Don’t ask questions, just play Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe

digitaltrends.com:

If you’re like me, you might tend to ignore video game rereleases. I don’t have much interest in remasters and deluxe editions of games I’ve played before. I love the Mass Effect trilogy, but I don’t have a level of nostalgia for it that would make me replay it all again with improved visuals and quality of life tweaks. “New content” can entice me with the right game, but I find myself let down by that promise more often than not.

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe understands that trepidation. On its surface, it’s a fairly standard rerelease that brings a 2013 classic to consoles. The graphics have been slightly modernized, there are some welcome accessibility options and, yes, new content. That last part is a bit of an understatement — and that’s by design.

Like the original game, The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is a surprising narrative, meta adventure game that defies player expectations at every turn. Only this time, it’s less of a philosophical self-reflection on freewill and more of a searing satire on the current “content era” where fans are seemingly never satisfied.

When The Stanley Parable first released in 2013, it was a bit of a revelation. The game, which is about a man named Stanley waking up in an abandoned office, brought a level of fourth wall-breaking meta humor that hadn’t really been seen in games at the time. The entire game is narrated by a disembodied voice in Stanley’s head who guides him through a set story. The player doesn’t always have to follow that path though, much to the narrator’s frustration. Every side hallway is a rabbit hole that leads to another unexpected ending.

The result was a small magnum opus about freewill, as told through the lens of a video game that gives players the