The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe Reviews
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe is a conversion, remake, update, sequel and negation of the original work. All together. A title that nine years ago changed the videogame landscape and that today returns not to complete its mission, but more to reflect on itself, on what it has represented and on what it has left to the industry. Some passages of the "New Content" are hallucinatory and brilliant, and blend with the original content in a masterful way. In short, The Stanley Parable is one of those experiences that anyone should play at least once in their life.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Stanley Parable is an extremely worthwhile video game and, I would argue, one of the finest examples of meta-humor (as well as humor in general) in the medium. Just don't read too much before you play it.
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is an excellent expansion of a bonafide classic interactive adventure. We'll admit we were slightly concerned that returning to something so masterful, expanding and adding to such a carefully constructed experience, could somehow dilute the magic, but we needn't have worried. All of the new content here simply embellishes what came before, resulting in a wonderful piece of art that's now better, more ultra and, you might even say, deluxe than ever before. Whether you're coming to this one for the first time or returning to see what's changed, you'll be handsomely rewarded for your curiosity.
Even though it’s been almost a decade since it originally came out, The Stanley Parable keeps finding ways to surprise me…. and I hope it never stops.
Through its thoroughly engaging writing and cutting commentary, The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is able to make fun of exactly what it is and get away with it, allowing the game to have its cake and eat it, too.
The glory of The Stanley Parable was always that it was a game supremely confident in itself, giving you branching choices that were not choices, inviting you to push up against the boundaries of its world and see how far you could go. The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe expands those boundaries and gives you new things to explore, and in the process it managed to surprise me even as someone who had picked over the original game quite extensively. While it may not be as truly groundbreaking as the original, The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe is a must-play for fans of the original – and if you’ve never experienced the game, it’s the perfect place to learn what made the original so brilliant while finding a number of new twists.
If this game is a series of choices, each leading to more choices, leading to different ends only to begin again, then you only need to make one choice to begin. And that’s to choose to play it.
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe not only recaptures the magic of almost a decade ago, as it features new and more sophisticated tricks that left us imprisoned to the screen. The original content shows its' age, but the new content is very fresh and beautifully complements Stanley's misadventures. If you never played the original, prepare to laugh, cry, be scared and reflect on everything and everyone. If you know this game since its original release, get ready to do it all again. The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is a mandatory experience for any gamer, and this new release made us remember which it's such an acclaimed indie title.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Stanley Parable: Ultra deluxe is a new version of the 2013 classic that adds a good number of novelties, decisions and alternative endings. If you've never played the original game, it's time to give this new installment a chance and find out what makes it so great.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
A delightful update that fills the original game with even more humorous and thoughtful rabbit holes to get lost in.
It might make you laugh, leave you confused and upset, possibly sad, even scared but never indifferent. Not so much a game as it is a unique experience worth checking out.
This is a review for a game named The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe. This review was written with only one purpose in mind – convince the readers that The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe is a game worth playing. Do you want to know more? Read at your own peril.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
In 2013, The Stanley Parable was one of my obsessions. The game surprised me a lot with its storytelling and the gameplay remained in my mind for years. Today, in 2022, I believe the same will happen with The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. Though the impact was lesser than it was almost a decade ago, I noticed the text quality in the game and its design innovation did not lose [their brilliance] over time. As I walked again through these paths I had already gone through, The jokes still worked and the serious moments still hit me [like before]. The extra content, though not so incorporated into the original game's design, works as another title, with surprises in every one of its various minutes. Not knowing what will happen next time the game starts has never been so fun. In the end, it's worth playing Stanley's parable. Or to let yourself be played by it.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe follows up the original 2013's strong narrative theme with an intriguing brand-new one.
At the end of the day, players truly are Stanley, deriving pleasure and purpose from pressing buttons as prompted by the Narrator. This is a game that borrows a scene from Firewatch just to mock the concept of an open world and which sends up Steam user reviews—er, “Pressurized Gas” comments—and the idea of expectations and entitlement. Funny, right? But even if you’re not laughing with this exceedingly well-written game, it’s definitely laughing at you, and that’s as it should be for taking your entertainment so seriously.
You'll laugh your eyes out, guaranteed. Ultra Deluxe has new endings, new content but keeps the same sense of humour and everything that made original game a hit.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Although it's short-lived, I had some good fun with The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. Its sheer absurdity had me laughing out loud on a few occasions but I also wish there was more to it such as additional gameplay elements other than simply walking through doors.
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe has been deliberately designed so that whether you’ve never heard of the game before and are starting fresh, or you’re a seasoned veteran who experienced all the endings of the 2013 game, there is still plenty here for you to enjoy. The humour may not be for everyone’s taste, but the writing remains as sharp as ever. All of the new content adds about 3 hours to the game’s runtime if you go hunting for every last ending, plus a couple of minor amendments to the original game content are fun to spot. All in all it does flesh out the original in a meaningful way, making this an unqualified recommendation to those who have never experienced it. There has never been a better time to experience The Stanley Parable, where the end is never truly the end.
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe really does live up to the high pedestal it has always shined upon. There is no better time to play or revisit this relevant social commentary of games, media, and decision-making now, more than ever before. With Ultra Deluxe, Crows Crows Crows and the masterminds behind The Stanley Parable’s original release have only added more to appreciate about the harsh reality of the titular employee’s mind-bending debacle.
In conclusion, The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is a game that can, and should, be played.