The Beginner's Guide

[Samwise]

From the creator of The Stanley Parable.

Just played.

WTF.

Trailer.

Rules for this thread: if it makes it to page 2, spoilers in plain view from there on out.

All I can really say about this game by way of review that's not spoilery is that I'm glad I played it, but I would not recommend it to most people.  It's ridiculously more meta than Stanley was, definitely not as fun, but much more personal.

[01101010]

Replying because I am interested in the reactions to this.

I have 0 interest in it as I don't give a shit about people in general; so my first reaction to the trailer is, who cares who that person is - I'd fish around their hard drive to find interesting stuff, not to try and figure out who the owner is. That said, I know other people enjoy this stuff and I am curious as to what they find interesting about it.

[Signe]

I've never played a game like this.  I'm not sure who would make a game like it, either.  Maybe a psychologist?  Or one of those FBI profilers that I'm convinced only exist as TV characters?  It could be a test.  I would play this but I'm given to bouts of frustration and would probably give up before I figured it out.  Of course, I'd keep going back until it drove me insane.  Maybe the game was made by some sadistic old bastard.

I guess I'll try the first one first.  Goddammit.

[Nebu]

The Stanley Parable did nothing for me.  It struck me as one of those books that an English professor raves about but really isn't all that good. 

I expect the same... the trailer was a combination of WTF + creepy.

[Margalis]

I generally dislike works in all mediums that have the ego to just be about the author.

[Wasted]

I've played it and liked it.  At the the start it felt obvious where it was going and I felt a bit dismissive, but then it very cleverly pulls you in one direction and then the next so that you start to doubt and question everything.

Its not really a game, its more like a one man show during an amusement park tour.  It certainly provokes some thoughts and I think overall it is a well done experience because of that.  The sorts of questions its going to raise are as well crafted as the game itself which tries to examine the relationship between the game developer (on a small indie scale) and the player.

Spoilerng to talk a bit deeper

[Jeff Kelly]

Because of who is raving about it on social media and because of the reasons they rave on about it makes me very skeptical if this is anything other than egotistical navel gazing about why it is so hard to work in an creative industry. I haven't played it. Yet the more I hear about it from people working in creative industries the less I think that I should.

Is this more than just ego driven "woe is me that people actually have to like my stuff while I work in a shitty industry"?

[Quinton]

I, well enjoyed is maybe not the right word... but it was an interesting experience.  It's certainly much less of a "game" than The Stanley Parable, but it gives you some things to think about.

I could see it being viewed as rather self-indulgent, but I didn't find it overly so.  Some of that will vary depending on how you interpret it -- whether you take the story as presented as purely fictional, or as "real", or somewhere in between.

It explores some questions about creating-for-oneself vs creating-for-an-audience and about understanding (or misunderstanding) creators through their works, curators, fans, and boundaries.  This lies under the surface story of a creator of games, his games, and his friend, the narrator, a (possibly overly enthusiastic) fan of his games.

[Samwise]

"woe is me that people actually have to like my stuff while I work in a shitty industry"?

I think it's closer to the exact opposite of that.

[Jeff Kelly]

OK I'll give it a try then.

[Kail]

Just played through this, very weird, I thought.  

I dunno, it seemed pretty emotional at times, but I'm not sure I "got" it.  As someone who generally doesn't understand art, I'm not sure what all I can add to a discussion about it or even if there's a point to adding anything.  It was definitely interesting, but I felt like a lot of it went over my head.

[Samwise]

Like I said to Jeff the point IMO is kinda that it's the opposite of what you think...


I'll put this next bit in a whole separate spoiler tag because it's a very specific surprising thing...

[Kail]

That makes more sense than what I was thinking, but it's still kind of weird.

[Samwise]

That makes more sense than what I was thinking, but it's still kind of weird.

I just realized while typing that that this game has a lot in common with the movie Frank.  Anyone here played the game and seen that movie who can back me up?