I can't be the only one who feels this way.

[Kernel]

I understand that it took much effort to port the entire game to unity for the sake of console ports and a desire to upgrade the game's visuals. For that a modicum of the charging price is understood. I also understand that since the original game was nearly 10 years ago that there are many who have yet to experience any of The Stanley Parable. Despite this loyal payers are still charged ~16.60 USD for the game.

Am I the only one who feels generally underwhelmed by the new content for this release? I'm really trying to look past that and appreciate the coy joke at the industry against re-releases and sequels, but it really just feels like the game is trying to have it's cake and eat it too. Changing a good portion to nearly all of the original endings to tie a bucket into them dialogue wise is pretty cool to gawk at in terms of scripting, but once realizing that being nearly all of the new content save for a couple of endings leaves a bad taste in my mouth after multiple years of delay. I love the original and still enjoy all of the old content, and what little new written content there is is admittedly really funny and well done, but once that pond of content has run dry it leaves me. Having played the original feeling like I'd paid for a $16 engine change with a couple of changes. Have I missed some memo in the marketing where this re-release is intended for new players only? Have I missed some specific door, ending, or path that leads me to a well of new content and endings to blow me away in a similar manner to the original?
I'm not looking to flame the discussion board with hate or general negativity towards The Stanley Parable, as I absolutely love the game itself, but I want to come to some understanding with what has actually been done with this release.

TLDR; I feel the charging price (for 2013 players) is too much for how little new (actual) content there is, despite the numerous delays over the course of multiple years. I think for new players the asking price is acceptable.

[Count_]

There are technically double the amount of endings and various changes to make the game more compelling.
There is a decent amount of history behind the game that possibly points to why this deluxe version of the game was developed in this fashion.

I, for one, wouldn't even begin to be upset over $15 I spent nearly a decade ago. But that's just me.

No, I think for $16 this is a quite reasonable price for the game. I moreso think $25 for new players is a bit much.

[TangoBunny]

In fairness, I think everyone saying 'double the amount of endings!' isn't helping things, it's more 'double the amount of narrator commentary/jokes.'

The added endings are the prologue sequence, expo, and epilogue sequence, alongside a couple of new places like going up and down the boss's room elevator. Other than that, it's all the same maps but with different audio files and occasional scripting/model modifications (like Mariella holding a bucket)

I think a lot of people interpret 'double the amount of endings!' as 'double the amount of routes!' which isn't true at all.

[Wheels]

Considering how delayed it was, i'm pretty underwhelmed myself. Asked for a refund since i don't feel the asking price is justified at $16. It felt less like an ULTRA DELUXE edition and more like a Stanley Parable Version 1.1.

If they managed to release it way earlier i probably would be less harsh. It's the Cyberpunk problem. The longer wait added higher expectations i guess.

Honestly i didn't really get into the bucket gag so that seemingly being the biggest add-on is extra eh.

I agree that it's ok for new players. I think i'll just wait for people to make a supercut on youtube of any new stuff i missed.

[Piano man]

I'm completely with you on this one. I've played for almost 2 hours and maybe seen about 7 minutes of new content. As for the rest of the gameplay, it's been exactly like it was with the original Stanley parable.

I don't know what you mean about the bucket, as I didn't see it at all in the game... and frankly it's rather tedious doing the same thing I did years ago.

[Jake]

Whilst I agree the price is rather steep for what it offers to people who played the original, I'd still say I'm relatively satisfied with my purchase.

You can argue that most of the new content is just different narration and variances on existing events, but the endings and small acknowledgements of things that I've seen or done in the game are why I enjoyed the first one, and this is just more of that.

I feel like perhaps if the discount for owners of the original was, say, 50%, it would be very fair.
33% off would normally be a pretty nice deal, it ultimately winds up equating to not that much since the game is only about £20, which is quite cheap anyway.

[morph113]

Originally posted by Piano man:

I'm completely with you on this one. I've played for almost 2 hours and maybe seen about 7 minutes of new content. As for the rest of the gameplay, it's been exactly like it was with the original Stanley parable.

I don't know what you mean about the bucket, as I didn't see it at all in the game... and frankly it's rather tedious doing the same thing I did years ago.

If you don't know about the bucket, then you haven't even started with the new content yet and maybe you should stop reading this thread to avoid spoilers.

But yeah @OP I fully agree. I was a bit disappointed as well. While the new areas were nice, it really wasn't much and then all that was left was basically the same endings as the original game, just with a bucket and some altered dialogue. I was expecting them to open up the game more and offer completely new endings via new doors or hidden paths instead of having the "new endings" all be in exactly the same paths as before, just with a bucket and new narration. It sort of killed the exploration or the "lets try this" vibe from the original. Sure the 2-3 hours were fun and entertaining, but I really expected more.

[Piano man]

Originally posted by morph113:

If you don't know about the bucket, then you haven't even started with the new content yet and maybe you should stop reading this thread to avoid spoilers.

No... I'm aware of the new content. From the very first few minutes I saw the door with the New Content sign. I saw the idiotic jump game and a few other bits of nonsense, before restarting and coming across the ultra deluxe new content which involved a name button and a gigantic hole. (I don't think that even comes close to a spoiler, so don't worry).

Hardly really worth it... and then when you didn't really follow that door and followed the others, it was almost identical to the first game. I refunded the game just then... hardly worth my time and effort.

[CodeMonkey]

Originally posted by Piano man:

Originally posted by morph113:

If you don't know about the bucket, then you haven't even started with the new content yet and maybe you should stop reading this thread to avoid spoilers.

No... I'm aware of the new content. From the very first few minutes I saw the door with the New Content sign. I saw the idiotic jump game and a few other bits of nonsense, before restarting and coming across the ultra deluxe new content which involved a name button and a gigantic hole. (I don't think that even comes close to a spoiler, so don't worry).

Hardly really worth it... and then when you didn't really follow that door and followed the others, it was almost identical to the first game. I refunded the game just then... hardly worth my time and effort.

No… there is a lot more new content after that

[d-horse's ass]

I don't think you can say there is a lot. If the game wasn't on Steam I would say it's justifiable but the amount of new 'content' makes this feel like a jarring cash grab. What little exists was clearly not even thoroughly tested.

[charliesala]

Yep, i also was waiting for this release with a lot of excitement but 4 hours of new content at max wasn't really worth it, and a lot of that new content were just new dialogue from The Narrator, I would ask for a refund if I could...

[BNE Domestic Terminal]

To be fair, their first trailer did outright say this was a cash grab. It just turned out to be a little less joke than we thought - to be clear, I think there is value in here but yeah. It did underwhelm me. I agree with morph113, the "let's try this" vibe just wasn't here, new paths weren't added to expand the options available.

I love this game, but yeah - this re-release isn't for returning players. It's for people who haven't played Stanley Parable before.

[Lindylou]

Yeah I'm sadly very disappointed. The couple of actual new content endings were cool and enjoyable, but the rest was the same old game just with a bucket, and I hate the bucket. Could've been fine for a one off joke, but over and over, ugh, murdered it. I was obsessed with TSP and played it so many times looking for any tiny new things, so I've already played these paths dozens of times and am too familiar with them, really wanted something new... TSP was like a treasure box with many secret compartments, don't really feel that way about UD.

[Vvef]

I hope this discussion gets saved by the games devs for The Stanley Parable Deluxe Hyper Alpha edition and put into the ReMemory Zone.

[Razumen]

The content in the deluxe edition is just...ok, it's not amazing though if you've already played the original. I enjoyed it, but even at $20 with the discount it seems a bit steep for what it is.

Spoiler: The bucket endings are interesting, but in a way I feel like it was one of the lazier approaches to expanding the game. Why come up with actually new routes when you can just use the same ones again and modify the endings?

I'm fully aware that this is the sort of comment the game makes fun of, but that doesn't really negate the validity of it, no matter how coy it tries to be about it in the game. Money is money and there's other games out there that probably provide more for the same amount.

[Green Tea]

This is going to be controversial but I paid the price partly just as an act of support... I'd like to see more games like this more experimentation. The thing that got me was I felt the scripting more this time.... I think there could have been an opportunity to undermine some pre conceived notions about how the game "works" either way it doesn't cost much.