This is the story of a man named Stanley.
Once upon a time there was a Half-life 2 mod that was so meta and ironically self-aware that it ascended to full game status. This game mixed the most exciting elements of a typical walking simulator with wry commentary on the nature of choice in video games. It shouldn't have worked. It should have been cringe. But instead it was the most profound work of genius the world had ever played. "More!" the fans brayed, "We want more of the same! More irony! More snark! More, More, MORE!!!" And so was born the Beginners Guide The Stanley Parable: ULTRA DELUXE!
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is an expansion of the Stanley Parable, simultaneously every sequel to the Stanley Parable, a merciless parody of the Stanley Parable, and so, so much more. I'm not trying to be obtuse but it's hard to write about any of the new features without spoiling the game. It has more than twice as many endings, pointless collectables for you to hunt, new content explicitly marked as new content, an expo for the Stanley Parable 2, graphical settings that exist only to destroy the game's visuals, and an emotional reassurance bucket. It accomplishes all of this without losing any of the things that made the original game so great. Narrator, Stanley, office spaces, hallways, achievements for the weirdest things, the illusion of choice, the reality of choice, the illusion of the reality of choice, inability to jump; all of these things have been lovingly preserved. Surely, this is peak gaming. It's all downhill from here.
Ahem ... so ... dropping the sarcasm for just a second, I want to talk about what this game does. The original Stanley Parable was a game about how games present narratives. In it the Narrator tells you exactly what to do and you either ignore him or cooperate at various points which guides you toward various prepared endings. Because the format of the game is best explained as a flow chart it superficially seems like it's about the vacuousness of choice in a format that necessitates every option be anticipated by the developers. What's interesting about this is while most of the endings are pretty well sign posted a few of them are hard to find. This leads players to go looking for ways to get out of bounds and escape both the game's narrative and the developers intent. Very few games are daring you to try and soft lock them. With a narrator the game can't help but be about itself. The natural place for the sequel/rerelease/follow up to go is for it to be about the relationship of the player to the previous game, to game releases, to sequels and novelty and nostalgia and expectations! This is a game about how we want everything new to be old again and vice versa and don't you dare tell us that that's a contradiction and impossible because we're not going to pay you for mere concessions to reality. It's also about how you can just throw a new coat of paint and a few doodads on a popular old game and know that it will sell better than most despite or even because of its lack of originality. There is a lot of subtext about the game industry and the relation between fan and creators.
All of this sounds meaningful but it's all wrapped in so much passive-aggressive, self-deprecating, self serious irony that it's hard to tell if any of it is meant as sincere criticism or if it's dismissing all such debates as so much aesthetic blather. If your still reading this and you played the Stanley Parable and liked it I'd recommend getting this game. If you've never played either and you still aren't sure if you want to spend money on this get the demo here. Either you'll vibe with the demo or you won't. One thing I wouldn't really recommend is just Ultra Deluxe. I won't say you can't enjoy it without the context of the original but the contrast is a major part of the game. It's available on Steam here.
THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END
IRON NODER XV: LAST SECOND BARE BONES IRON NODER FREAKOUT!