The Existential Fear of The Stanley Parable

One of the most comforting moments is where there a hundreds of name buttons on the floor. You can press them, one of them says Stanley instead. It’s small sure, but it feels really comforting for some inexplicable reason.

The mordern example of Stanley Parable imo is The Forgotton City. Originially a mod of AAA title that was adapted into its own game with stunning storytelling.

gYAT

I think the idea behind The Stanley Parable is that the endings all have conflicting conclusions, and none are necessarily more or less true than the others. There is no ultimate reality, because whatever ending you choose will reveal something different. You've likely heard of 'breaking the fourth wall.' Well this game essentially builds up its own walls, just so it can bust them back down. And I love it.

And most importantly, 2013 was the year of luigi

Mori music

I honestly think that he would really like the game Outer Wilds, because I’ve had the same gripes about modern games from big publishers and how they aren’t original anymore, and or have a story that you don’t have to put any outside thought into.

The game has honestly changed my outlook on life, and meddles with deep existential themes to an extent where it’s made me appreciate all the little things.

The reason why I haven’t explained what the game is; is because it’s progression is knowledge based and it’s extremely spoiler sensitive and is best experienced as blind as possible.

The score is incredible too, and like how the sound design is used in the epilogue of TSP is how the entire game is with the atmosphere it builds.

Please go play Outer Wilds if you haven’t yet

cant believe the guy who made this is dougdougs brother

Ah this ftl music in the second half of the video fits so cool

“Stanley? Are you in there?”
“No”
“>:(“

As a introvert with god level social anxiety i see this as win

So is this an essay with an idea to present, or is this just a synopsis? Because it feels like it’s just a synopsis.

Capitalism isn't evil you're confusing it with socialism

this game and slender are honestly reasons i think the back rooms and such really hit

theres not many games i would consider perfect, maybe about 10. stanley parable fills 3 of those. the original source mod, the original full release, and most definitely ultra deluxe.

I’ve found a really strange sensation watching this video. Certain parts of it when I just watch Stanley Parable played become scary or in couple of cases actually terrifying. But if I were to sit down and actively play the same endings for myself it doesn’t seem very scary any longer. It’s fascinating thing to me that I don’t understand.

Great video, but I feel like I was being yelled at the whole time.

u sound exactly like memeulous

You know, its a strange thing, but I was always frustrated that they never included the stuff from the Demo. I just wanted the big flashiness to lead somewhere but it didn't even show up in the actual game.

Which TTS software are you using? (Genuinely curious.)

I may be dumb, but I just realized that Stanly pushing buttons, sitting at his desk and imagining all the adventures he goes on while in reality being complacent with his boring life represents the player pushing buttons according to instruction at their desk. XD

holy shit this game is insufferably pretentious

In the preface to Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien wrote about how he prefers “applicability” (elements of a story that can be applied to one’s own life) rather than allegory (elements of a story which directly correlate to real world things), because applicability gives the reader a lot more freedom to interpret the story, whereas allegory is constrained by the author’s specific intention. It seems that The Stanley Parable pulled off that applicability very well. I think its storytelling would have been much weaker if every element had some direct and obvious real-life correlation

Please take your breath you're scaring me. And if you are don't cut it it's terrifying

I love the Stanley parable, since it was made and the ultra delux, I will talk about this game till the day I die, im obsessed, bought both the games and I’ve played the demo, I’ve gone through as many endings as I can think of but I keep finding new ways to break the game, and find new stupid endings, physically it’s like a comfort game, actually obsessed

The irony of use of the Breath of the Wild music was not wasted on me. The game appraised for being so open world, as you talk about the adventure line and the rigid nature of some games, 10/10

the number 427 looks like 24/7…

I appreciate the stardew music in the background

the best part of this game is the stanley button. That was just so unexpected, and after all of it, it made me feel emotions I didn't think the STANLEY PARABLE was capable of giving me.

I find it incredible that random videos have breath of the wild's soundtrack scattered throughout it

I see plenty of people talking about the Skip Button path in very philosophical and metaphorical fashions, and I agree that it definitely holds those messages. However, I actually see it in a much more literal way.

I am the kind of gamer that dissects the gameplay and every interactive object to better understand the story, the lore if it exists, and the mentality of each character, as best I can. Any skip button in the dialogues gets used very sparingly as I genuinely want to absorb all the information I’m offered. I haven’t played The Stanley Parable, but if I did I’d be rooting around the place for easily hundreds of hours trying to get every ending and every possible interaction, all to understand what the game is trying to tell me.

From this mentality, the Skip Button’s message appears painfully straightforward: while the game’s creator has crafted a tale for the player to experience and enjoy, some people simply aren’t interested in complex and thought-provoking stories. They’re not playing games with any intention of thinking, they just want mindless action and chaos. There’s certainly a time and place for such things, but many fail to recognize that different genres require different mindsets and go into games like the Stanley Parable expecting to get dopamine bursts and achievements and quick satisfaction, without having to read whatever nonsense the game’s weird narrator is bombarding them with. Boring, boring, don’t care, skip it.

And yet, by skipping this, they’re missing the heart and soul of the game- the creators put tremendous time and effort into giving their work meaning, and the narrator’s speeches are vital to this. By skipping all of that, there’s nothing left but a hollow shell of the game the creators intended for you to play- it’s like an empty wasteland; no purpose, no clear goal, because you didn’t give the narrator a chance to show you what was intended. You don’t even know what WASN’T intended because you don’t know the proper path to stray from.

In short: the Skip Button is a demonstration of what happens when you aren’t willing to look at a game for what it really is, but only compare it to other stuff and refuse to engage with it. Some games don’t have much to engage with, and that’s fine; but for a deep and thought-provoking game like The Stanley Parable, approaching it like that will cause you to misunderstand the entire concept.

EDIT: holy crap I wish I could’ve written my highschool essays this easily, I slapped this out in under 5 minutes. 🤣

For me, a lot of the endings really made me feel like the laughing straight face meme

I remember the stairs ending i was wondering what if i bated the narrator into thinking im gonna go up the stairs. But instead of the constant jumping off the stairs i just did a normal reset so the narrator wouldn’t get sad

Wish I could play it for the first time again

the game took go outside to a whole new level

This is a story of a man named Stanley. Employee Number 427 pushed buttons on his keyboard through a moniter 2022 remade been ported ultra deluxe edition experience the game jargon acclaim frequently profound and mind bending opening cutscene kevan brighting stanley found himself unable to wits sensens he got up from his desk and stepped out of his perfect off kilter atmosphere intrigue mundane buttons but being told no more orders coworkers

I have many hours in this and I still havent competed every ending, but I plan too try eventually. For me, the most memorable endings are the zending (which i believe is the red door ending), the skip button, the confusion ending, and the "yes" mind control ending. The first two show this sadness within the narrator, and in both of them I stayed for way to long trying, hoping, for a different way to continue the game. It turns the narrator into a person in your mind, and thats terrifying. You dont want this new version of him to die because of your actions.

The confusion ending and the "yes" button mind control ending are scary because they make you feel trapped completely. The confusion ending genuinely left me with a pit in my stomach because i didnt know if it was over, and that scared me. The other one was scary because theres actually nothing you can do, no where you can go, and the narrator knows that and rides on it to make you feel worse.

Overall this game is such an incredible piece of art that couldnt have been done in any other medium. It reminds you that games do not have be pretty to be art.

DougDougs brother did a great job with this one

I resonate with when you skip annoying parts in a game you are left with a wasteland because when I started playing GTA I just Ran Cayo with my friend until I got everything I wanted then I got bored at the game.

Thank you for making this.

Im donney with the funny

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