel like Dear Esther and Proteus (and very few others like it) are a niche genre of virtual experiences that are defined as video games in the same way that experimental films are defined as Movies and Two and a Half Men is defined as a Comedy Sitcom.

I bought it and played it. It's basically what you see here, with about 5 times that many endings, though some of the paths are much longer than the ones shown here. The fun comes from the fact that the endings vary considerably in very unexpected ways, and usually have some meta level significance. It was fun.

I played this some back when it was a source mod, didn't see much new in the QL, so I wouldn't be worried about spoiling much.

Yep... Enjoying every second of it.

So Stanley forgot to turn off his alarm clock and accidentally went in to work on Saturday. Carry on...

Think I played through 70-85% of the choices. Pretty fucking sweet "game". It always kinda pisses me off when games give you the illusion of choice and its impact on the game world. This is the first one I think nails it. I know thats its whole point, so it has to do it well, but none the less bravo!

Actual dynamic change to the game world is something I want to see more of. Im so sick of reading some bullshit story about Mass Effect, or Skyrim on how your choices impact the world. Joining faction A over faction B is not a meaningful impact. Nor is picking quest choice B over A to get a outcome that in the end doesnt amount to much of anything.

Of course you blanket hating indie games because of your preconceived notion of the creators being obnoxious is in no way obnoxious.

lol

This seems like a great game to read a summary of. I just don't have the patience for all that.

Indoctrination.

Narrator: The Game

I can't speak for anyone else but I loved it because it was really, really funny. A great nights entertainment that I will have fun reliving.

Surely that is the whole point of games?

I GET IT, VIDEOGAMES TELL US WHAT TO DO. Subtle.

but Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls aren't games to some people, lol.

This reminds me a lot of Stranger than Fiction and I couldn't be happier.

This looks like some sort of water down portal 2 without a portal gun, Not really felling it...

Portal without a portal gun?

So... in other words, it's absolutely nothing like Portal?

There is always an office, there is always a Stanley, there is always a narrator.

meh

Played this game with a huge grin on my face the whole time. The narrator is really outstanding.

He means it seems really.... British.

hhnnggg so meta

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This seems like something I would like

I'm a ROBOT I CAN ONLY PROCESS LITERAL MEANINGS.

Have you played Ultima 4? There was an episode of Retronauts dedicated to it a few weeks ago, and it's free on GOG: http://www.gog.com/game/ultima_4

It's pretty much all about you impacting the world through what you choose to do, rather than what the game is telling you to, with an very open ended morality system that is not about putting you on a good/bad scale (and never surfacing which of your actions are recorded), instead altering a pretty large set of variables.

Vinny has a knack for stumbling into cool shit.

You actually can get out of that window at the start which will trigger one ending. You can also back out of the doors in the boss's office right after entering them, locking you out, returning to your office will trigger yet another ending.