Review of The Stanley Parable / Do I Even Have A Choice?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBtX0S2J32Y

Sometimes I find myself playing a game: a game where I feel like I’m being quickly pushed along its narrative like a museum tour-guide might rush her last tour-group before a lunch-break, a game where I am presented with the illusion of choice such as ‘will you eat the apple? -Yes or -No’ and it turns out that the choice doesn’t really matter, or a game where I feel like a lab-rat in someone’s maze because every element of the game makes me feel like a slave to the environment with its invisible walls and ‘go here/don’t go there’ demeanor- These gaming elements ARE the spirit of The Stanley Parable, a Steam game by the Galactic Cafe for $14.99 USD on PC. The Stanley parable is a game about video-games: it is satirical and it is intelligent- it presents the gamer with an interactive piece of ‘Epic Theatre’ by removing the gamer from the game and taking a look at the elements that make video games what they are and delves into an interesting look at the illusion of choice. Instead of shoving a boring lecture down your throat about what makes a lot of games samey and tiresome, The Stanley Parable has you step into the shoes of an office employee named Stanley and get involved in a humorous partnership with the narrator who tells you that he wants you to follow a particular path.

“Stanley went through the door on the left”

The game’s first choice presented to the player is a set of two doors and the narrator claims that ‘you go through the door on the left’- you can either listen to him or decide not to listen to him- either way, you will end up somewhere completely different based on your choices. The game is riddled with choices and ultimately, they all lead to the game starting over and over again. The nature of the game is repetition- but of the many times that the game starts over, things change and some paths open up that maybe weren’t there before. Each choice you make leads to a very different end-game before everything restarts- every ending presents you with an aspect of game design through a humorous event or parable- and these endings are drastically different. One ending has an imminent death brought on by the threat of downward ticking clocks while another leads you to a grassy knoll where the narrator wanted you to go all along. The idea behind these endings are to show the nature of games and gamers- the relationship of the narrative to the audience- and the trade-offs that occur when narrative butts heads with player choice. The Stanley Parable appears to be a game about nothing, but it’s about everything in video-games. The game designers have made something interesting here- a video game that cleverly tears apart game design and shows you the bare bones- it allows for the gamer to sit down and think ‘Am I really just attracted to doing the same things over and over again?’ There may not be a whole lot to the Stanley parable in terms of gameplay because all you do is move around and click on the environment- but the game’s message and it’s active criticism on the nature of video-games is the heart of The Stanley Parable- this is, of course, on top of having fun scenarios, great voice acting from the narrator, and a wonderfully hilarious interplay between the player/Stanley and the Narrator. There’s a lot to this game and it’s worth checking out for yourself- it really discounts the experience if you don’t personally play it- part of what makes this game are the experiences and choices that you respond to and what happens as a result. The game may be somewhat short, but it is a game/narrative-adventure worth experiencing.

Hmm… Decisions, Decisions.

Steam Recommendation: Buy It

+Very Unique Game

+Great Ending(s)

+Hilarious Narration and Scenarios

-A Bit on the Short Side