The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe

Genre: Walking Simulator

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This review has been directly sponsored by a kind donation from Ben. Thanks again for your generous contribution!)

Okay, on to the review!

The Stanley Parable is a Walking Simulator first released on PC in 2011 as a free user-created modification of Half-Life 2, with the game later reworked into a full separate release on PC in 2013, sometimes referred to as The Stanley Parable HD, with remade graphics and additional content. The game was remade yet again in 2022 as The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, with additional refinements to the visuals, as well as even more added content. This new version of the game was finally brought to other platforms, with the game releasing on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, as well as yet another release for PC.

At least nominally, this game is about the titular Stanley, an employee at a nondescript office performing menial computer work who one day discovers himself to be completely alone in the office and sets off to try to uncover what has happened. However, I don’t think it’s any great spoiler to say that this isn’t really what the game is about at all, as the player’s choices through the course of the game make this into a game that’s less about Stanley the Office Worker, and more about the player’s relationship with the game’s narrator, who reacts to the player’s actions as they do and don’t do as the narrator directs them.

Despite that the only interaction that players have with the game is simply walking around, and on rare occasions clicking a button or some other object, it’s surprising what a fascinating commentary this game is on player choice. Perhaps the game’s most iconic moment comes within a few seconds of starting, when the player approaches a pair of doors and the narrator says that Stanley walked through the left door. However, players are fully capable of defying the narrator and walking through the right door instead, leading to him becoming increasingly frustrated as the player defies his instruction.

Through simple choices like this, the player proceeds through the game’s branching narrative, which becomes a post-modernist statement on choice in videogames, and a highly amusing one at that. The writing in this game is exceptional, and the line delivery by the narrator, voiced by Kevan Brighting, is absolutely fantastic, taking on a warm, almost patronizing tone when his instructions are followed, and becoming apoplectic when you don’t.

By comparison, the visuals look… fine. This is still a Half Life 2 mod at heart, and while the visuals have indeed been updated, with more detailed environments, better textures, and improved lighting and shadows, this is not a game that’s likely to impress anyone with its visuals. In fact, in a few places you can still spot blurry and low-resolution textures, and even a little graphical glitching in a few spots (and yes, I mean places the game is glitching unintentionally, smartypants). This version of the game also runs at a mostly-steady 60FPS framerate with an improved resolution (sorry, don’t have the exact number on the latter). However, while the smooth performance is appreciated, this was never a game about the visuals.

If that’s all The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe was, this would still be a very welcome release on consoles, bringing one of the most creative games in the videogame medium to new audiences with modest visual improvements (and rumble support) means that this must-have game will be putting its best foot forward for audiences that have yet to play it. However, that’s not all there is here, not by a longshot.

Without going into too much detail (wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone), suffice it to say that shortly into the game players may notice a door labeled “New Content”, and what follows is an absolutely incredible commentary on videogame re-releases, on The Stanley Parable itself and its critical acclaim, and on the apparent futility of trying to create a successor to the game… and then it starts to get truly bizarre. Suffice it to say, against all odds this new content does indeed provide an excellent reason to return to the game for players who already finished The Stanley Parable years ago, got all of the endings and unlocked all of the achievements (or at least, those achievements that are actually obtainable).

While on a surface level The Stanley Parable is still very much the same game that thrilled gamers and critics a decade ago, this is a game that has aged extremely well, and the new additions lurking in the corners of Stanley’s office make this release of the game well worth a revisit. For a mere $25, The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is a must-have for anyone who enjoys a mind-bending story and good humor, even those who already played earlier releases of the game. Do not miss it.

tl;dr – The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is a port of the decade-old critically-acclaimed fourth wall-breaking Walking Simulator that updates the visuals and adds some surprisingly clever new content that makes this game worth a look even for players who previously played through earlier versions of the game. This is still every bit as funny, rule-breaking, and creative as it was when it first released. In fact, with what’s been added here, it is arguably even more so. Do not miss it.

Grade: A

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