Stumbling through The Stanley Parable

[davidn]

It's the revenge of The Stanley Parable! After finishing the demonstration version I was... well, terrified, really, but intrigued enough to see what the full game held. And it holds... an unbelievable amount, really - the broadest game I've ever seen, taking just a few minutes to play through to one of the endings but with a huge number of decisions to make and subtle changes along the way that will inevitably drive you to insanity. As this was obviously too much to bear, I brought a friend along for the ride - and here is our first plunge into the baffling world that is this game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwl1j_xfdrE

Comments

[davidn]

The level of insanity really is impressive... not only the peak of madness in the Confusion Ending and the way that it absolutely convinces you you must be able to do something in the explosion ending, but the things that it starts to do, changing dialogue, even occasionally starting you in a completely different office or having tons of paper litter the floor. It's a game designed to drive you mad.

[lupineangel.livejournal.com]

You see, the underlying mistake is that you're assuming that you're playing the game. This is a piece of software that plays a game with you; the fun lies not in beating the challenge it's setting you, but in playing along with its game and seeing the different places it can lead you to.

Of course, when those places include 'madness', 'gibbering' and 'absurdity', then you could set your own challenge, of visiting those places without going mad yourself... :P

D.F.