For the longest time I didn't buy this cuz I thought it is just a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ cashgrab rerelease of the original Stanley Parable with some extra content, and uh, that's exactly what this game is. But being the Stanley Parable it's also very self-aware about what it is. It's really a game about making a sequel to the original.

For what it's worth, it's good. If you liked the original Stanley Parable you'll like this pseudo-sequel thing.

Still, this game seems to demand to be taken seriously as a work of art and the developers show they read (and maybe slightly obsess over) Steam reviews, so I'll also say this: The "Ultra Deluxe" is funny and interesting and has a lot to say, but for all its meta-narrative self-awareness, I really expected the game to go even deeper this time. I kept waiting for the game to start going meta about its own tendency to go meta, to examine the Stanley's Parable entire 'schtick' as "the self-aware video game". It kinda touches on it (e.g. the collectibles), but also doesn't. By the end you'll be reading through guides and speedrunning sections to see all the new endings, exactly as you did with the original game, and the game remains as oblivious as ever to its own unraveling. I really wished the game would start acknowledging the fact I'm clearly ticking checkboxes by running through all the endings, or the way I kept restarting to get the correct opening dialogue (e.g. for the Heaven ending). That would've been the way to go about making a sequel that stays fresh and keeps surprising the players like the original did. As it stands, it really is just a couple of extra hours of Content and some new endings to run through.

Bucket

I want to kiss mr narrator