15 Essential Half-Life 2 Mods You MUST Play
10. The Stanley Parable
The Stanley Parable is an interactive story featuring an ordinary office worker whose colleagues have mysteriously disappeared. As the titular Stanley, you explore a deserted office complex in a bid to uncover what's going on.
A narrator relays the story, spelling out the choices you should make when confronted with certain options. You can happily follow these instructions, as the narrator suggests, or choose your own path, breaking the intended course of events.
Some of the narrator's frustrated responses to your choices are pure gold and as the story unravels, the narrator is proven to be somewhat unreliable. It's short but the diverging storylines, mind-bending story and quirky humour will keep you coming back for more.
Since starting out as a humble Half-Life 2 mod, The Stanley Parable has been remade as a standalone game featuring additional choices and endings. A special "Ultra Deluxe" edition is slated for release later this year.