The Stanley Parable is a game about a man named Stanley, pushing buttons, walking around an office for a few hours, and the impossibility of choice within a video game. If this at all sounds interesting to you go play the demo. If you have thirty minutes (or forty-five to an hour, if you decide to actually wait for your number) that you were originally going to spend reading twitter messages that you already read because face it, doing anything productive today was going to be hard anyway, play the demo. It's entertaining in it's own right, and has a meta-narrative about demos, which is appropriate for a demo. I suppose that's what meta means.
Anyway, The Stanley Parable is a very good, very funny, narrative focused game, which means it's better to not spoil the said narrative as much as possible. The demo does this by avoiding the narrative of the full game entirely, so, as I said, if your interested, go. Download it now. Even if you're vaguely interested, go do it. Play it. Have fun. Come back and read the rest of this when you're done.
Done? Done. Good. Onwards!
The Stanley Parable is a brilliantly comedic game that has made me laugh at multiple points, and hasn't ceased to entertain me. It's varied and wonderfully absurd endings may be small in number, but each is a damn trip to get to. I've unplugged phone cords and broken universes. I've jumped off of ledges to spite omnipresent voices. I literally went mad one time. It was great.
That may make it sound like it's just a maniacal romp, but it's actually not. Between the bouts of madness is a classic British comedic setup, full of clever wit and humorous tendencies. And connecting it all is a well crafted narrative about the main characters, you, as Stanley, and the Narrator, and how choice in video games is nonexistent. It's actually rather fascinating to look into, and if you enjoy a little dip into thematic ideas, this might be worth the shot.
For anyone who has played video game since they were a kid, this game will be a must buy. For anyone who enjoys game design, development, or is just looking for a funny story, the same is true. For those of you who are sticks in the mud, 1) why are you even here, and 2) yeah, you won't like it. But apparently you don't like fun.
In conclusion, for those of you looking for a funny meta-narrative about how nothing you do matters, go ahead and pick up The Stanley Parable. I guarantee that the fun just won't end.
(Until you try getting the "Go Outside" achievement. Which is, by the way, the best achievement in video game history.)
No comments:
Post a Comment