Hmm, I don't know! I think The Stanley Parable was somewhat of a moment in history, and a big part of its charm was that it came and went. This "Ultra Deluxe" expansion is basically an excuse to add in a bunch more jokes, and that's fine - and they're pretty funny and elaborate and all but...I'm not sure this justifies its own existence so much?
For one thing, you basically need to replay the original to an ending like 4 or 5 times before you can even start seeing the new stuff, and then the new stuff is good but I think the novelty has just worn off. The tedium of just kinda walking around a room in circles waiting for the narrator to say something new, to see if he'll even remark on the fact that you're staying in insert silly room has gotten pretty grating by now. That's the game. You do a silly thing, see if the narrator says anything about it. The original had just about enough stuff that you could walk away before that got old, but underneath all the bells and whistles, Ultra Deluxe is just more of the same.
Maybe my criticism is flawed in that regard, maybe it's me! I could hardly have expected this to overhaul any kind of gameplay system or fundamentally change what The Stanley Parable is - I just think it got a bit old a bit too fast. There's some really good jokes in here. The Endless Hole, The Bucket, The Button That Says Jim, all funny stuff. So why do I feel like coming back is such a chore? I really appreciate what this game does, but I think Ultra Deluxe is them taking the idea bigger but not further, if that makes sense? The jokes are different, and yet it still feels pretty "been there, done that." It's weird! This is a hard game to talk about and an even harder game to criticise. I like it, I think it's funny, I appreciate what it's going for, I'm just a bit over it by now!
For one thing, you basically need to replay the original to an ending like 4 or 5 times before you can even start seeing the new stuff, and then the new stuff is good but I think the novelty has just worn off. The tedium of just kinda walking around a room in circles waiting for the narrator to say something new, to see if he'll even remark on the fact that you're staying in insert silly room has gotten pretty grating by now. That's the game. You do a silly thing, see if the narrator says anything about it. The original had just about enough stuff that you could walk away before that got old, but underneath all the bells and whistles, Ultra Deluxe is just more of the same.
Maybe my criticism is flawed in that regard, maybe it's me! I could hardly have expected this to overhaul any kind of gameplay system or fundamentally change what The Stanley Parable is - I just think it got a bit old a bit too fast. There's some really good jokes in here. The Endless Hole, The Bucket, The Button That Says Jim, all funny stuff. So why do I feel like coming back is such a chore? I really appreciate what this game does, but I think Ultra Deluxe is them taking the idea bigger but not further, if that makes sense? The jokes are different, and yet it still feels pretty "been there, done that." It's weird! This is a hard game to talk about and an even harder game to criticise. I like it, I think it's funny, I appreciate what it's going for, I'm just a bit over it by now!