The Beginner’s Guide from The Stanley Parable’s Davey Wreden is out today

“The Beginner’s Guide, ‘ a follow up to the narrative video game ‘The Stanley Parable” will launch on October 1 for PC and Mac. His voice and words become less confident and less “read”, as if he is actually acting and reacting as the game goes on.

With narration from Wreden (who might as well be a smarmy YouTuber), The Beginner’s Guide lures you through a series of games that were supposedly created by Coda, Wreden’s mysterious acquaintance.

Often, Coda’s game features prisons. I never shared it with anyone. To say that “The Beginner’s Guide” was a mysterious game was a bit of an understatement. Wreden is the only one with real power here, as he steps in to occasionally edit the game for you so you can, for example, get past an impassable door. There was something in this game that conflicted with my beliefs and thoughts. But that’s when the meaning passes from the game itself to Wreden. Things, as always, aren’t that simple and it eventually provides a rather eerie look into the process of game development. It’s not a sequel by any stretch, and if you’re expecting more of the same, this isn’t that. Does it mean anything at all if you do?

The Stanley Parable sparked a thousand ruminations on how and why game choice exists, and I think it will be very easy for those same critics and reviewers to take Wreden’s statements in this game as being ultimately about himself.

Maybe. Whether they’re personal endeavors – or simply personal to Wreden the Narrator – is hard to discern.

The games quickly get odder. It deals with the main character trying to understand a game developer and experiencing various, unfinished prototypes of that developer in the process.

Thank you so much Davey and have a great break. A time when I wrote a lot and the reason why I stopped writing.

But it rarely works well in reverse. Can you know someone by analyzing their art?

One puts us in the mind of a self-help guru mid-speech.

Yet, these games are somewhat broken and abstract. As though a person were a puzzle; as though a person could be solved. But after playing “The Beginner’s Guide“, the lack of information going into the game was intentional.

The mere suggestion of indie misery will captivate industry insiders and tantalize anyone else who may or may not get what Davey Wreden is going for.

In this time I wrote a lot. And make no mistake, Wreden is Coda’s number one fan. It made me feel uncomfortable and I enjoyed that.

There’s more to say about the game, but I can’t say it without venturing into major spoilers, so if you haven’t played it yet, stop now.

By touring through Coda’s games with Wreden’s narration, we gradually learn who Coda is and what relationship he has with Wreden. Wreden decides that his friend is “in trouble”, and that he needs to step in and “fix” the problem, but ends up committing a breach of trust so profound that Coda ends the friendship and cuts all ties.

“The whole point of the game is that there is no answer”, said Wreden in an interview with Wired.

It forced me to remember a time in my life where I wasn’t healthy. I wanted to think that this game was pretentious and yet had a humble message.

“The Beginner’s Guide” sidesteps those issues gracefully.

This creates a deeply personal end game that borders on uncomfortable. It’s a shame that its fantastic visuals are wasted; it’s not the death of the player or the death of the author that should concern us, but the frequent absence of skepticism.

Throughout, Wreden acts as sort of a curator, leading us in and out of 17 games as if he’s giving us a tour of an art museum.

Writing was very unhealthy for me. The desire to understand causes enough mind games of its own. Then come back. Or just carry on reading and then play it. Or read it and don’t play it. It’s up to you.

Only a few games of this narrative-heavy subgenre manage to avoid the pitfalls of being “too arty” or pretentious, and “The Beginner’s Guide” is one of them. The cards envisioned women stepping into roles that would have seemed fantastical to most ladies at the time: doctor, lawyer, politician, firefighter, even members of the military. I love Lella. If I’d known her I would have gone to France with her in a heartbeat. But that’s about to change, thanks to a new wave of toys, charms and other assorted swag from Japan that will finally allow you to catch them all.

Hold your camera to higher standards with the brand-new iBlazr 2, the most advanced LED flash to date. Conveniently sized and wireless, this premium flash will let you easily take incredible photos in low light situations. This pay what you want bundle will not only help you brush up on old skills, but teach you advanced techniques that will impress your current and future boss.