This is a review about the Stanley Parable.

This is not a review about the Stanley Parable.

Yep, those two words basically summed up the entire experience I had with the Stanley Parable.

Let me get this straight, the Stanley Parable is a game on PC, but before it was a Half-Life 2 mod. The version I’ll review is the new HD remix released on Steam for the small cost of 11 bucks.

In the game you play as a man called Stanley.

In the game you don’t play as a man called Stanley.

Do you see that obvious contradiction in those two sentences? Well that basically explains that the Stanley Parable is full of contradictions, sometimes the plot says this, sometimes it says that, it’s all very confusing.

The Stanley Parable is also a great experience, in fact it’s so great that even spoiling the most basic things might ruin the experience, so I’ll tell you what you need to know for now.

The “plot” of the Stanley Parable includes a man called Stanley who enjoys his job: Pressing buttons on a computer screen when the computer orders him to. However one day Stanley notices that all of his co-workers have vanished and hears the voice of a mysterious person (Voiced by the amazing Kevan Brighting) called the Narrator.

Well that’s all I can say for the plot since not only it doesn’t make sense sometimes but it also spoils many things.

There is however little to no gameplay in the Stanley Parable. (They even disabled jumping for God’s sake!) The only gameplay I could think of were the incredible alternate paths and endings along with nonsensical mouse clicking of random objects. It’s not such a bad game though, you’ll understand what I mean when you buy it.

My only complaint with the Stanley Parable is that it’s too short for the 11 price tag. You can easily achieve all endings in a matter of hours, but maybe it’s not the end that counts? The journey instead? I also spent a lengthy time searching for all possible endings and after I thought I had found them all, surprise! I still had 6 other endings to find! So unless you consult a guide your experience might be a bit longer.

Now you are probably thinking: “Uh cool review brah, but you didn’t tell me ANYTHING about the game, just a bit of plot and that’s it.” Well my good fellow, this game is so amazing on many standards that I can’t just spoil it for you, luckily there is a demo out on Steam.

Now then, that’s all for now, what will you choose now?

The door to left brings you to the full game where you have to buy it, are you sure about your decision?

The door to the right brings you to the demo, maybe you’d have to be a more careful?

You decide.

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