Stanley and His Fantastic Parable

Sometimes we like games because they get the impact of a bullet just right or because we want to see what the next skeleton will drop for us. I played an hour of Chime last night because it's just so damned relaxing.

Before we get into today's featured presentation, here's a short rundown of what has been going on in my gaming. I played about 20 hours of Fallout: New Vegas before uninstalling it both begrudgingly and in disappointment, but that is a conversation for my next post. I have been playing League of Legends as always and middling around in Starcraft 2. I played through Dead Island with a buddy and could not feel more "meh" about it.

Today is not the day to discuss sequels that feel more like an expansion or games that are bugged to hell. Today is the day to discuss the only game that made me explore every single possible decision. Thank goodness The Stanley Parable is short or that would have been quite the task. As it stands I played through The Stanley Parable about 10 times and I enjoyed each consecutive play-through no less than the previous.

Imagine for a moment an interactive story in which the main character has free will and doesn't have to do what the story has written. There are essentially two main characters in the parable of Stanley. The first character is the narrator who attempts to tell Stanley's story and the other is Stanley (you), the main character. Now, acting as Stanley, you have the choice to follow the narrator's story, or dismiss it and make choices that contradict the story and in turn may upset the narrator.

The experience the player will have throughout The Stanley Parable will vary drastically based on one simple decision: Will you obey? The Stanley Parable also discusses (in a way) game design and the fallacy of player choice, but you will have to experience that for yourself. The Stanley Parable can be found on Desura and only requires that you own Half Life 2.

Go now, or don't, the choice is yours.