The Beginner's Guide

Spoilers are a strange thing, a lot of people, especially when it comes to games and films and myself included, are heavily invested in knowing very little about things we are deeply interested in.

I am always surprised to see “spoiler sensitive” people in comments sections or message boards. It would seem obvious to me to avoid those avenues if you were afraid of spoilers. But we are invested in a product, we are consumers of games and so we are seeking out information about those games to find out which we should be interested in.

I don’t want to blather on about spoilers, but I would say this game is wonderful and if you can go into it without knowing anything about it, you should. If you are interested in games in any way then this game is a delight!

I'm not going to spoil anything below but I might get into mechanics and stuff so read on at your peril.

I bought this game knowing literally nothing about it except one very important thing - it was from someone who was involved in The Stanley Parable.

I adored the beginners guide. It lasts about 1.7 hours according to my Steam clock. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an intense and satisfying experience with a game.

It plays well, you mainly walk around and listen to stuff, if thats not your bag maybe don't play it - although I would encourage you to give it a try! it's the sort of game that makes you want to create, if you have ever messed around with a level editor in half life or quake 2 I think this game will speak to you.

It connected with me on a very personal level and made me slightly uncomfortable at times. I don't think I can say that about any other games.

The Stanley Parable was a game where the game itself and you, the player, had a relationship. Most games are games where you and the mechanics get to know each other and you take it from there, but the Stanley parable felt like a game where you had direct contact with the game, where you playing it was the actual point, the basic mechanic - instead of you shooting the monster or solving the puzzle, You the person, interacting with this creation were the star and it was you whom the game was speaking to.

In the Beginners Guide it almost feels like another stage of gestation beyond that. You are barely the player, you are barely the character, you are an observer on a level I haven't seen before in games.

I highly recommend this game, especially to all people who have the level of interest in games to read a review by a user on a video games website!