History VideoGame / TheStanleyParable

** There's a series of videos from the developers, each narrated by the... well, narrator. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ-IcS7mRSk This one]] is a scathing response to a smarmy, know-it-all misogynist who completely missed the point of the game, and asked for more options. The Narrator proceeds to mock him by talking of a ''very'' open-world game where you could literally do anything (like infusing a bike with the soul of your dead uncle and using it to detect mineral deposits), except you can't, because video games are meant to be linear by design, in [[SpiritualAntithesis a flippant reversion]] of the game's commentary of games being limited by their stories and creators. Then, just to annoy the know-it-all, he takes the complaint that he repeated Stanley's name a lot and ends the video repeating it constantly. The trailer also showed off MediaNotes/{{DRM}} that deleted your files at random, in a pisstake of various then-recent DRM controversies.

** In the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch version of the game, the newspaper that normally reads ''The New York Times'' instead reads ''The [[VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey New Donk]] Times''. The paper also includes a headline reading "You Will Not Believe How Many Bananas [[VideoGame/DonkeyKong This Ape]] Has Been Hoarding For Years".

** The ''New Content'' and ''New New Content'' endings in ''Ultra Deluxe'' revolve around [[spoiler:the Narrator recognizing and reacting to ''The Stanley Parable'' as a video game, including criticizing the game's dev team for the lack of new content and taking feedback from a negative UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} review]]. It's never to the point where he's aware of the player or himself as an in-game character, however.

** There's a series of videos from the developers, each narrated by the... well, narrator. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ-IcS7mRSk This one]] is a scathing response to a smarmy, know-it-all misogynist who completely missed the point of the game, and asked for more options. The Narrator proceeds to mock him by talking of a ''very'' open-world game where you could literally do anything (like infusing a bike with the soul of your dead uncle and using it to detect mineral deposits), except you can't, because video games are meant to be linear by design, in [[SpiritualAntithesis a flippant reversion]] of the game's commentary of games being limited by their stories and creators. Then, just to annoy the know-it-all, he takes the complaint that he repeated Stanley's name a lot and ends the video repeating it constantly. The trailer also showed off UsefulNotes/{{DRM}} that deleted your files at random, in a pisstake of various then-recent DRM controversies.

* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: During the area in ''Ultra Deluxe'' where you and the narrator look at Steam reviews of the original game, one particularly scathing review calls the narrator "obnoxious and unfunny" and claims that his dialog is more irritating than entertaining. More than anything else, the narrator is ''livid'' at the "unfunny" part, claiming that he wasn't trying to be funny.

** If you trigger the conditions for the ''Escape Pod'' ending and then jump out of the window in the starting area, the narrator won't resume speaking to chew you out for it. However, the end result will be mostly the same: being stuck with no way out but restart the game.

-->'''Narrator:''' [[TearJerker It looks like you wanted to make a choice after all. Well, this one is yours.]]

** Youtuber ''LetsPlay/JackSepticEye'' actually got the Narrator to narrate the beginning of a playthrough video of the ''Ultra Deluxe'' version. Which begins to overlay his own voice as he reads from the same script.

** In the back part of the demo's room with the emotion booths, there's one additional open booth (you need to crouch to get to it). Entering it will play "Who Likes To Party" by Creator/KevinMacleod, with lights flashing and strobing around you.

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible:
** In-universe. Your reward for completing the "save the baby" mini-game and getting the Art ending is the "essence of divine art", which is basically [[spoiler:a meaningless poem]].
** The baby mini-game itself, as the Narrator forces you to play the game for four hours straight claiming that it's supposed to represent the struggles of motherhood.

''The Stanley Parable'' is a 2011 EnvironmentalNarrativeGame by Creator/DaveyWreden, which began life as a modification of Creator/ValveSoftware's Source engine. It is now also a standalone release on Steam (and later, Humble Bundle), colloquially known as the "HD Remix", which was released on October 17, 2013. While the standalone release expands on the formula, the idea behind both releases is largely the same.

* SelfDeprecation: The release trailer for the ''Ultra Deluxe'' edition has the Narrator make a [=PowerPoint=] presentation on the game. He proceeds to very quickly skip over several slides detailing both the praise the game got from reviewers and academics alike for being a stellar example of interactive story-telling, as well as others about the hard work and many man-hours that went into developing the game, summarily dismissing them with a scoffing: "I don't have time for all of this! Who wrote all of these slides? Who even cares about the game's development?"