Storytelling and The Stanley Parable
While games are generally getting better at delivering narrative, The Stanley Parable completely broke the mold
Talking directly to the player has evolved into something more than delivering a paragraph of exposition to them during a loading screen. As games have evolved, so too have the writers creating them, and increasingly we are seeing some masterful strokes of storytelling within gaming. As of 2018, the Nebula Awards now welcome the contribution of games as a storytelling device through their Game Writing category. Already, there have been some incredibly strong contenders as nominations — and winners — of the award. The industry is becoming recognised for its ability to tell a story in new and varied ways, and also allows us to play with the formula of how a story is told in the first place.
While it is tempting to list off examples of great narration in games, I want to focus on one of my all-time favourites: the Narrator of The Stanley Parable. This narrator is a character in their own right, but the extent of how the storytelling changes will depend on the player’s choice. If the player follows directions, then the story takes a more traditional path, guided by the Narrator. If, instead, the choice is to ignore what the Narrator says and find their own adventure, the voice becomes frustrated, angry, exasperated, and more.
It’s a bit like playing the part of a person in a DnD campaign, and you’re given control over how much you can mess about in the game and test the patience of a dungeon master before they decide to throw ten dragons at you.
Released on October 17, 2013 as a standalone game, it was originally a free mod for Half-Life 2 that aimed to highlight what would happen if the player actively chose to work against what a story would tell them to do. Davey Wreden, the developer of the mod, elaborated on this in an interview:
“The very first thing I asked with the game was “what would happen if you could disobey the narrator?” And I actually had no idea what the answer was, so I just started designing a game around it to see what would happen! As it turns out the game that popped around that question is about the perception and limitations of freedom in video gaming — which is cool, but it’s more like something I discovered rather than something I created.
As modern games go, many developers simply don’t ask many questions, they make assumptions based on how we’ve already been doing things.”
It’s one of the most unique takes on storytelling: not so much because of how a story is told, but because of how a player can interact with it. A lot of games tend to gently encourage the player to take a certain route — or a selection of routes — along a story that eventually comes to the end as the game intends. Instead, The Stanley Parable caters to the kind of player that might end up wanting to wander off and explore an area that is usually underdeveloped in other games.
The game has a total of 19 achievable endings that include scenarios where the player is clearly just trying to break the game. Sometimes the ending could be the result of the player simply wanting to sit in a cupboard for ten minutes. Normally this would be excruciatingly boring, but the narration that goes along with it makes it not only tolerable, but fun to do. Because the Narrator encouraged me to leave the cupboard so much, I became even more eager to remain planted inside.
This divergence in storytelling within The Stanley Parable is emblematic of a kind of narrative that is rarely explored outside of gaming: the aspect of choice. Not only can you listen to a great story, but you can listen to a great story that you have helped to craft. The original Mass Effect trilogy is the obvious example, here. Your actions serve as the detail on a vast, sprawling canvas that tells the fate of the universe. The plot overall does not change, but it’s up to you to mold how that adventure takes shape. Does the universe get saved by a no-nonsense maverick or a by-the-books soldier? Will you betray your allies, or stay loyal — and even then, will you get them killed with some poor choices?
Mass Effect is not as radical as The Stanley Parable in that you still have to follow an overall storyline, but it performs well in making you want to progress forward by giving you ample choice to help personalise the experience for your tastes. Without this palette of customisation, Mass Effect would not be Mass Effect. It would not be nearly as memorable to me as it is without that ability to choose who I adventure with and who I choose to talk to.
To boil The Stanley Parable’s method of storytelling down to a single scenario, it is best to describe one of the earliest scenes in the game. You are presented with two open doors, and the Narrator says the following:
“When Stanley came to a set of two open doors, he entered the door on his left.”
It’s completely up to you whether you decide to take the left door or not. Many games need not be as extreme as allowing their player to wilfully break the path that is laid out before them, but the creativity on display still puts to shame many other developers still relying on scripted cutscenes to advance their storyline.
There’s an update to the game arriving in 2020, which I am really looking forward to. It’s called The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, and promises more endings and more choice. It’s been delayed, but in typical Stanley Parable fashion, the developer provided a witty video to announce the delay. The game is best experienced while being played, but if you’re unconvinced about what you might expect, a demo for the game also exists — and the demo itself is not a section cut out from the game itself, but rather a self-contained custom tale. Without spoiling anything, the demo provides a clear example of how the game breaks the fourth wall as part of its gameplay. It’s also very funny in its own right. I’d encourage giving that a play through, even if you do not plan on buying the full product.
