Game Review: Stanley Parable

Disclaimers: Personal Opinions, proceed accordingly. Spoiler free!

TL;DR: One of those games that you will get to experience only once. Exactly why I love indies.

Big Severance and Portal vibes, with the overarching mood of the game and all the liminal spaces. It is very, very well written and executed, but very hard to describe what’s going on. Let’s just say this: It breaks the limits of what it means to partake in a video game.

Steam summary:

You will play as Stanley, and you will not play as Stanley. You will make a choice, and you will become powerless. You are not here to win. The Stanley Parable is a game that plays you.

Expect weird shit.

The highlight of the game is narration, and the great voice acting by Kevan Brighting. Interestingly, Kevan narrated several Portal 2 spinoff productions after Stanley. Heh.

Due to the nature of the game, you might come to curse at the narrator, laugh or catch yourself trying to figure out what he meant. After a few hours in, I found myself thinking that this game is very clever, the devs that made it must be very clever, the dialogue is very clever etc. Not myself though, as I got called out several times on paths and actions I considered smart.

From my understanding, Stanley Parable’s (2013) hardcore following were asking for a second one, but surprisingly, got Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. This, in my opinion, was a clever and wise choice to expand on the original and go even further.

I highly suggest to play Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, if you want a game that makes you feel that it knows it is genius, but you are there to experience it and have you reconsider your point of view on videogames.

Official Website / Get it on Steam

And don’t forget the bucket.