Chapter 273 The Meaning of Meta Games

Zhao Lei began to explore different routes, tried different endings, and even deliberately chose the opposite route to the narration.

...

If Stanley didn't choose to go to the boss, but kept going downstairs, he would be caught in an endless endless loop, where Stanley began to dream and eventually fell into madness.

...

On a desk by a window, Stanley can rub out of the window after crouching down, then fall out of the window and enter a pure white space.

But this is not a bug, because the narration will remind you that this is part of the game, and also does some self-deprecation by the way.

[At first Stanley thought he had destroyed the map, but he didn't realize it was part of the game until he heard this narration. He then praised the game's deep and witty critique of video game architecture, as well as its attempt at narrative structure tropes. 】

...

If you enter the boss's office and exit before the office door closes, the narrator will be "locked" in the boss's office. Players will no longer hear the voice over.

At this time, when the player returns to the original room 427, he will find that the door next to it is opened, and there is a place to guide the player to the rescue capsule.

In the process of going to the escape pod, Stanley will keep going upstairs, and he will find that there is a 427 room on each floor, and each floor is the same structure. Eventually he'll get into the escape pod and escape the place (maybe).

...

If you choose the door on the right, and then use the elevator to come to the maintenance area, the narrator will be completely confused, and you can't even find the way Stanley should go next.

Stanley went down a path so completely deviated from the narrator that the entire script was spoiled, and the narrator had to restart the entire game.

But the restarted game is even more messed up, with each restart, the game will be stuck with new problems.

Like the door is missing.

For example, Stanley entered a completely different scene.

The narrator even had to draw a long yellow arrow on the ground, but this still didn't save the game's story line that was completely messed up.

Eventually, Stanley will come to a room with "chaotic ending" written in it, and the whole process of the entire chaos ending is written on the screen.

Even the narrator was shocked. He refused to continue restarting the game according to the process on the screen, but an unknown existence forced the game to restart.

...

The more he played, the more Zhao Lei discovered that the game had too much content that he was completely unaware of. No matter what choice he made, the narrator would have a set of rhetoric, as if he had already guessed that he would do it.

Moreover, there are many interesting easter eggs in this game, and molesting the narration has become a very interesting thing.

If you keep typing the wrong password in your boss's office, the narrator will hint at your correct password over and over again, even angrily emphasizing it in red fonts, and finally open the door in frustration.

Even sometimes, the narrator is shocked by what's happening in the game, throwing the entire game into layers of chaos.

Stanley-player-narrator-higher existence constitutes a huge mystery, which makes Zhao Lei want to constantly search for clues in the game and find the truth behind it all.

He has been deeply attracted to this game.

...

Before I knew it, more than two hours had passed.

Zhao Lei looked at the time, only to realize that he had spent such a long time in this game.

But he has a vague feeling that there are still many endings in this game that he has not played, and many easter eggs that he has not discovered.

This is the second time Chen Mo has come to check his progress.

"How is it, is it fun?" Chen Mo asked with a smile.

Zhao Lei rubbed his neck: "It can't be said to be fun, but...it feels very interesting. When will this game be released?"

Chen Mo said, "Probably next week."

Zhao Lei nodded: "Okay, I will definitely buy a collection when the game is released."

He paused and continued: "Moreover, I feel that the game seems to be implying something. If we go deeper, it seems to contain a lot of implication..."

Chen Mo smiled without saying a word.

Zhao Lei asked, "Can you explain to me what this game really means? What's the meaning of it?"

Chen Mo shook his head: "It can only be understood, not spoken."

Zhao Lei was speechless and stood up: "It's getting late, I have to go back, get a good night's sleep, and continue to work tomorrow."

Chen Mo nodded: "Well, have a good rest."

The two walked to the door, and Zhao Lei looked at Chen Mo before leaving: "Thank you for your game, although it's useless to understand some of the truth, but at least it makes me feel better."

Chen Mo smiled: "Don't think too much, it's just a game. Life still has to go on, doesn't it?"

...

"The Stanley Parable" is not a simple puzzle game.

It's a very classic META game, and it's deeply philosophical. Its fun is not in solving puzzles, not in exploring different endings, but in experiencing and deciphering the myriad fables contained throughout the game.

In this game, there are actually full of designs that are contrary to conventional games. It is more like mocking the meaning of the "game" itself, or the relationship between the designer and the player.

The game has no clear goals, no difficult challenges, and no rewards in the usual sense. Even when the player stays in the storage room for a long time, the narrator will taunt: "My God, do you want to show your friends that you played the ending in the storage room?"

Moreover, the game is full of all kinds of irony about "gaming fun", such as Stanley's daily job is to press the keys, and he feels very happy. Isn't that alluding to those gamers?

Players follow the narration's prompts to open the secret door step by step, turn on the switch, and read www. uukanshu.com finally reached a seemingly happy ending, isn't that what those normal games let players do?

These contents make players vaguely realize that they seem to be Stanley, who seem to have freedom and happiness, but this feeling is very false.

Behind every ending, there is a kind of philosophical thinking.

For example, the deception ending is the deception of losing free will, the nuclear explosion ending is the consolidation of the creator’s status, the homecoming ending is a kind of despair with no choice, the chaotic ending is thinking about the end, and the starlight ending is treating Stanley as a Experimental mice...

And that's the point of this game.

It is a reflection on the game itself and life. Players will reflect on their experiences in real life and will think about how they should choose.

Of course, this game itself does not have a clear story background, it is more like a stream of consciousness work, a thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets, and everyone can experience something different playing this game.

However, being able to bring this kind of experience to players is the greatest significance of this game.