LogFAQs > #932386637

<b>#8: The Stanley Parable
Released on 10/17/2013
Steam</b>
(written in 2017)

Two years ago, I included The Stanley Parable on my list as the winner of a special category for Best how-do-I-describe game. Im putting it in my true list this time because I barely played it before. I bought it as a birthday gift for a roommate and had watched him play through it at that time...but now Ive gotten all of its endings (besides that four-hour baby game), so Im including it here to say this:

The Stanley Parable is a perfect game. You can say what you want about the walking simulator-genre, but this game nails everything it sets out to do and its far beyond anything else Ive seen from the genre. I feel comfortable introducing this game to hardcore gamers and novice gamers alike. Its witty at every turn and it puts you in the position of being both incredibly important and not important at all. It came sooner than many other games that commented on the relationship between games and gamers, and few games are in its league for trying this. It also recognizes it does not need to be a long game to serve its purpose; it hits the high notes and lets you figure out when youre done with it.

This game represents a battle of developer versus player, and there is no clear winner. Should your choices in the game be more important than the developers intentions?

I do silly things developers probably dont intend for me to do, like walk into bonfires to see if it will hurt me. Walking into fire is usually a bad idea, but how will I know if the game planned for it to hurt me if I dont walk into it? I like to see what games allow me to do outside of their intended experience, and the ending where you kill yourself instead of staying with the beautiful colors around you addresses this dynamic. You want your freedom to be outside of the reach of the developers desires, and youll look for any way to get it -- your gameplay choices to even get to this area lines up with this mentality. The game then punishes you for ignoring the developers intentions by making the narrator watch you die. Keep in mind this lesson is only here because the developer created this opportunity, so it took your impulse and set you up to fail. The game then restarts you, wishing you would listen to its directions more in your next run.

I also generally play games to get intended endings though, so thats why the true freedom ending was one of my first ones to get. By allowing the game to dictate your every move, you go through the developers ironic story about turning off the brainwashing machine. The game rewards you with the ending it thinks you think will make you happy: freedom. You were a good player to the developer, but were you a good player to yourself? The game then restarts you, inviting you to find your freedom in your next run.

Last year, The Beginners Guide was released by the same team and it didnt catch on with me in the same way. It was clever and it offers some interesting insight about how the success of The Stanley Parable may have affected them personally, but I cant say I understand the purpose of that game in the same way I understand The Stanley Parable. Its alright though -- they have my faith as artists.

The Stanley Parable is a piece of art to be studied for years. Play it, then introduce it to a friend.

NOW IN 2020: This is still king of the walking simulators. Having never made more than a Twine game, I declare this game to be required playing to understand the struggle between developer VS player. About once a year I blitz through and get all these endings again (best one's the colorful starry sky with the stairway). When the opportunity arises, nothing's better than watching a new player try the game.

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O P E R A T I O N O U S T : Nominate SHEIK!
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