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The Stanley Parable Demo Will Explode Your Brain

Modding & Development Source

What exactly is The Stanley Parable? It is an indie remake of a Half-Life 2 mod of the same name, but what was that? A story? A game? A serious commentary on the nature of free will, or just an amusing mod? Even the developers make a point of not explaining themselves, preferring to provide one whimsical contradiction after another. One thing that is certain about The Stanley Parable is that it is coming soon on Steam, and you can download a demo right now.

The Stanley Parable Demo Will Explode Your Brain

Perhaps I have not made myself clear here, so let’s start from the beginning. The original mod was released for Half-Life 2 in 2011. In it, players took the role of Stanley, an office worker whose story is told by the ever-present but mysterious Narrator, who both guides and berates the player as he attempts to tell a story. The ‘game’ therefore focused on narrative, and making choices that led to several different endings. The new commercial version of The Stanley Parable, which will be available this Thursday, looks set to follow the same formula of surrealistic and darkly humorous storytelling whilst replacing its predecessor’s stock Half-Life assets with a fresh new look on the latest version of Source.

If you are even slightly interested (or possibly just confused), a new demo of the game of the mod is now available to download via Steam. Without spoiling anything, this has to be the best game demo ever created, period. Even if you have no intention of buying the game, this is a mind-blowing experience in itself, and fans of the original will love it too. The Narrator is back at his dark and hilarious best in a level created just for the demo which will not feature in the actual game. Safe to say it’s not possible to write an explanation that will do it justice. Go and download it now!

If you survive playing the whole of The Stanley Parable’s demonstration, mark October 17th in your diary and get ready to do whatever it is you do in this game!

12 Comments

  1. I had the spinning thingy too and thought it was the demo messing with my head. I read MisterAddy’s post and realised my G27 wheel was still plugged in. DOOOOH!!!!

  2. Just played the full game of this. Bloody genius.

    One of the most interesting and innovative games I think I’ve seen in quite some time.

  3. Can’t access Steam properly anywhere in the few options I have nowadays, so both demo and full game will have to wait until I’m finally able to download games. Still, looking forward to it!

  4. Waiting ’til Thursday, honestly – got too much on my plate to get a demo for a game I know I’m buying.

    • You’re missing out! The fact that it’s a demo is integral to the demo – it’s hard to explain without spoiling the whole thing. Think of it more as a bonus level. It’s definitely worth the half hour or so that it lasts.

  5. I remember this back when it was free HL2 mod.

    Really love the concept, I will be getting this when its out!

  6. I’m sorry but i just dont understand this “demo”. It shows nothing of the final game (except maybe the “Eight” game.), and if the full game is as rediculous as this so-called demo, i’m sorry, but i that’s a no-buy for me.

  7. What are you doing right now? Well you’re reading the comments on LambdaGeneration, I know that for sure. But what else? Whatever it is, it isn’t nearly as important as playing The Stanley Parable demo. So stop whatever you’re doing, launch Steam, download it for free, and play it. It will blow your mind. But why do you care what I think? You wouldn’t even know what I think if you would have stopped what you were doing and just gone and played The Stanley Parable Demo like I said. Think about how that choice has now caused you to read my own personal opinion, which could give you a predisposition to like the demo. With a demo like The Stanley Parable, that taint will pretty much ruin the whole experience. It’s ruined! Oh, just forget it. But wait… have you gotten this far into my post? REALLY? Wow you don’t listen very well. What has that earned you? Now you have a second predisposition to think that the demo will be horrid, and what’s worse knowing that it’s entirely your fault. How do you even handle having the weight of both prognoses on your shoulders going into the demo for the first time? I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes. Seems like a paradox to me. And of course, having just read that, a 3rd has been added to the mix. Bravo. The good news is that paradoxes do have the added benefit of blowing your mind. Wait, how did we end up back here?

    I guess you’ve got a choice to make.

  8. Can’t wait for Thursday.

  9. My brain indeed exploded, becouse for some reason my character just keeps spinning around. I don’t know if thats a bug or is supposed to be like that, but one thing for sure – im not gonna play this demo like that. I’ve been trying everything – rebinding mouse, modyfing .cfg’s, and nothing. All I can do is to slow the spining down by binding a turn button to a key and contantly pressing it during the play. But oh god, it’s so dumb. Anyone else is having that problem?

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