March 19, 2025 • 22 mins
We dive into The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe, a meta-commentary game that challenges what a video game can be while providing a compelling experience about choice, predestination, and the relationship between player and creator.
• Plays like an interactive choose-your-own-adventure book with countless branching paths and endings
• Features a narrator who responds to player choices, creating a dynamic relationship between game and player
• Raises philosophical questions about whether player choices in games truly matter
• Compares to shows like Severance with its empty office aesthetic and themes
• Contains numerous Easter eggs, achievements, and meta-humor about the gaming industry
• Challenges traditional definitions of what constitutes a video game
• Both hosts agree the game perfectly accomplishes what it sets out to do
• Works best as a video game despite minimal mechanics, wouldn't translate as well to other mediums
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to your go-to source for entertainment.
Wait for it Gaming.
Wait for it Anime.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
PLUS ULTRA.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino.
Yeah, they've got you covered,and all you gotta do is wait for
it.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
This is the Wait For it Podcast.
Hey, everyone, welcome back tothe Wait For it Podcast.
I'm your co-host, phil Barrera,aka Phil the Filipino.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
And I'm your other co-host, mr Eric Almighty, and
for this edition of the GameRoom when it Happens.
This is the first time that wehave decided to go into a very
much first-person explorationvideo game.
That's somewhat meta and isperfect timing, considering that
one of our favorite shows isSeverance and this game
(01:01):
absolutely is an influence tothat popular show.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
The game we are covering is the stanley parabel
ultra deluxe yeah, and this is agame that has popped up a lot
on my feed in terms of like whenI go down to youtube rabbit
hole, a lot of people will talkabout this.
As far as influential games orgames that are a lot you know
are different, or games thatisn't a game, so I think we'll
(01:25):
talk about all of that heretoday.
I mean, it's over a 10 year oldgame.
It did have a re-release in theform of Ultra Deluxe in 2022.
So excited to talk about all ofthat here, eric, and you know
see what we thought about thisexperience and get into all of
that.
So, before we begin, want towelcome in all of our returning
(01:46):
and brand new listeners to thepodcast.
If you want to know where youcan find all the rest of our
content, make sure you stickaround to the very end.
We'll let you know where youcan find all of that.
So, without further ado, eric,let's just jump into the Stanley
Parabell Again.
Originally released in 2013,the game carries themes such as
(02:07):
choice, the relationship betweengame creator and player, as
well as predestination and fate.
You play a silent protagonistnamed Stanley alongside a
narrator, and the player isconfronted with a bunch of
different branching pathways.
Think about a choose your ownadventure book, except for you
(02:31):
basically start this over andover and over again.
So, eric, tell me how you cameacross this, because, again, I
had heard of this over the lastfew years.
How did you come across it hereover the last few months?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah.
So a family member was actuallyplaying this and I happened to
notice on my friends list on myPlayStation 4, which my son was
playing at the time and I waslike I don't, what game is that?
I've never heard of that game.
And then I looked it up and Iowned it.
I had access to it because itwas available on PlayStation
Plus one month here recently, inthe last, I would say, three to
(03:07):
six months.
So I didn't even know.
You know the vibe when you pullup PlayStation Plus those are
my games for the month, you oweme those and you don't even look
Unless you see it's the SuicideSquad and you know.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I don't want this.
This month Did I reallydownload this.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
No, so nobody's playing that, this game.
I then clicked, went to thePlayStation store, saw some
clips and I was like what isthis?
And my son, who loves stufflike the back rooms, immediately
saw the allure of this empty,mysterious office and was like I
want to give that a try.
So for a game I thought hewould kill some time in.
(03:46):
We both pressed play and we'retaking turns playing this game
because it was something that wehad no clue going into what it
was about and Phil, like Imentioned at the top of the
episode, who knew this issomething we'd even do an
episode about.
So definitely a game that's notnormally in my wheelhouse, but
glad that I kind of stumbledupon.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, it's a very, very interesting experience and
I know that it sparks a lot ofconversation.
Even though the reception tothis is very good, and
rightfully so, it very muchleans into, as you mentioned, a
lot of meta humor.
So, you know, with the rise ofa bunch of shows, you know, I
think a lot of people thinkabout things like Deadpool,
(04:30):
things like that.
The writing in this is muchbetter than any Deadpool film
Definitely will give it.
That Talks about how, eventhough this game came out over a
decade ago, all of thecommentary of it is still very
relevant, especially with thestate of gaming right now.
I think it's even more relevantthan ever and also kind of
(04:53):
shining a spotlight on theexpectation of choice.
Right, like everybody thatplays any open world game or any
type of story driven game, theywant to know that their choices
matter, and in so manyinstances we're finding out in
these big budget games that theydon't like.
The most famous one that I canspeak to is Mass Effect, the
(05:18):
Mass Effect series.
So Mass Effect two, one of myfavorite games of all time.
I was having a great time withMass Effect 3, only to find out
that every single choice that Imade came down to picking one of
three different colors and youknow you can look into that and
how devastating that was for theMass Effect community and they
(05:38):
had to re-release DLC toessentially fix the ending.
It was like the how I Met yourMother or Lost of video games at
that time.
So I think a very, very funexperience for people who have
their finger on the pulse ofgaming, I think this, if you
haven't already played thiswithin the last decade it's been
out.
That's who I would recommendthis to now.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I would agree with that and I think it's one of
those games where, like it hadthat nostalgic appeal for people
that had played the original.
And obviously I don't know thatbecause I didn't play it, but
that's kind of the vibes I wasgetting in my research and, for
my perspective, somebodycompletely new to not only this
game, but I never really playedanything like this because it is
(06:21):
very much a pointless game.
If you really think about it,phil, what there was an
achievement either for this orthe original, uh, that's like
super rare.
Do you remember what that was?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
it was something about like, if you never play
the game or something if youdon't touch the game for 10
years, you get the uh theachievement or the yeah, or the
steam achievement.
Now people have cheesed it andnow a whole bunch of people have
it, unfortunately.
But if you had it, if you gotit based off of, you know,
actually getting it veryimpressive, but yeah it,
literally, if you didn't playthe game or touch it for 10
years, you got the trophyachievement, whatever.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
And I think that summarizes what I mean by a
pointless game, because it's agame that you don't have to
really take seriously.
You just kind of go through theflow and figure out what these
choices lead to.
Sometimes you do the samechoice twice, you learn from it,
you keep it going.
New things appear based off ofchoices that are made.
Phil, this game very much turnsinto a sequel of itself at one
(07:18):
point, which was expandedcontent for the game.
So I just really like all ofthat.
But then you mentioned thenarration earlier and I like the
meta-ness of it.
It's very self-aware At onepoint and I don't want to say
spoilers because there's so muchstuff in this game, guys.
(07:38):
So I mean, at this point in theepisode, if you don't want to
hear anything, go play it.
But, phil, at one point there isa section where we're just
going over past reviews of thegame, like live reviews, and I
thought that was like reallyfunny.
I thought it was entertainingand at no point did I really
feel like the bit was old.
(07:59):
Now, if I doubled my gameplayexperience, I wonder what that
would be like.
But when I brought this episodeup to phil, I mentioned that
this game you could play two tothree hours and have a pretty
good idea how to speak to it,and the fact that you went
beyond that threshold, phil uh,seemed like a good sign yeah, I
(08:19):
hit about a little bit over fourhours and a lot of that was
because I was just playingthrough it and my daughter came
in and she's like, what are youplaying?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And I just handed her the controller and it was
really fun to also watch hermake the decision.
She also, in her firstplaythrough, chose the I want to
take over the mind controldevice.
So you know, know, that speaksto good or poor parenting, you
decide, I don't know that.
We had the same initialwalkthrough of the game but she
(08:49):
didn't get tired.
She played it for a good couplehours and didn't really get
tired of it until until afterthat time.
So I think it's really fun.
Like you said, the, the sequelstuff that portion of it was
really cool.
Love my bucket, I will die formy bucket.
Uh, that that was reallyinteresting.
And once again, I think reallythis serves more as a just kind
(09:13):
of pointing and having adiscussion with what we really
perceive as a game.
The other game that kind ofcomes to mind when I think of
the stanley parable.
There's a game that came out in2000 also in 2013 and it's
called gone home and it is alsoa.
(09:34):
Basically, people have arguedthat Gone Home really isn't a
video game.
It's very story-driven, it'sbasically an interactive book,
and that's what I think about aswell for the Stanley Parable.
Is this even really a video game?
As much as it is an opportunityto bring a lot of these
conversations about the state ofgaming into the forefront, like
(09:57):
you said, with that meta humor,with really good narration,
because there's not really anymechanics to the game.
You just walk around, you click, um, at one point you run out
of jumps.
Uh, did you get thatachievement?
Did you get that trophy for thejump disable?
So if you, after you, use allof your jumps and if you try to
jump more later, it gives you,it gives you a trophy.
(10:19):
It says, no really, we disabledthe button.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
So, um, that was fun okay, well, talking about again
things that you made me have anexperience.
Did you get the when you wereasked to enter in the time at
the beginning of the game whenyou loaded it up?
Yeah, did you get the promptsand the discussions about?
like you really didn't have todo this thank you so much like
(10:45):
this means nothing.
And then, like every time youwould do it, it would just be
like wow, you're like reallydedicated, you do not have to do
this and I was determined itled to something.
So those are like the littlethings in the game that like
make you want to keep going,because when you think the game
has found its ending point, itsstopping point, it doesn't, it
(11:05):
just has an endless amount.
It's a pointless game aboutnothing that you can you could
kill so much time in.
And I think when we talked abouta game like last month in
Guardians of the Galaxy, one ofthe frustrating things I've had
with some of these games is thedecision making doesn't really
matter in some of these gamesthat present like dialogue,
(11:27):
options or choices that you canmake, and I feel like, if you're
going to go all the way in onit, this is the type of game you
would do that for, and I don'tknow.
I just really appreciated itand, as you can maybe hear in my
voice, we did a convention thispast weekend, so it was like
perfect timing for us to do anepisode like this that's a
little casual, about a game thatphil has much of a legacy, but
(11:52):
also I've never heard a singleperson talk about in our friend
circle no, and I don't think youreally would, because I would
never be like man, you reallygotta play the Stanley Parable.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
It would be more so if somebody was like I came
across this game called theStanley Parable and I'd be like,
oh yeah, I really enjoyed mytime with that game.
It would never be somethingthat, like, I actively promoted
to people.
I was trying to figure out if,when the game came out, when
Ultra Deluxe came out, if it waslike made available for free to
people who already had theoriginal game I don't know if
(12:25):
you came across that.
I do see that it was made, forthe original game was made free
on the Epic Game Store in March2020.
2020, man, that would have beena good time to play through
this.
Huh, right, right as the theworld shut down.
So I'm not sure.
I guess it was uh, because Ibelieve the ultra deluxe was
when it was first made availablefor consoles.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
So yeah I don't know that yeah, it's considered an
already had it.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
okay, yeah, and it was.
Uh, even, like I said, I, wehaven't even touched the surface
as far as how many endingsthere are in this game.
I did look up some of them onYouTube that I won't spoil here.
But yeah, and for those of yousickos that like to play on
mobile, it's also on iOS, so youcan even play it on your iPad
or your iPhone.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
That's crazy, but again a fun experience
Nonetheless.
It's a game that on uh for pc,at least on metacritic and open
critic has a 90.
So again.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I didn't even think about oh, I'm not playing on pc.
I was like oh my god, mods, butI'm playing on a playstation.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, pretty pretty.
I mean honestly, the.
The scores in general are, uh,the ones that are there on
metacritic pretty high and yeah,uh, top critic average right
now nine, uh, 90 if it matters.
The the one that are there onMetacritic pretty high and yeah,
top critic average right now990 if it matters.
The, the one that literallymatters the least, but we bring
up all the time.
Ign gave it a nine for whateverthat's worth.
So, yeah, that is uh, theStanley Parable guys like it
(13:47):
just again is a very simpleconcept and game that I think is
executed really, really welland, although phil says he
wouldn't actively promote it,here we are releasing an episode
on the podcast feed so let meask you is this a game?
yeah, is it.
(14:07):
Yeah, I had fun with it yeah, Ihad fun too.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I'm just asking you is is, is this a video game?
Speaker 1 (14:16):
we probably should have had this discussion before
placing it in the game no, butwell, we hadn't played it yet.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Well, really well, I I had.
You know you'd played a littlebit of it, but like I I'm in in
its execution, in in itsexperience, like, would you,
would you classify this?
Speaker 1 (14:34):
because I think you can make an argument that it's
not even really a video game, asmuch as it is, again, an
interact, interactivestorytelling, interactive
conversation okay, okay betweenyourself and and the narrator I
will present to you a example ofthe only thing I think, the
only thing I can think of thatyou would do instead and tell me
(14:55):
if that would work better or adifferent medium or genre would
work better.
I'm thinking you would imaginethis is like a netflix
interactive show oh, kind oflike, where, like yeah like
where you'd click the remote andsay I want to do this action
and then it plays a clip.
In my opinion and I am reallycurious what you think based off
(15:18):
your question In my opinionthat doesn't work as well as if
you're holding the controllerand the aesthetic of the video
game.
But if there's another mediumor genre that you're thinking
this could work, let me know,because that would lead lead, uh
, to some credence to yourthought.
Sure, I think this is a videogame for that reason, because I
(15:41):
can't think of one, I can'tthink of another genre or medium
for it yeah, because it's notlike you can do that in like a
movie or, and even even thoughthere are, you know how you
would.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Everybody did this, everybody cheated on the pick
your own adventure book.
You're like you'd like peekover to the page.
You're like, nope, I don't wantthat ending, I want to go.
I don't want to do that one youknow.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
And I've been.
I've been getting into a lot ofgames recently where it's been
fun to pick it up where I leftoff right, and it's just easy to
pick up and put down.
So like slay the spire, uhbellatro, I'm playing those and
one of the main appeals StanleyParabell, is that like I don't
have to start over, I just kindof pick up from where I left off
, where, like when I brought upthat interactive show concept,
(16:24):
it's probably not going to workthe same, especially for the
amount of turns and endings aswell and endings that you could
take with this game.
So yeah, I would.
I feel like I've made a strongargument.
You tell us, but I, yeah, Ithink very much.
It is a video game and I thinkit perfects everything it sets
out to do, even if it onlyreally accomplishes like two or
(16:46):
three things.
At the end of the day, it ispointless.
It is a video game though.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Also it is do you get the rocket league ending the
rocket league?
Speaker 1 (17:00):
I don't know, I'm just okay, all right, tell me
about that after, yeah, so butyeah the stanley barrowball,
everybody uh I told phil uh, ata particular time I was gonna
gonna cut it off because at somepoint we'll just ramble and
phil, maybe this is it.
I thought I think that's avalid question, though, and I'm
very curious for people who haveplayed it what they think,
(17:23):
because ultimately, it has a adecent community, especially
with the way this thingperformed when it released the
expansion, you know, when itcame onto Steam.
So if you are a StanleyParabell lover, let us know what
you think.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah, and for those of you that are considering
playing it and dive into it,don't overthink it.
Don't overthink it.
Also.
There's no jump scares.
It has a very creepy aestheticbecause of the backroom feel,
which is so crazy that it'scoming up so much here recently
with me.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
But we did talk about the back rooms.
But the one you.
The reason I thought you mightlike this game is the severance
times.
Did you yeah, did you get thatvibe for sure?
What was your thought?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
100.
Yeah, it's definitely very muchwalking through the, the halls
of lumen.
So, uh, really really cool.
Honestly, they could release aseverance partnership or mod and
okay now, oh my gosh, it wouldbe, it'd be crazy, that would be
wild love that.
So imagine like milchickchasing you down the hall.
(18:24):
Now it's a totally differentgame, but still just imagine
milchick chasing you is itthough, like I don't know?
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I feel like those would be things they could
implement that wouldn't breakthe mechanics of the game like.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Imagine waking up in the conference room and you hear
mark honestly, I'm like superexcited I didn't.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Whatever I made that I I didn't even think about that
.
Uh, yeah, that would work, andthey could either make it a
stanley parable dlc or theycould like have some partnership
where it's just a severancegame under that model.
I don't know, either one worksfor me.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Yeah, a Severance game doesn't need to have crazy
graphics either, or you don'teven keep it the same way it is
and you never see anybody.
You just hear Milchak or Cobellor whatever All the different
rooms you can go to.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
That's super cool.
That would be a fun conceptwhen the show ends, I feel.
Give people a little bit moreof a taste and keep the legacy
of the show going.
Praise Kier, just walk into aroom with goats.
That's what it's all about.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Alright, folks.
Well, again, we definitelyrecommend the experience that is
the Stanley Parabell, whetheryou think that it's a video game
or not.
For those of you that have beenlongtime fans of this game,
please let us know what did youthink when Ultra Deluxe came out
, if you played it all the wayback when it originally released
in 2013.
But if you want to find all therest of our content or anything
(19:48):
else to keep up with us, suchas social media, you can find
that in the Linktree link in theshow notes of this episode.
The best ways to keep up withus over on social media are
Instagram, tiktok, discord andTwitch.
We also release videos onYouTube.
If you prefer a visual medium,you can support the show by
heading over to Apple Podcasts,spotify your favorite podcast
(20:09):
player and giving us a five-starreview.
Thumbs up, five stars, whateverthat may be over there.
Like, share, subscribe onYouTube.
You guys know the drill andsharing content, letting us know
that you listen, letting otherpeople know that you listen.
I cannot stress how, like wehad more people than we probably
ever have come up to us at thisprevious convention and tell us
that they were listening.
(20:29):
We love that Like.
Thank you guys so much.
It's so cool meeting y'all inperson and knowing that you
listen.
It means the world.
So, but if you find yourselfmaybe wanting to join a very,
very fun community to get someextra perks for the podcast,
eric will let you know aboutthat before we wrap up.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Yeah.
So that would be Patreon, whichwe're pushing hard this year
because we're doing a lot moreon that platform and we can only
do those things with yoursupport and the support of our
current patrons Briar, stefan,t3kato, corey from the World is
my Burrito and Vintage, andBridget from Retro AV Rewind.
We really appreciate yoursupport on that platform in
(21:11):
exchange for behind the scenesand early access to episodes
like this one.
Speaking of that convention, Igot some footage behind the
scenes of how our weekend wentand I'm trying to do a vlog
style.
I'm really going out of myelement, doing some things out
of the norm this year, andcreating a vlog is one of them.
(21:33):
I'm summoning my inner Ivanpatch Very envious.
Go check his vlogs out ifyou're interested in the
convention scene.
But all the free stuff tosupport the show helps immensely
the likes, the comments, theshares, the listens, the
engagement all of the above isappreciated and we will see you
on the next one.
My name is Mr Eric Almighty.
(21:54):
That is my co-host, phil thefilipino, and please don't
forget, we release new episodesevery wednesday on the podcast,
plus bonus content on platformslike twitch and tiktok, and all
you gotta do is wait for it so Iheard you're looking for a
go-to source for entertainment.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Wait for it Gaming.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Wait for it.
Anime Plus Ultra.
Mr Eric Almighty and Phil theFilipino yeah, they've got you
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Speaker 2 (22:43):
And all you gotta do is wait for it.
This is the Wait For it Podcast.
Welcome to your go-to source for entertainment.
Wait for it Gaming.
Wait for it Anime.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
PLUS ULTRA.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino.
Yeah, they've got you covered,and all you gotta do is wait for
it.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
This is the Wait For it Podcast.
Hey, everyone, welcome back tothe Wait For it Podcast.
I'm your co-host, phil Barrera,aka Phil the Filipino.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
And I'm your other co-host, mr Eric Almighty, and
for this edition of the GameRoom when it Happens.
This is the first time that wehave decided to go into a very
much first-person explorationvideo game.
That's somewhat meta and isperfect timing, considering that
one of our favorite shows isSeverance and this game
(01:01):
absolutely is an influence tothat popular show.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
The game we are covering is the stanley parabel
ultra deluxe yeah, and this is agame that has popped up a lot
on my feed in terms of like whenI go down to youtube rabbit
hole, a lot of people will talkabout this.
As far as influential games orgames that are a lot you know
are different, or games thatisn't a game, so I think we'll
(01:25):
talk about all of that heretoday.
I mean, it's over a 10 year oldgame.
It did have a re-release in theform of Ultra Deluxe in 2022.
So excited to talk about all ofthat here, eric, and you know
see what we thought about thisexperience and get into all of
that.
So, before we begin, want towelcome in all of our returning
(01:46):
and brand new listeners to thepodcast.
If you want to know where youcan find all the rest of our
content, make sure you stickaround to the very end.
We'll let you know where youcan find all of that.
So, without further ado, eric,let's just jump into the Stanley
Parabell Again.
Originally released in 2013,the game carries themes such as
(02:07):
choice, the relationship betweengame creator and player, as
well as predestination and fate.
You play a silent protagonistnamed Stanley alongside a
narrator, and the player isconfronted with a bunch of
different branching pathways.
Think about a choose your ownadventure book, except for you
(02:31):
basically start this over andover and over again.
So, eric, tell me how you cameacross this, because, again, I
had heard of this over the lastfew years.
How did you come across it hereover the last few months?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah.
So a family member was actuallyplaying this and I happened to
notice on my friends list on myPlayStation 4, which my son was
playing at the time and I waslike I don't, what game is that?
I've never heard of that game.
And then I looked it up and Iowned it.
I had access to it because itwas available on PlayStation
Plus one month here recently, inthe last, I would say, three to
(03:07):
six months.
So I didn't even know.
You know the vibe when you pullup PlayStation Plus those are
my games for the month, you oweme those and you don't even look
Unless you see it's the SuicideSquad and you know.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I don't want this.
This month Did I reallydownload this.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
No, so nobody's playing that, this game.
I then clicked, went to thePlayStation store, saw some
clips and I was like what isthis?
And my son, who loves stufflike the back rooms, immediately
saw the allure of this empty,mysterious office and was like I
want to give that a try.
So for a game I thought hewould kill some time in.
(03:46):
We both pressed play and we'retaking turns playing this game
because it was something that wehad no clue going into what it
was about and Phil, like Imentioned at the top of the
episode, who knew this issomething we'd even do an
episode about.
So definitely a game that's notnormally in my wheelhouse, but
glad that I kind of stumbledupon.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, it's a very, very interesting experience and
I know that it sparks a lot ofconversation.
Even though the reception tothis is very good, and
rightfully so, it very muchleans into, as you mentioned, a
lot of meta humor.
So, you know, with the rise ofa bunch of shows, you know, I
think a lot of people thinkabout things like Deadpool,
(04:30):
things like that.
The writing in this is muchbetter than any Deadpool film
Definitely will give it.
That Talks about how, eventhough this game came out over a
decade ago, all of thecommentary of it is still very
relevant, especially with thestate of gaming right now.
I think it's even more relevantthan ever and also kind of
(04:53):
shining a spotlight on theexpectation of choice.
Right, like everybody thatplays any open world game or any
type of story driven game, theywant to know that their choices
matter, and in so manyinstances we're finding out in
these big budget games that theydon't like.
The most famous one that I canspeak to is Mass Effect, the
(05:18):
Mass Effect series.
So Mass Effect two, one of myfavorite games of all time.
I was having a great time withMass Effect 3, only to find out
that every single choice that Imade came down to picking one of
three different colors and youknow you can look into that and
how devastating that was for theMass Effect community and they
(05:38):
had to re-release DLC toessentially fix the ending.
It was like the how I Met yourMother or Lost of video games at
that time.
So I think a very, very funexperience for people who have
their finger on the pulse ofgaming, I think this, if you
haven't already played thiswithin the last decade it's been
out.
That's who I would recommendthis to now.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I would agree with that and I think it's one of
those games where, like it hadthat nostalgic appeal for people
that had played the original.
And obviously I don't know thatbecause I didn't play it, but
that's kind of the vibes I wasgetting in my research and, for
my perspective, somebodycompletely new to not only this
game, but I never really playedanything like this because it is
(06:21):
very much a pointless game.
If you really think about it,phil, what there was an
achievement either for this orthe original, uh, that's like
super rare.
Do you remember what that was?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
it was something about like, if you never play
the game or something if youdon't touch the game for 10
years, you get the uh theachievement or the yeah, or the
steam achievement.
Now people have cheesed it andnow a whole bunch of people have
it, unfortunately.
But if you had it, if you gotit based off of, you know,
actually getting it veryimpressive, but yeah it,
literally, if you didn't playthe game or touch it for 10
years, you got the trophyachievement, whatever.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
And I think that summarizes what I mean by a
pointless game, because it's agame that you don't have to
really take seriously.
You just kind of go through theflow and figure out what these
choices lead to.
Sometimes you do the samechoice twice, you learn from it,
you keep it going.
New things appear based off ofchoices that are made.
Phil, this game very much turnsinto a sequel of itself at one
(07:18):
point, which was expandedcontent for the game.
So I just really like all ofthat.
But then you mentioned thenarration earlier and I like the
meta-ness of it.
It's very self-aware At onepoint and I don't want to say
spoilers because there's so muchstuff in this game, guys.
(07:38):
So I mean, at this point in theepisode, if you don't want to
hear anything, go play it.
But, phil, at one point there isa section where we're just
going over past reviews of thegame, like live reviews, and I
thought that was like reallyfunny.
I thought it was entertainingand at no point did I really
feel like the bit was old.
(07:59):
Now, if I doubled my gameplayexperience, I wonder what that
would be like.
But when I brought this episodeup to phil, I mentioned that
this game you could play two tothree hours and have a pretty
good idea how to speak to it,and the fact that you went
beyond that threshold, phil uh,seemed like a good sign yeah, I
(08:19):
hit about a little bit over fourhours and a lot of that was
because I was just playingthrough it and my daughter came
in and she's like, what are youplaying?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And I just handed her the controller and it was
really fun to also watch hermake the decision.
She also, in her firstplaythrough, chose the I want to
take over the mind controldevice.
So you know, know, that speaksto good or poor parenting, you
decide, I don't know that.
We had the same initialwalkthrough of the game but she
(08:49):
didn't get tired.
She played it for a good couplehours and didn't really get
tired of it until until afterthat time.
So I think it's really fun.
Like you said, the, the sequelstuff that portion of it was
really cool.
Love my bucket, I will die formy bucket.
Uh, that that was reallyinteresting.
And once again, I think reallythis serves more as a just kind
(09:13):
of pointing and having adiscussion with what we really
perceive as a game.
The other game that kind ofcomes to mind when I think of
the stanley parable.
There's a game that came out in2000 also in 2013 and it's
called gone home and it is alsoa.
(09:34):
Basically, people have arguedthat Gone Home really isn't a
video game.
It's very story-driven, it'sbasically an interactive book,
and that's what I think about aswell for the Stanley Parable.
Is this even really a video game?
As much as it is an opportunityto bring a lot of these
conversations about the state ofgaming into the forefront, like
(09:57):
you said, with that meta humor,with really good narration,
because there's not really anymechanics to the game.
You just walk around, you click, um, at one point you run out
of jumps.
Uh, did you get thatachievement?
Did you get that trophy for thejump disable?
So if you, after you, use allof your jumps and if you try to
jump more later, it gives you,it gives you a trophy.
(10:19):
It says, no really, we disabledthe button.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
So, um, that was fun okay, well, talking about again
things that you made me have anexperience.
Did you get the when you wereasked to enter in the time at
the beginning of the game whenyou loaded it up?
Yeah, did you get the promptsand the discussions about?
like you really didn't have todo this thank you so much like
(10:45):
this means nothing.
And then, like every time youwould do it, it would just be
like wow, you're like reallydedicated, you do not have to do
this and I was determined itled to something.
So those are like the littlethings in the game that like
make you want to keep going,because when you think the game
has found its ending point, itsstopping point, it doesn't, it
(11:05):
just has an endless amount.
It's a pointless game aboutnothing that you can you could
kill so much time in.
And I think when we talked abouta game like last month in
Guardians of the Galaxy, one ofthe frustrating things I've had
with some of these games is thedecision making doesn't really
matter in some of these gamesthat present like dialogue,
(11:27):
options or choices that you canmake, and I feel like, if you're
going to go all the way in onit, this is the type of game you
would do that for, and I don'tknow.
I just really appreciated itand, as you can maybe hear in my
voice, we did a convention thispast weekend, so it was like
perfect timing for us to do anepisode like this that's a
little casual, about a game thatphil has much of a legacy, but
(11:52):
also I've never heard a singleperson talk about in our friend
circle no, and I don't think youreally would, because I would
never be like man, you reallygotta play the Stanley Parable.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
It would be more so if somebody was like I came
across this game called theStanley Parable and I'd be like,
oh yeah, I really enjoyed mytime with that game.
It would never be somethingthat, like, I actively promoted
to people.
I was trying to figure out if,when the game came out, when
Ultra Deluxe came out, if it waslike made available for free to
people who already had theoriginal game I don't know if
(12:25):
you came across that.
I do see that it was made, forthe original game was made free
on the Epic Game Store in March2020.
2020, man, that would have beena good time to play through
this.
Huh, right, right as the theworld shut down.
So I'm not sure.
I guess it was uh, because Ibelieve the ultra deluxe was
when it was first made availablefor consoles.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
So yeah I don't know that yeah, it's considered an
already had it.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
okay, yeah, and it was.
Uh, even, like I said, I, wehaven't even touched the surface
as far as how many endingsthere are in this game.
I did look up some of them onYouTube that I won't spoil here.
But yeah, and for those of yousickos that like to play on
mobile, it's also on iOS, so youcan even play it on your iPad
or your iPhone.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
That's crazy, but again a fun experience
Nonetheless.
It's a game that on uh for pc,at least on metacritic and open
critic has a 90.
So again.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I didn't even think about oh, I'm not playing on pc.
I was like oh my god, mods, butI'm playing on a playstation.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, pretty pretty.
I mean honestly, the.
The scores in general are, uh,the ones that are there on
metacritic pretty high and yeah,uh, top critic average right
now nine, uh, 90 if it matters.
The the one that are there onMetacritic pretty high and yeah,
top critic average right now990 if it matters.
The, the one that literallymatters the least, but we bring
up all the time.
Ign gave it a nine for whateverthat's worth.
So, yeah, that is uh, theStanley Parable guys like it
(13:47):
just again is a very simpleconcept and game that I think is
executed really, really welland, although phil says he
wouldn't actively promote it,here we are releasing an episode
on the podcast feed so let meask you is this a game?
yeah, is it.
(14:07):
Yeah, I had fun with it yeah, Ihad fun too.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I'm just asking you is is, is this a video game?
Speaker 1 (14:16):
we probably should have had this discussion before
placing it in the game no, butwell, we hadn't played it yet.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Well, really well, I I had.
You know you'd played a littlebit of it, but like I I'm in in
its execution, in in itsexperience, like, would you,
would you classify this?
Speaker 1 (14:34):
because I think you can make an argument that it's
not even really a video game, asmuch as it is, again, an
interact, interactivestorytelling, interactive
conversation okay, okay betweenyourself and and the narrator I
will present to you a example ofthe only thing I think, the
only thing I can think of thatyou would do instead and tell me
(14:55):
if that would work better or adifferent medium or genre would
work better.
I'm thinking you would imaginethis is like a netflix
interactive show oh, kind oflike, where, like yeah like
where you'd click the remote andsay I want to do this action
and then it plays a clip.
In my opinion and I am reallycurious what you think based off
(15:18):
your question In my opinionthat doesn't work as well as if
you're holding the controllerand the aesthetic of the video
game.
But if there's another mediumor genre that you're thinking
this could work, let me know,because that would lead lead, uh
, to some credence to yourthought.
Sure, I think this is a videogame for that reason, because I
(15:41):
can't think of one, I can'tthink of another genre or medium
for it yeah, because it's notlike you can do that in like a
movie or, and even even thoughthere are, you know how you
would.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Everybody did this, everybody cheated on the pick
your own adventure book.
You're like you'd like peekover to the page.
You're like, nope, I don't wantthat ending, I want to go.
I don't want to do that one youknow.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
And I've been.
I've been getting into a lot ofgames recently where it's been
fun to pick it up where I leftoff right, and it's just easy to
pick up and put down.
So like slay the spire, uhbellatro, I'm playing those and
one of the main appeals StanleyParabell, is that like I don't
have to start over, I just kindof pick up from where I left off
, where, like when I brought upthat interactive show concept,
(16:24):
it's probably not going to workthe same, especially for the
amount of turns and endings aswell and endings that you could
take with this game.
So yeah, I would.
I feel like I've made a strongargument.
You tell us, but I, yeah, Ithink very much.
It is a video game and I thinkit perfects everything it sets
out to do, even if it onlyreally accomplishes like two or
(16:46):
three things.
At the end of the day, it ispointless.
It is a video game though.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Also it is do you get the rocket league ending the
rocket league?
Speaker 1 (17:00):
I don't know, I'm just okay, all right, tell me
about that after, yeah, so butyeah the stanley barrowball,
everybody uh I told phil uh, ata particular time I was gonna
gonna cut it off because at somepoint we'll just ramble and
phil, maybe this is it.
I thought I think that's avalid question, though, and I'm
very curious for people who haveplayed it what they think,
(17:23):
because ultimately, it has a adecent community, especially
with the way this thingperformed when it released the
expansion, you know, when itcame onto Steam.
So if you are a StanleyParabell lover, let us know what
you think.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah, and for those of you that are considering
playing it and dive into it,don't overthink it.
Don't overthink it.
Also.
There's no jump scares.
It has a very creepy aestheticbecause of the backroom feel,
which is so crazy that it'scoming up so much here recently
with me.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
But we did talk about the back rooms.
But the one you.
The reason I thought you mightlike this game is the severance
times.
Did you yeah, did you get thatvibe for sure?
What was your thought?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
100.
Yeah, it's definitely very muchwalking through the, the halls
of lumen.
So, uh, really really cool.
Honestly, they could release aseverance partnership or mod and
okay now, oh my gosh, it wouldbe, it'd be crazy, that would be
wild love that.
So imagine like milchickchasing you down the hall.
(18:24):
Now it's a totally differentgame, but still just imagine
milchick chasing you is itthough, like I don't know?
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I feel like those would be things they could
implement that wouldn't breakthe mechanics of the game like.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Imagine waking up in the conference room and you hear
mark honestly, I'm like superexcited I didn't.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Whatever I made that I I didn't even think about that
.
Uh, yeah, that would work, andthey could either make it a
stanley parable dlc or theycould like have some partnership
where it's just a severancegame under that model.
I don't know, either one worksfor me.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Yeah, a Severance game doesn't need to have crazy
graphics either, or you don'teven keep it the same way it is
and you never see anybody.
You just hear Milchak or Cobellor whatever All the different
rooms you can go to.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
That's super cool.
That would be a fun conceptwhen the show ends, I feel.
Give people a little bit moreof a taste and keep the legacy
of the show going.
Praise Kier, just walk into aroom with goats.
That's what it's all about.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Alright, folks.
Well, again, we definitelyrecommend the experience that is
the Stanley Parabell, whetheryou think that it's a video game
or not.
For those of you that have beenlongtime fans of this game,
please let us know what did youthink when Ultra Deluxe came out
, if you played it all the wayback when it originally released
in 2013.
But if you want to find all therest of our content or anything
(19:48):
else to keep up with us, suchas social media, you can find
that in the Linktree link in theshow notes of this episode.
The best ways to keep up withus over on social media are
Instagram, tiktok, discord andTwitch.
We also release videos onYouTube.
If you prefer a visual medium,you can support the show by
heading over to Apple Podcasts,spotify your favorite podcast
(20:09):
player and giving us a five-starreview.
Thumbs up, five stars, whateverthat may be over there.
Like, share, subscribe onYouTube.
You guys know the drill andsharing content, letting us know
that you listen, letting otherpeople know that you listen.
I cannot stress how, like wehad more people than we probably
ever have come up to us at thisprevious convention and tell us
that they were listening.
(20:29):
We love that Like.
Thank you guys so much.
It's so cool meeting y'all inperson and knowing that you
listen.
It means the world.
So, but if you find yourselfmaybe wanting to join a very,
very fun community to get someextra perks for the podcast,
eric will let you know aboutthat before we wrap up.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Yeah.
So that would be Patreon, whichwe're pushing hard this year
because we're doing a lot moreon that platform and we can only
do those things with yoursupport and the support of our
current patrons Briar, stefan,t3kato, corey from the World is
my Burrito and Vintage, andBridget from Retro AV Rewind.
We really appreciate yoursupport on that platform in
(21:11):
exchange for behind the scenesand early access to episodes
like this one.
Speaking of that convention, Igot some footage behind the
scenes of how our weekend wentand I'm trying to do a vlog
style.
I'm really going out of myelement, doing some things out
of the norm this year, andcreating a vlog is one of them.
(21:33):
I'm summoning my inner Ivanpatch Very envious.
Go check his vlogs out ifyou're interested in the
convention scene.
But all the free stuff tosupport the show helps immensely
the likes, the comments, theshares, the listens, the
engagement all of the above isappreciated and we will see you
on the next one.
My name is Mr Eric Almighty.
(21:54):
That is my co-host, phil thefilipino, and please don't
forget, we release new episodesevery wednesday on the podcast,
plus bonus content on platformslike twitch and tiktok, and all
you gotta do is wait for it so Iheard you're looking for a
go-to source for entertainment.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Wait for it Gaming.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Wait for it.
Anime Plus Ultra.
Mr Eric Almighty and Phil theFilipino yeah, they've got you
covered.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
And all you gotta do is wait for it.
This is the Wait For it Podcast.
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