I've found myself playing a lot more indie games recently. I'd hazard a guess that this is probably because most indie publishers place a higher value than Triple-A publishers do on things that FUCKING WORK AT LAUNCH.
So in the past weekend I worked my way through both The Stanley Parable and Gone Home, two excellent PC titles that have given me hope for the future of gaming. The reason I'm reviewing them together is two-fold: 1) Their gameplay and mechanics are actually quite similar, despite them both having extremely different atmosphere, style and narrative, 2) since these will be spoiler-free reviews and both games are very story-intensive, they'd each be about half a post by themselves - hence the doubling-up.
The Stanley Parable
This is a game about a man named Stanley. He works in an office building doing mundane things assigned to him by a mundane computer without question. Then, one day, something extraordinary happens. He notices that there's no one in his office building. It falls to Stanley to investigate this matter.
This is about as far as I can go without spoiling any of the details. The Stanley Parable is a game where you wander around an office building in a story narrated by a vaguely British, disembodied voice. Unlike Bastion, where the narrator described your actions after they'd happen, The Stanley Parable is like being read a story. The Narrator gives you instructions, which you can then choose to obey or disobey. Both choices will advance the narrative, however disobeying forces the narrator to adapt the story to you. Given that he isn't particularly fond of your disobedience, the story (though humorous in it's own right) becomes even more amusing. Over time, the Narrator will get frustrated, out right angry, and even resigns you to your fate of disobedience (whoops! Spoilers).
So how do you, the agent of chaos, get to interact with The Stanley Parable? Minimally. Gameplay consists entirely of walking around in first-person view, and occasionally clicking on buttons. You can't jump, you can't open doors, although do keep trying. You might learn something. Sounds simple, right? It is, but the game is about the choices and how they affect the outcome. The mechanics are merely a means to an end, and a rather effective one at that.
What makes The Stanley Parable a real gem are it's multiple endings. Each path of obedience/disobedience eventually leads to a different ending, and with so many forks, there are quite a few possibilities. This saves The Stanley Parable, since average play-time to an ending is roughly 10-20 minutes. This makes The Stanley Parable the perfect game to unwind after a rough day, fiddle about during your lunch break, or (if you're of exceptional curiosity) spend several hours on trying to find each and every ending.
Gone Home
Kaitlin Greenbriar is a 20-year-old student who has just returned home from her European vacation. Upon arriving home, she realizes that the house is completely empty. Where is her family and why have they gone?
Gone Home may seem similar to The Stanley Parable. The feel of being alone, in a strange place, where the end goal is to figure out why everyone disappeared. However, Gone Home takes a very different approach. It grants a rather voyeuristic look into the personal lives and issues of a fictional family. You explore the house, finding notes, memos, letters, and invoices that help you delve into the minds and lives of characters that you never actually come face to face with. Gone Home does a fantastic job of taking you from outsider, looking through Kaitlin's eyes, to actually becoming Kaitlin and relating to her family and their struggles.
The game's pacing is impeccable, partially because it's a something that you can enjoy at your own pace. You can investigate as much or as little as you like. Play for as brief or as long as you like. You set your own pace and that can't be said of most games with a more traditional narrative. Since everything about Gone Home is told in a sort of "past tense", it heavily relied on forcing the player to do things in the correct order, so that the core story made sense. The Fullbright Company accomplished this incredibly well, without feeling too intrusive. There are two locked doors and two combination locks in the whole house. Each one is meaningful, but not obstructive. Everything about Gone Home feels natural.
What I really have to give Gone Home proper kudos for is the story. A story I won't spoil here, but one that's filled me with more emotions than any Quantic Dream game I've ever touched. The use of character, tone, and all of the music create an incredible emotional roller coaster that one really has to play to experience.
So, with last weekend well behind me, and this weekend on the horizon, I close by giving BOTH The Stanley Parable and Gone Home:
A
Both titles exhibit new ways to tell a story in video games, and damn good ones at that. The Stanley Parable had me laughing at the unique endings and seeing just how far I could push the narrator. Gone Home nearly had me in tears with its emotionally involved plot that really made me wish I could have met the characters. Both games kept things minimal, but in doing so, really make every little detail that much more meaningful.
You can purchase The Stanley Parable on Steam here.
You can purchase Gone Home on Steam as well (here). You can also buy direct from The Fullbright Company, who have just released a package deal that includes FOUR albums worth of soundtrack at the low price of $24.99. Head to their official page and click "Buy Now".
-Nik "Latency" Trumble
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