The Stanley Parable Review

Originally a Half-Life 2 mod, The Stanley Parable is a game about an office worker called Stanley. It is a game where you both play as Stanley and do not play as Stanley. You follow the story, and you don’t follow the story. Sounds confusing?

The Stanley Parable is a game where an unseen narrator tells you what to do. You can follow his guidance, and go through the story as he intended. Or you can break with the rules. Stanley is working at his desk job, pushing buttons in regards to the shown data on his screen. One day the screen goes black, something Stanley havn’t tried before. Not sure what to do from here, Stanley walks around his office building and finds it entirely empty. From here on the game takes a lot of different paths. In fact 16 different endings are possible, depending on the actions of Stanley.

Going through the different endings within the game is quite a journey. It is extremely funny, and does great at theming things such as choices in video games, being on a ‘straight path’ and the relationship the gamer has with the game creator. The game is rather meta, and the Narrator even breaks the fourth wall in some cases. The game conveys the question of what a video game really is, and asks the questions of what happens when you deviate from your journey. All wrapped in great humor with the Narrator having very humorous funny lines.

The game is not overtly long, despite the many endings. A ‘run’ can be done rather quick. When doing a run it plays like most walking simulators, where you have very minimal interaction with anything. The Narrator is the one who pushes the story and the narrative, and whenever Stanley goes in another direction than dictated by the Narrator he shifts the narrative to fit the chosen path.

The Stanley Parable is a great game.  This year (2022) the game came out with a new Ultra Deluxe edition, a reimagining of the original game with extra endings and rewritten parts of the story.  You can once again feel the powerlessness of being Stanley.

Aside from the absolutely hilarious story arch The Stanley Parable looks great. It is uncanny, silly and interesting to look at – and the more you look, the more you will find. The Narrator does a phenomenal job and the ambience is spot on.

All in all The Stanley Parable is an exceptional title with great replayability. Playing it will truly mess with your head and make you think. And it will make you laugh. So go Stanley, go explore your empty office!