The Stanley Parable

I’ve been interested in The Stanley Parable for almost a decade now. It was recently ported to the Nintendo Switch, so I was finally able to play it. I spent about an hour with the game, and I got seven of the (I think there are nineteen?) endings.

People say that talking about The Stanley Parable will spoil it, but I don’t think that’s true. The basic premise of this game is easy to describe, and there’s not much to spoil. Also, I don’t think there’s any need to ascribe some sort of mystical depth to a short game created by two college-age men as a portfolio demo back in 2011. The Stanley Parable is interesting, but I want to try to explain why it left a bad taste in my mouth.

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I would say that The Stanley Parable is still worth playing, but I don’t think it’s worth the $25 that the developers are charging for it. That price tag is actually kind of insulting, especially given the message of the game.

Also, for half the price you could play What Remains of Edith Finch, another narrated walking simulator that is genuinely beautiful (and substantial) and asks many of the same metadiegetic questions with much more sympathy, nuance, and self-reflection.

The Magnus Archives, Season Five

While playing Elden Ring in 2022, I listened to the monster-of-the-week horror podcast The Magnus Archives. The previous time I listened, I stopped at the fifth and final season, but this time around I was sure I would make it all the way through.

I managed to make it a few more episodes into Season Five, but I couldn’t keep going. I don’t want to hate on the podcast, which is fantastic for the first three seasons, but I still want to try to explain why I don’t like this final season.

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I guess it just struck me that I don’t like the final season of The Magnus Archives for the same reason that I don’t like The Stanley Parable. The Stanley Parable wants to tell you that you’re stupid for playing a video game about video games, and The Magnus Archives wants to tell you that you’re a bad person for listening to a horror fiction podcast about horror fiction. It’s like, Fine then! If you don’t want me to engage with your story, then I have a panoply of other stories to enjoy, and you can take your “Please like comment and subscribe” and shove it.