The Stanley Parable

 Zach Goodier

The Stanley Parable is..... well..... it's..... different.  Normally, we try to structure reviews based on story, characters, and plot, as well as gameplay.... but this game really doesn't invest a lot in any of these things, but I'll delve more into that later.  So, must be a bad game, right? Wrong.  The Stanley Parable is a sort of gag game, in a way.  It doesn't try to follow the formulas that other genres adhere to, it makes its own way, and it does it rather well for an $11 Steam Indie game. 

The premise of the "game" is that you are Stanley, an office worker who works a tedious job day in and day out, who is only really known by his employee number.  This already seems boring, but one day Stanley stops receiving orders from his computer.  So Stanley decides to get up and find out what is going on in the office.  That's where you start off the game, and that's where you are guided by the narrator on your quest.  This narrator tries to give instructions, but you have opportunities to defy his directions, but that can have consequences.  The world around you is the plaything and construct of the narrator, and he will interact with you differently depending on how you respond to his directions.  This has a very Matrix feel to it, but the narrator isn't the cruel overlord he seems to be, or is he?  The game works around branching decisions and various options, but are they all so different, and does the game ever truly end?

You'll want to replay all sorts of bits to find how your decisions bring about different reactions from the Narrator.

The themes are almost a satire of video games as a whole.  Now before you thinking of it as being critical... well it sort of is, but isn't (get used to the mental gymnastics, this game loves to hit you with those).  It definitely makes you feel like a rat in a maze, just like any other game, when you think about it in a broad sense.  It also challenges you to overcome the obstacles set forth by the "narrator," the one who created this world of mazes and challenges.  And all the while, you are presented with various metaphysical themes and notions surrounding not only this game, but any game in general.

This is your "helpful" line to the end of the game, if you end up needing it.

The gameplay is simply walking around and occasionally pressing buttons or other relatively simple mechanics, but it's not the gameplay itself that is the draw, it's the ability to make choices in the game to openly defy the narrator.  It feels like defying God, in a way, but with less chance of being sent to Hell.  But one of the big twists is that the environment sometimes changes itself without you seeing it, creating seemingly infinite mazes that you get lost in and end up back at the start, you walk around corners only to find yourself in an infinite loop, and you soon see that there is a little Inception being mixed in with out Matrix.

Oh, please do.

Overall, The Stanley Parable is a test of patience, of whether to follow orders or defiantly go your own path, and of your ability to understand the themes being thrown your way.  Obviously, this can add hours and hours of replay value. This game doesn't have to be read or understood, but it does offer some fun in the journey itself, and the narrator is absolutely hilarious in some scenes.  This game is a brilliant existential look at the world we chose to live in as video gamers, and just what that says about us for doing it.  And the best part of it is: this game only costs $11.

Good:

-Entertaining Narrator

-Mind-bending mazes and environments.

-Brilliant themes.

-Only costs $11.

Bad:

-Gets rather repetitive.

Scully Rating: 9 out of 10