Review — The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is still a narrative masterpiece

This isn't The Stanley Parable of 2013, and it's even harder to define than before.

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe openly defies traditional attempts to review it. It's an abstract, convoluted narrative adventure that begs to be described with a long string of intricate, metaphor-laden words, yet constantly subverts attempts to do so; it challenges players to label it, and then paints over the label any time their back is turned. The Stanley Parable is both a game that is excruciatingly self-aware and is not a game that ponders, "If I am not, then what am I?"

Others have managed to capture the essence of The Stanley Parable more eloquently than I'll be able to, but I've been assigned the dubious task of reviewing it. My immediate advice? Don't read this, or any other review. If you're even remotely interested in what The Stanley Parable could offer you, go and play it; just be prepared to have your expectations consistently proven wrong. Even if you played the original game, und...