Parable; a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson. Based on this definition, someone going into The Stanley Parable might infer that the game will be about a lad named Stanley who, for the duration of the game, will accompany the player on an adventure that will impact them in some meaningful way. With no prior knowledge to the game, I downloaded and went into the demo as blind as can be without actually being blind, and from that small demo, The Stanley Parable roped me into a misadventure I never thought I’d take, but I couldn’t be happier with the outcome(s).
Desk 427 of a nameless office seats Stanley, The Stanley Parable’s incomparable hero. All day, everyday, Stanley sits at his desk, obediently typing commands that are fed to him through his computer monitor. One day, however, Stanley doesn’t receive any commands from his monitor. Bewildered, Stanley decides to leave his desk and check on the status of what is holding up his immensely important job and is shocked to find that all of his coworkers are gone; the office has been left completely and utterly deserted. The only soul left is Stanley and the very peculiar voice inside his head, narrating his every action.
This is where the game truly begins, with Stanley stepping out of his small cubicle and into the office. The Stanley Parable plays like any other Source Engine game that comes to mind, which is to say that it handles as one expects these sorts of games to handle. Stanley can perform the very basic of locomotive actions: walking and… not walking. Stanley cannot jump, run, or crouch. This, however, doesn’t stop Stanley from getting around, and he’s going to have to get around a lot if he wants to experience the vast office that lies ahead of him. At first, Stanley’s office seems unsurprising, but it doesn’t take long until the player finds himself exploring never ending parking garages and underground bunkers. Getting to these places is often accompanied by choices of uncertainty, and they never cease to lead to something vastly interesting and comical. The gameplay isn’t anything to be blown away by; it’s extremely simple and straightforward, and hardly anything within the world itself is able to be interacted with. Yet, the act of exploring and discovering Stanley’s intriguing world is an unbelievably good time in its’ own right, and the player quickly forgets the basic controls and gets lost within Stanley’s delightful office.
The world that’s been created by the Galactic Cafe team is endearing and charming, but it also isn’t afraid to show its’ morbid and bleak side every now and then. Cubicles are decorated with computers straight out of the late 90’s, meeting rooms are filled with white boards loaded with satirical office jargon, and the darker parts of the office scream inspiration from the likes of Portal and Half-Life. Aesthetically, The Stanley Parable is very simple, but its’ simplicity is overshadowed by the games fantastic sense of wonder, which is strengthened with every step deeper into Stanley’s fascinating story.
Narration plays the largest role in The Stanley Parable. Throughout the entirety of the game, an ever present narrator accompanies the player, all the while making amusing comments on the, often ridiculous, situations at hand (not to mention that the narrator is voiced stupendously by Kevin Brighting). A lot of the time, however, the situations aren’t very ridiculous at all, and it’s at these times that the writing in The Stanley Parable really takes center stage. The player might venture into an utterly stale office lounge, but then (and always with spot-on timing) the narrator chimes in and describes Stanley’s hilariously vivid, and even somewhat disturbing, thoughts about the room. Moments like these take average, boring, dull scenes and transforms them into something funny and entertaining. These moments aren’t few and far between either; they’re littered throughout The Stanley Parable and are easily what make the game the gem that it is.
The Stanley Parable is something of an oddity, and as it turns out, I felt quite odd writing this review. Exploring the world of Stanley and his narrator is quite an adventure, despite the extremely simple controls and limited interactivity with the charming environment. Coming away from The Stanley Parable, there’s so much more that I want to say about the game, but because the game focuses so heavily on narrative, I feel as though I would be robbing those who have yet to play it the unforgettable indulgence that it most certainly is. I feel as though I’ve experienced something meaningful and important, and to put it honestly and frankly: everyone should play The Stanley Parable.
What happens when you get a couple of casual players to try out the totally unique experience that is The Stanley Parable? Victor finds two “unwitting” subjects to find out.
Hardcore Gamer: In game development terms, a “vertical slice,” is a gameplay segment of finished or near-finished quality that showcases all the planned features of a game to potential investors. At the start of a project, these are a massive sink for time and effort, since they essentially involve doing all the hard parts of finishing a game to complete one 10-minute section. Generally, they’re seen as a bad practice. However, toward the end of development, it’s a lot easier to pull assets together for a vertical slice. Of course, if you’re shopping your game around to publishers at that stage, you’re probably in a lot of trouble, but a standalone “vertical slice” can also serve as a strong alternative to a traditional demo.
Totally agree. It's so nice being able to try out a game without spoiling any of it. Bravely Default was genius in doing this and sold me on the game.
Doing a vertical slice as a VC/Publisher demo is an extremely risky move but it really is the best way to show off the talent of your studio and show a strong proof of concept. I believe SOF is doing this with H-Hour...
A vertical slice as a consumer demo really is a great way to show off a game and drive sales. Too many publishers would rather the advertising do the work and show only enough to lure people in. They seem to have it in their heads that demos will hurt their sales. (which it does... if you make a bad game/demo)
Publishers are so pathetic and risk adverse these days... how are consumers supposed to be confident in your games if you aren't confident enough to truly show them off in there purest form?
Why do video games often make the odd transition from hobby to habit? Why play something if you no longer enjoy it? Here are three games that raise these questions through their writing and mechanics.
Call of Duty is one of them. It's not even fun, has no strategy, requires no real skill, is ugly and has crappy unbalanced maps. Yet people keep buying and playing it
Yea I've stopped getting "good/great" at games or trying to at least.
You get to a wall/point where if your not doing great, you start getting angry and frustrated because you know you can do it, it's just not happening.
You start to get these false expectations that your somehow better than you are, and it just ruins the "fun" of the game.
It's not longer a game, it then becomes almost like a "chore" or something you do because but not because it's the thing you want to do most.
* Lots of FPS games are like this, DOTA and other MOBAs are as well.
* I've learned to just have fun and play at whatever level I'm comfortable with.
Because of this though, I've noticed my lack of drive for wanting to play " just one more" though so it has it's ups and downs and I guess that could be a benefit as well.
I feel like a slave when I find myself staying up late to do pointless stuff with other slaves just to get a silly trophy in hopes of getting a virtual platinum that still equals nothing in real life. I think I'm done trophy hunting.
World of Warcraft....glad I left several years ago. It required time to compete. In CoD a person can kill a pro on day one. WoW was such a grind.
While I agree that video games CAN be art, the mass majority of games available is not. I also agree that many games nowaday feel like a chore than a fun hobby. Games used to be a fun thing to do. I would received the same amount of satisfaction from a ten minute play session as I would from a weekend gaming binge.
Some people can play a game for months at a time - that's cool. I'm not like that. I plow through a game and I move on. Sad point is, I'm so back logged (as far back as PS1) that I have to force myself to play a game. I feel like I'm obligated to play a game - like a second job. Which is something that puts me in an odd place - I LOVE video games...but everytime I think about the hundreds of games I need to playthrough, I turn on netflix and let a several seasons of Futurama run as background noise while I curl up in a corner and sob.
As long as you're taking something away from the experience, I don't see it as a bad thing. :)
This game sounds great; thanks for the heads-up