The Stanley Parable • Frustrating Players 

If you want to talk about frustrating players, The Stanley Parable's achievement "Unachievable" is a masterclass. The description reads "It is impossible to get this achievement." It seemed to be awarded randomly, prompting players to carefully reconstruct what they were doing when it happened in attempts to figure it out. Ultimately, it was determined that the developers were actively updating the game to change the obscure rules for it to unlock.

OH, DID U GET THE BROOM CLOSET ENDING? THE BROOM CLOSET ENDING WAS MY FAVRITE

>The player isn't engaged by the adventure line Excuse me WHAT. I think the narrator was the one not engaged with it.

Great title! "Frustrating players" as one's task as a developer, but also being "Frustrating players" pushing against the narrative boundaries of a game.

The Stanley Parable feels so much like a kind of hell. A narrative hell. A video game equivalent of No Exit by Sartre.

Take a shot everytime he says "lays itself bare"

how about we make a game where theres no ending but we constantly hint at an ending, leading players to go on their own paths of procedurally generated areas endlessly edit : changed an to no

Now I kinda want to see an essay on all the endings and all their meanings...

The perfect ending to this game for me, was after all of them, you do the one where you stop going in the bosses office just in time and the door closes, then you go back to the start and escape through an escape pod. The only true way to escape.

i see good prospects for your channel

Me after the video feeling big lead head vibes: “oh of course it’s leadhead”

This was made LAST YEAR? Jesus, I can't believe i wasn't recommended this yet

‘they’re no longer horrifying’ half life alyx: allow me to introduce myself

Fun fact: without knowing anything about the game, my first ending was The Confusion Ending. Yeah, it was weird, but one of my favorites. Also, great video!

I would’ve just turned off my computer after that “you win” and accept that just to spite it

No matter how long time has passed, “The Stanley Parable” is always going to be my favorite game. It is a game about choice and free will, in a particular perspective, yes. However, this game is ultimately the perfect embodiment of philosophy. It evokes so many questions, yet rarely answers them, which is what philosophy is all about. It act as a mirror for each player to make their own reflection, and that is beautiful, divine, and something I will encapsulates in my future games.

The confusion ending was absolutely amazing to experience for the first time.

0:03 how big is your mouse pad?

the part with the room with many doors that all open at once has and will stay with me forever. Whenever I get into an unexpected or unplanned situation now I always think to myself "it's an adventure", and visualising all the doors opening in my head is comforting. It fills me with a sense of wonder of what that unexpected situation will bring me.

This is very good, very deep and very on point. I think I have learned something today.

4:04 Holy shit I finally found someone else who tried a no powers run for Dishonored 1.

I can see you drew a lot of inspiration for your commentary from the museum ending; fantastic work nonetheless

This game is one of my favourite games ngl, it really deserves more recognition.

Dude I'm going to play the stanley parable again because of this video. Great work!

the number of choices doesn't matter. they have to be GOOD choices. like getting on with a character in an RPG, only for the characters to never acknowledge your relationship, like it doesn't exist even in theory

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe thats coming out should have a 'noclip' ending, where you can find a noclip exploit where the narrator disappears and the game turns into the "Backrooms"

Remove the prop's in the maze part of the confusion ending, and suddenly...... Hey wait, why am I in the backrooms?

Leadhead - interesting introspection into one of my favourite games ever My brain - DUN DADAA DUM DA DUN DAAAAAAAA

"Games can only grant to illusion of free will" Sandbox games: Allow us to introduce ourselves...

Singlehandedly one of my favorite games ever. Fantastic analysis of the confusion ending, keep it up!

Amazing video dude. Kept me hooked from the start till the end.

This was such an insightful breakdown, thanks man. You've helped me find more meaning in something that I've always seen as nothing more as a comedy game.

When I last played the Stanley parable (3 years ago), I got so bothered by the way it presents choice/illusion of choice that I decided the only way to "win" the Stanley parable was to stop playing. And here we are.

Man, I keep looking for video essays and coming back to this channel. Not pretentious, completely practical and non-nonsensical, and very good to listen to. Keep it up!

What a fantastic bit of food for thought. I never realized how deep the message could be.

I’m 2/5 of the way to getting the “go outside” achievement let’s go gamers

WOW that was impressively well made! Stanley Parable is quite something, and I had never thought of it like this!

i have no binged most of your videos i enjoyed the look off. thanks for this time i have spent with you

The existentialism that you touch on this video is honestly sending me Making art that reaches your heart in the same way it reaches others is such a difficult thing, it seems impossible, but when you are able to do it, that art really feels better than what you would have made for one or the other

2:38 Haha oh wow, Postal 2, I almost forgot. What a beautiful clusterfuck.

And now I feel dumb for not getting any of this analogy when I played.

These videos are just awesome man. You *need* more subscribers.

Dude what a fucking great video. Free will vs narrative. Freedom vs intended experience. Stanley vs. Narrator. Genius man. Its almost not even about Stanley Parable its about storytelling as an interactive experience.

I like how he said how the confusion ending is like really rare and stuff... I ALWAYS get the confusion ending, always on accident, and I've come to hate it. 😅

The algorithm has been recently recommending me old videos at unexpected times with different groups of people. Idk what has happened to the algorithm but I'm not complaining.

love the postal part where youre so overwhelmed your pissed on the ceiling

got this in my recommended, honestly I don't even have anything clever to say - this was a really cool and we'll structured video dude!

I like the message, I’ve focused on what others would think about my writing, I need to find a balance

7:52 this bit of commentary and challenge to fate is always so excellent every time I hear it. What good writing that is.

Minecraft: *Exists* The Stanley Parable: *Wait, That's Illegal!*

this game never frustrated me or anything i just got in love with the narrator he is just so fucking funny

I'm glad he brought up dishonored, one of my favorite single player series and a game that really gives the player lots of freedom which results in drastically different playthroughs

Someone once asked MatPat if he would do a theory on The Stanley Parable. I replied to the comment, explaining how there isn't really much to: 'Explain,' about The Stanley Parable. This is as close as a Game-Theroy episode I can think of, for this game! Well-Done! :)

Incredible job on this video dude!

Heyy, you just hit 10k subs! You deserve 100x more though, your content is amazing!

5:13 I love the nod you make the player so lmao

7:12 No, this is an extended version of the ending that was not added to the game.

I thought this channel was big but it has 13k. What great quality and effort but in, you earned a sub

I just gotta say the adventure line music is amazing

Bro, underrated channel hope more ppl will see your vids

I really like this video.... well done!

If you keep posting quality content such as this. I give it by next year you'll have close to a million subs. If not at least 500k

Hey Man just wanted to say you deserve more views and subs. Your content is superb.

quality content! incredibly thought provoking

You're an amazing RU-vidr who deserves way more subscribers

i like see some games so differently now your views on games are awesome!

Great shit my guy

I wish they continued the confusion ending all the way, and that it didn't just cut and the line leading nowhere

I love discovering stuff like this on RU-vid

The thing with freedom is that it doesn't mean you HAVE to take a mile from an inch. If you want to experience the story, you can do so. That's just a part of freedom. If you want to undermine the narrative -- if you don't care (aside from accidents) -- then you'd have the freedom to do so.

"youre always going to be walking through someone elses halls" except dwarf fortress, truly unique

The stanley parable is basically understanding game design the game. It's a very humanizing way to paint the conundrum of linear game design and player freedom. The funny thing is that player freedom in itself is linear as players can only ever experience games as planned by designers. Anything not planned by designers is a bug. What if a designer makes a game that has a bunch of choices that end up leading to the same conclusion. Is that freedom. What if the designer just makes a sandbox with no story. Is that freedom. Are either of these better or worse experiences? Are walking sims games? Are game makers in themselves games? Are games only games if they are enjoyable? What about games that don't live up to a players expectations in spite of it all. Are they flawed or is the player flawed for not expecting the product they got. Game design is an impossible task, program design, intelligent design. Predetermined design is the weirdest series of logic puzzles. Logic games... I just rambled for a while there. WTF

Him: "Museum ending is the ending most people will encounter on their first playthrough." Me who has played it a good number of time: "WHAT IS THIS ROOM? WHY DID I NOT KNOW OF THIS ENDING!"

6:22 your "peer fulstration" def is so good, and true. If you want to teach you have to waterdown you knowlage.

Your channel is awesome you earned a sub

"Frustrating players" The game made Matpat drop the f-bomb

this is how I feel about writing music. It’s so, so very frustrating.

The broom closet ending was my favourite

It feels weird because not many games I know use a compass to direct the player. There still might be a compass on the screen and if you can put markers on the map then it will show you which direction to go but most games don’t really force it anymore.

Did anybody notice the how it feels to play pyro video when he was taking about metal gear solid

I think what makes games so interesting as storytelling devices is there wealth or lack of choices. What you can and can't do, paints a very clear picture of what the developers were trying to say with their game. Dishonored gives you a choice and tells, even with three different endings, one story: Actions have consequences based on If they were good or bad. Another very different example is The Last Of Us Part 2; which forces you to do things you as a player probably don't want to do. Taking control from the player also sends a message. In TLOU2 it's that violence and tragedy are inevitable (to simplify it).

When I first bought it, I played the 1st ending and thought “That’s it? What a waste of money”

Have a look at Hardspace Shipbreaker, there the player finds parts of the life’s of others when dismantling their spaceships. The player has his story and he can consume or ignore the past lives of the others.

@2:16 in regards to Bioshock There was only supposed to be one ending, the good one. They were forced into giving the player a choice between a good and bad ending by the publisher. That info comes from a dev interview, Ken Levine if I remember right

One of my favorite games, nice video.

The message of this is that LeadHead is trying to solve stanleys parable

How do you only have 10k Subs? You need 10 million!

OH, DID U GET THE BROOM CLOSET ENDING? THE BROOM CLOSET ENDING WAS MY FAVRITE XDDDDDD

1:09 I THOUGHT I WAS HEARING WHEATLEY

I want a game like Stanley parable or superliminal, you know, a game where you feel utterly alone, and it reminds you of liminal spaces. But something is following, and every time you look at it, it darts away at the last second. A Stanley parable horror game

5:55 I felt the exact opposite. I have *no sense of direction whatsoever* so games that are laid out in an even slightly nonlinear way just wind up with me wandering the same hallways sometimes dozens of times, padding the game with frustration. That compass is there for people like me who can turn around and walk down the same hallway and not recognize that they're doing it because they got turned around by a combat encounter.

Freedom of exploration needs content to be unravel, multiple stories hidden behind causality, the space itself is unimportant if there is no meaning to it, and i feel like it takes a bit of the fun out of it if you can clearly see the choices like 6:58, not just because you will keep wondering what it would happen if you choose the other and the lost of the other content in that playthrough but also because you will see that it is all that it is like in 7:07

2:44 man really just poured gas on himself to put out his fire XD

What the heck I didn't realize this game had a message, I just played the confusion ending and didn't think anything about linear vs. non linear gameplay.

cant wait to finally be able to play this after my 5 years is almost up

The confusion ending was the first one I got 😅😂

That's the limit of videogames. That's why I prefer tabletop rpgs for stories. You have a human sitting there. They can be dynamic and change the story as it fits. Or giving you the illusion of choice. "I want to go somewhere else instead of saving this village" "Sure. There you encounter a young woman. With panic in her eyes she describes you the horrors of the last attack!". It is also a lot more fun to write for that than for games or books or movies. Whenever the story is set in stone without any way for change it feels limiting.

i got the confusion ending by just choosing randomly and it was so fun and bizarre

underated channel

After I played this game for like 2 or 3 hours I was so confused and had so many questions, it's the most confusing game i've ever played.