Games are given a rather bad rap these days – all with violence and poorly written scripts about boring scenarios. Bland and unoriginal shooting arcades for pimply teenagers and oafs.
The Stanley Parable challenges this assertion, through sheer vision. It’s a short game, even with multiple endings (you’ll be done well under an hour), but the creativity is astonishing. You guide the protagonist Stanley through his oddest day of work, and unravel not only how bizarre his life really is, but end up reflecting on the state of videogame storytelling as a whole.
The game is coded using the Source engine, and is freeware, making it easily accessible to anyone who already possesses Half Life 2. Essentially, it is a mod, but it doesn’t use any of the original game – just its graphics and physics engine. Taking the form of a choose your own adventure book in video game form, the story is acted out by you, and the context voiced over by a narrator. The writing essentially comes out via the narrator, and they comment upon Stanley’s thoughts as you guide him around. The narrator’s voice is extremely well written and acted, but what is more extraordinary is the story. Everything is designed to be generic – the office, the work, and especially Stanley himself. Something odd happens to him in his everyday life (lo behold, every Hollywood movie or major game narrative), and we follow his adventures: choosing his path as we go.
The generic part is important, because you could pretty much layer any narrative into this framework. This framework is how The Matrix started, it’s how Half Life starts, it’s how a famous novel might start. It’s also (sadly) lazy story writing. Unlike a film or a book though, you get choices. That’s what makes videogames fun! It’s your skill and decision making that influence the plot, much like reality. The Stanley Parable crudely mocks this, though. You can’t win. There is no skill involved. Despite having choices, the narrator controls you at every turn, and only rewards you unless you do what they wants you to do. Much like every game you’ve ever played.
This is unlike any kind of game I’ve ever played before. It smashes down the forth wall, and forces you to look at how unsatisfying the storytelling aspect of a game is. Instead of feeling like true worlds, you realise they’re more like disguised on-rails shooters, with storylines attached. Even games like Grand Theft Auto 4, with thriving sandbox environments, only really have a limited amount of plots for you to choose (none of which are really your doing – more the game designers).
I thoroughly enjoyed playing this, not just because of the excellent storytelling, but also for how thought-provoking it is. It’s definitely the first time I’ve played a game that was so meta – enjoyable in its own right, but something that can also enhance other games in the future.
