Overview of The Stanley Parable
The Stanley Parable is a first-person action game developed by Galactic Cafe, an independent studio. Initially the project was created as a modification of Half-Life 2, but later it was released as a separate product. Both the modification and the final version run on the Source engine from Valve. The action unfolds in an endless office building with thousands of identical offices, meeting rooms, warehouses and closets. The low-key interiors are reminiscent of the Ministry of Truth, described in George Orwell’s anti-utopian novel 1984.
The game feels more like a typical walking simulation, but after being redesigned in 2013 by William Pugh and Riden, the video game has taken on a full, playable form. Not only did the updated version get the normal look, but it also started to win the hearts of gamers, receiving fairly high marks from critics. Only after the update it was hailed as a masterpiece, not because of its innovative mechanics or in-depth storyline, but because of its unusual approach to storytelling.
Plot
The Stanley Parable tells the story of an office worker. His life is a daily grind, and each day is just like the one before. Every day, he sits in his cramped office, in front of his computer, nervously pressing the keys on his keyboard and following the instructions on the screen. He does not know who is giving the orders or what the job entails. But one day the commands stop coming, and the hero decides to find out what happened. On stepping out of the office, he discovers that all the employees have disappeared, and the silence is broken only by the gently whirring computers. Wanting to find out what happened, he wanders around the office.
The Characters
The main characters in the adventure game The Stanley Parable are the office clerk Stanley and an unknown narrator. Stanley is an ordinary company employee sitting in office number 427. Since everything that happens is shown in first-person view, we don’t know what Stanley looks like. The narrator does not appear in the frame either, but his voice accompanies the hero everywhere. He describes what’s happening, gives clues and talks about Stanley’s feelings. There are unusual characters in the world of office cubicles, such as the guiding line on the floor and the spirit of art.
The Stanley Parable release date
The fan-made modification that served as the basis for the game was released on July 27, 2011. The commercial version was released on 17 October 2013 on PC on Windows. On 19 December 2013, it was released on Mac.
