THE STANLEY PARABLE: ULTRA DELUXE
Buckets of new features.
$34.95 | PC, PS4/5, XBX/S, Switch | stanleyparable.com
I’ve never given much thought to the ‘skip dialogue’ button in a videogame, but after playing The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe I can’t stop thinking about it. The button is just one of several new features explored in the “expanded reimagining” of 2013’s The Stanley Parable, which once again turns the act of playing a game into a hilarious, surprising and thoughtful examination of games and game development, players and player choice, and yes, even simple buttons.
It’s not just a remaster, though the original game has been faithfully rebuilt in Unity. You can play through it once again as office worker Stanley, who realises he’s the only one in the building and sets out to discover why while a gentle storybook-style narration guides him through the empty corridors and rooms. Once again, the simple act of disobeying the narrator and making your own choices leads to numerous branching paths, a range of reactions from the narrator, multiple endings and the pure joy of doing something unexpected and discovering the game fully expected you to do it.
But at some point while replaying the new version of the old The Stanley Parable, the new content begins to intrude. It’s not a subtle introduction – a door labelled New Content appears in the familiar office corridor you’ve walked down a dozen times already. Step through it and a bunch of new features are trotted out.
Developer Crows Crows Crows has done a brilliant job anticipating anything and everything a player might think to do while playing. There’s so many new surprises in Ultra Deluxe – I’ve played it for ten hours and I’m fairly sure I still haven’t uncovered all its new tricks and treats. As with the original, there are a few patience-testing moments where the narration carries on just a bit too long. But mostly it’s a delight, an adventure full of fun surprises, meta-humour, and commentary on games and how we play them. Certainly nothing a ‘skip dialogue’ button would improve.
A delightful update that fills the original game with more humorous and thoughtful rabbit holes to get lost in.
Christopher Livingston
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