Indie games seemed to be very few and far between in the early days of the 2010s. Players were hard-pressed to find games sold on Steam made by a small team, until recently, with games like Undertale, Deltarune and A Hat in Time. However, one of the few games that stood out was an indie title called The Stanley Parable. The narrative game puts players into the shoes of Stanley and every man who went to work every day had the menial task of pushing buttons. However, when all of his co-workers disappeared, it was up to Stanley to figure out what happened. The player makes their way through the office, guided by the story’s narrator, who told the player what Stanley was going to do. Although, the game’s true colors show when the player is presented with a choice and they decide to go against the narrator.

This then turns the game into a story about an unwilling participant and a narrator who wants to tell a story to entertain Stanley and the player. With multiple endings and plenty of laughs along the way, the Stanley Parable was a success in the eyes of the people who played it. However, it was never brought to consoles. That is, until 2019. 

At the 2019 Game Awards, it was announced that The Stanley Parable would be making a comeback. But, porting a game from 2013 and bringing it to consoles doesn’t feel like it’s doing the story justice. With the game being completed in such a short time, going back to a game from 2013 wouldn’t be enough to entice players who have already played the game on PC. This is the age of remakes and remasters, after all. 

So, in a tongue and cheek trailer, Crows Crows Crows, the company founded by one of the game’s creators, The narrator hatches a plan, stating that they’re going to remake the game and include all new content that’s going to make it worth playing on the console again. The cheeky title The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe makes fun of the endless number of “deluxe” games. 

However, things didn’t come to fruition. The game was delayed from 2019 to 2020, then from 2020 to 2021, and then again from 2021 to 2022. However, all hope isn’t lost for The Stanley Parable, as it’s been announced by the developers that the game’s content is complete with The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe.

Content complete is the same as a game going gold for the unfamiliar. However, content complete is a slightly different version. While going gold means that the game is in a finished state, content complete means that the game is ready to be shipped without any extra polish for the title. 

In a humorous video posted by the developers, the narrator speaks about being let down by The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe’s game developers and how his patience is wearing thin. He then changes his tune to being excited about the game yet warning the developers that another delay means that the developer’s “time is up.” This venting from the narrator continues until he finds out that the Steam page is now planning on releasing the game in 2022.

However, with the promise of the game being content complete, there’s a good chance that the game will make the early 2022 release date, and players will be able to disobey the narrator and find all the secrets and endings for the game.