The Stanley Parable | Review

The Stanley Parable is a narration game where the player explores their workplace that is now void of people. Along the way, Stanley can either follow the narrator’s voice and do as ordered or attempt to take his own path. The further you adventure from the laid out path the more twisted the storyline gets. As find yourself in a never-ending loop of starting over just when you found the end.

The Stanley Parable itself is not a very long game to play. If you just wanted to rush through the first and original story ending that really only takes a couple of minutes. The game will even mess with the player somewhat if you are trying to run to the end to fast by making you wait before it progresses to the next stage.

The Stanley Parable adventure line how dare you not follow it.png

The game has several ending and that is where this game shines. Depending on which paths you take it can sometimes feel like the narrator is trying to force you to go down a certain path. While other times it’s like you are just looping back on top of yourself in an endless maze waiting for something to change. Did you really have free will going down a path or was it the narrative the entire time? Is something I thought about every time I went down a different path.

I did find running through the main path several times to check out all the side areas and discovering alternative ending being repetitive after a while. Since you had to wait for the narrator to say the same thing almost every time and go through the usual motions for doors and other objects to move. Sometimes you would get alternate lines that would be told to you and others the narrator would just go silent for a while allowing you to rush forward.

The Stanley Parable two doors of choice.png

The game itself did have a somewhat matrix feel to it. Along with the main room of monitors you pass where spaces in the building are being watched. You do come across entire sets in the game of the entire layout you just ran. As if the entire thing was pained out and you just had to keep going down the same rabbit hole. Many times you would be presented with a choice of freedom that reset you back or destruction of everything. Choices in this game where more like illusions and sometimes the game would prove how powerless the player was from the actions or lack of really was.

At times the game felt like a maze and you were a mouse following the scent of cheese. Expect at any moment the rules of that maze could change and suddenly paths would go missing, new ones would open up, and you found yourself forever lost. Until the narrator felt you had suffered enough and he would show you the door out.

While this game is getting a bit old. I only had one crash where I lost all progress on my current run. Outside of that, I did not notice any bugs. There is no in-game save feature and every time you reset the game you end up in the same office from the start. Each run can take a few minutes or maybe around twenty. Being able to save and come back later is really not needed.

For those who like a bit more guidance in what to do in a game. There are several achievements to unlock. Outside of that following the narrator’s voice will only get you so far unless you go off the beaten path and get a new set of instructions. Most times the only hindrance is a locked door or blocked path. Otherwise, you can explore around as you please until the narrator tires of things and either reset from the start or forces you down a single path that he controls.

Final Thoughts

It was quite a short game. I would not really recommend it at its full price of $14.99. It is, however, an older game and therefore it goes on deep discount during all the expected yearly sales that many gaming platforms have. When it is on sale for a couple of bucks it’s a good play over an afternoon on the weekend for the experience kind of game.

The Stanley Parable | Review

Final Thoughts

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