The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe – Test, Adventure

On By Garmin Philip
This is how each new run of The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe begins - protagonist Stanley decides to leave his office and search for his missing colleagues.

The telling of made-up stories is one of the oldest forms of communication known to mankind. The stories are not just told with the invention of film or the printing press, after all, fictitious elements have probably always crept into the accounts of men’s experiences when they returned home from a hunt. It has also been played for a very long time: historians date the first board game called Senet to around 3,200 BC.

In the comparatively young medium of video games, the development of storytelling has long depended on what is technically feasible in terms of presentability and storage space. Although both aspects no longer play a role, video game stories are often still at best on the level of mediocre films. This may be due to the fact that the story usually plays second fiddle to the interactivity. Or to recall the well-known quote from id founder John Carmack:

This is exactly where Davey Wreden started in 2011 and developed a mod with the Source engine, which blossomed into an independent game two years later and finally appeared for all common consoles and PC nine years later.

An unusual day at the office

This is how each new run of The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe begins - protagonist Stanley decides to leave his office and search for his missing colleagues.

This is how each new run of The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe begins – protagonist Stanley decides to leave his office and search for his missing colleagues.

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe tells the story of the office worker Stanley, whose only job is to press the keys on the computer screen in his office number 427. When Stanley realizes that he is alone in the building, he goes in search of his colleagues. How does he notice? An off-screen narrator tells us that’s just the way it is. Being the well-conditioned subordinates that we video gamers often are (“Press X to show respect!”), we obey the charismatic voice and follow the narrator’s words in the first-person perspective through the seemingly deserted office complex. After just a few minutes we reach the end of the game with Stanley.

Sound boring? It is precisely this obedience that leads to the official and most positive ending of the game. However, The Stanley Parable only becomes interesting when we leave old habits behind. As we explore, we soon come to a room with two doors. The narrator lets us know that Stanley goes through the left one. But what may happen if we disobey, deviate from the prescribed path, and boldly step through the right gate? After all, we are dealing with a video game, we can do what we want and yet we are free to choose. Or not?

Stanley doesn’t want to obey

Too tempting: The inconspicuous left path promises an escape route. But you can see if you're really doing the right thing when the light goes out.

The inconspicuous left path promises an escape route. But you can see if you’re really doing the right thing when the light goes out.

Instead of continuing to bore you with digressions, let’s get to the point: The Stanley Parable draws its main attraction from our and thus from Stanley’s unruliness. Because whenever we don’t do what the ubiquitous voice dictates, the walking simulator becomes really interesting and, above all, hilarious. Visibly irritated, the narrator complains about Stanley’s attempts to sabotage his story. If you like to reflect on your actions and do cerebral philosophical considerations in video games instead of just reflexively shooting, you should have a lot of fun with The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe.

Reference-www.4players.de