The Stanley Parable is strange. The Stanley Parable is smart, calculated. The Stanley Parable is pure chaos. The Stanley Parable is about so very, very many things – at least, until it decides to be not about them at all, often in the same breath. I’ll be straight with you: reviewing this thing in any conventional fashion is more or less impossible. Yes, at heart it’s a first-person adventure born of a highly acclaimed Half-Life 2 mod, but it’s also far, far more. A tangled web of surprises and secrets, a madman’s ransom collage of endings and fresh starts. And so, in the spirit of The Stanley Parable, I have decided to let you choose how you’d like to see the game reviewed. Well, if you’d even call these meaningful choices, let alone important ones. Er, sorry about that. Been playing too much Stanley Parable. You know how it is. 

(more…)