Tag: The Stanley Parable

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Is it time to stop using the term “walking simulator”?

The history of the term “walking simulator” is short but heated. It’s only seen wide usage over the past few years and is often applied frivolously. There’s a lot of uncertainties around it but the one thing that’s for sure it it’s a divisive term. Some people see it as a useful way to bunch together a group of games with similar interests—typically slower games, ones about exploration and contemplation. While others abhor it and wish it would go away. But it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, at least, not any time soon. “Walking simulator” seemed to come into popularity around the…
Feature

The videogames that want to be disobeyed

Early in Far Cry 4 (2014), you sit at a dinner table across from the brutal antagonist, Pagan Min. While remaining unnervingly calm, he tortures a man by stabbing his back with a fork. As they leave the room, Pagan Min turns to you and says, “Don’t move, I’ll be right back.” The cutscene ends and you soon learn that you can move with ease. A quest prompt appears and tells you to “explore De Fleur’s mansion.” Will you listen to Pagan Min’s instructions to stay still, or disregard them and obey the game itself? If you ignore this prompt…
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The epic theater of videogames

Sign up to receive each week’s Playlist e-mail here! Also check out our full, interactive Playlist section. Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist (PC, Mac) By Crows Crows Crows Davey Wreden’s follow-up to his videogame satire The Stanley Parable earlier this year, The Beginner’s Guide, was an introspective game essay on expression and creativity through games. It was solemn in tone and seemed to speak specifically to the aching hearts of game creators. The other person behind The Stanley Parable, William Pugh found a new team, called it Crows Crows Crows, and together they’ve put together a response…
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The Stanley Parable co-creator teases new game with mysterious ARG

Coming right off the tail of Davey Wreden’s The Beginner’s Guide, the other Stanley Parable co-creator William Pugh has begun teasing a new game of his own. The unnamed mystery game, described as “a weird puzzle,” will be the debut project for Pugh’s recently founded studio Crows Crows Crows. But aside from that bit of info, a few screenshots, and a strange ARG, we don’t know much about it just yet. The images depict a large, numbered vault locked away in a dark storage room, what appears to be the backstage area of a theater, and a pipe-filled basement with…
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Explore a portrait of a game creator in The Beginner’s Guide

Sign up to receive each week’s Playlist e-mail here! Also check out our full, interactive Playlist section. The Beginner’s Guide (PC, Mac)  BY Everything Unlimited LTD The Beginner’s Guide, a followup from the creator of The Stanley Parable (which is a game about games) is a videogame about the people that make them. Somewhere amidst all that game-ness is the portrait of a person, a friendship, and a community of people who are still figuring out how to create and even talk about this thing they love. Voiced by the designer himself, Davey Wreden, Beginner’s Guide sets you out on a journey to understand Davey’s friend, Coda, through a series…