diff --git a/blog/stanley-parable.markdown b/blog/stanley-parable.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ce264b --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/stanley-parable.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,105 @@ +--- +title: "The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe Review" +date: 2022-07-25 +series: reviews +--- + +Every so often a game comes around that is genuinely hard to review. Especially +when you are trying to avoid spoiling the magic of the game in that review. This +is a game that is even harder to review than normal because it's an absolute +philosophical document. This game absolutely riffs at the games industry super +hard and it really shows. I'm going to try to avoid spoilers in this article, +except for a few I made up. + +I was going to include screenshots in +this article, but it's difficult for me to get them without spoiling the subtle +comedy at hand, so I'm going to leave this as a text-only review. + +The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is either the second or third game in the +series. At first this game was a Half Life 2 mod that came out of nowhere and +was one of the most beloved mods ever released. Then they made it a proper game +on the Source engine and expanded it a bit. After a while they wanted to +continue the parable and expand it even more, but they weren't able to get it on +consoles with it still being a Source engine game. So they ported it to Unity +and the end result is The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. It is one of my +favorite games of all time. + +It is a deeply limited game, you only can move around and interact with things. +The story is about an office drone named Stanley that pushes buttons based on +instructions from his computer. The big thing that this game does though is make +you realize the inherent paradoxes in its own design. + +Being limited like this is not actually a +bad thing like the phrasing would imply. It just means that the main focus of +the game is not on the micro actions the player can take. In this case the main +focus is on what the player can do with the story and not what the player can do +with their controller. + +Endings that make you look like you had exercised your free will actually boil +down to your actions being controlled by following the narrator's voices. This +is absolutely taking the piss out of how most modern AAA game design works, +guiding you with an invisible hand and making it _seem_ like you had the free +will to choose what was going on when in fact you were really just following the +invisible guidance the whole time. + +However I think one of the best examples of how The Stanley Parable riffs at +mainstream game design is via the Adventure Line™️ that shows up in one branch of +the game. The Line™️ is an obvious riff on games like Dead Space where you can +summon a line to tell you where to go at any time. It shows how _boring_ modern +game design is by making you _see_ the consequences of it. If you follow the +narrator's voice, you get boring endings. + +In many modern AAA games, you have the free will to choose to follow the main +story and finish all the quests or whatever, but not much else. Consider Call of +Duty or Battlefield. You are John America and you have to kill the enemies to +death before they kill you to death by throwing bullets at you. You get to the +end of the level and blow up the brown people some more or something and then +it's suddenly a victory for America. But what did you really accomplish? You +just followed the line. Walk outside of the intended playable area? 10 second +timer until the game kills you. Shoot a person with the wrong skin color? The +game kills you. + +I used to be an adventurer like you until +I took an arrow to the knee! Get it? It's because "taking an arrow to the knee" +meant "getting married" because being married in Norse times (because Skyrim's +Nord are basically LARP vikings) really handicapped your ability to move around +freely, and in those times an arrow injury was basically guaranteed to be fatal +so it can't be literal (if only because there's so many guards with knee +injuries walking around effortlessly which is...unlikely at best). + +However in The Stanley Parable you can defy the narrator and that's where the +game really opens up. It's great to get in the area where the game is unfinished +and then have the narrator complain about deadlines, scheduling delays, investor +funding and them wanting to avoid having to stuff it to the gills with +microtransactions. You can legitimately glitch your way out of bounds and then +the game will reward you with a new ending you didn't know was possible. The +game takes the concept of the illusion of free will and plays with it. + +The game makes you think about what games _can_ be. It makes you wonder if the +potted plant soliloquy after the broom closet ending speaks to the mental state +of the author more than anything. Of all of the artistic endeavors that games as +a medium _can_ have, we end up seeing very few or none of them in mainstream +gaming. Sure you get your occasional 4k120fps robot killer waifu with a bow and +a whacky stick, but none of it really _revolutionizes_ video games as an art +form. It's all just derivative of the generic "unalive bad guy and save earth" +trope. + +If you want some games that really +revolutionize what games can be, check out +[Celeste](https://mattmakesgames.itch.io/celeste), [Secret Little +Haven](https://ristar.itch.io/secret-little-haven), [Baba Is +You](https://hempuli.itch.io/baba), and [Glittermitten +Grove](https://twinbeard.itch.io/glittermitten-grove). All of these games really +challenge what games can be and experiment with radically different kinds of +art. You never will see mainstream games be as risk-taking as this because art +is fundamentally risky and capitalism wants line to go up, so they go out of +their way to make sure that mainstream games are as safe and likely to sell many +copies as possible. + +I made up the thing about the potted plant, but if you had played the game then +you'd probably have started the game up to look for it just to see what was +there. I wonder if I made someone stand at that potted plant for like 5 minutes +or something. This game sparks creativity in ways that other mainstream games +just fundamentally don't. If you've been looking for something different in your +video game diet, I really suggest you give it a try. Go in as blind as possible. +I'm not paid in any way to say this, I genuinely think this is really good.