Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 303 sampled Steam reviews (286 positive / 17 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
- Story & writing13% mention it
What negative reviews complain about
Negative reviews don't converge on specific aspects.
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
90%
143 reviews
5-15h
99%
124 reviews
15-40h
93%
30 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 90 | 41 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 94% | 89 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | – | 0 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 96% | 91 | 168 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Acclaim gate: the raw blend lands at 88.3, but scores above 88 must be earned in front of a mass audience; this verdict rests on 36,058 player reviews, a largely self-selected fanbase. As more players weigh in, the ceiling rises (full scale unlocks at 100,000 reviews).
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 300 reviews sampled · 480 total reviews in window · weighted 162.4 up / 6.4 down · computed 3h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (44)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 100
“The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe doesn't just make fun of other games. It makes fun of itself and its successes and shortcomings. And it's all wrapped up in the same expert presentation as the original game all those years ago. There's more than enough new content, the new jokes are fun, and the use of old scenery in new ways is simply brilliant. The whole game is, in short, merely brilliant.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“At the end of the day, players truly are Stanley, deriving pleasure and purpose from pressing buttons as prompted by the Narrator. This is a game that borrows a scene from Firewatch just to mock the concept of an open world and which sends up Steam user reviews, er, “Pressurized Gas” comments, and the idea of expectations and entitlement. Funny, right? But even if you’re not laughing with this exceedingly well-written game, it’s definitely laughing at you, and that’s as it should be for taking your entertainment so seriously.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is simply a game that should be part of the entrance exam for a gamer’s license. Until you play it yourself, don’t read any reviews or watch any gameplay videos. SERIOUSLY, DON’T DO IT! Don’t be afraid to dive into the realm of advanced absurdity, accompanied by the pleasantly offensive humor of an exquisitely cynical narrator. I’m giving it a high rating simply because I can!”
read full review ↗ - 90
“"NINE OUT OF TEN," Alex bellowed as he wrote. "A thoroughly enjoyable expansion of an already classic game treated with love, care, and most importantly a meta awareness that pays tribute to everything that made The Stanley Parable so beloved. It may leave a small few questioning more than they'd like, but we wouldn't want it any other way."Alex wondered if this small sound bite could be considered a complete review, but he was certain that if he needed to, he could find a way to pad things out.”
read full review ↗ - 92
“While The Stanley Parable was already a unique and awesome experience, with its superb narrative and the wide range of choices the player can experience, the Ultre Deluxe Edition makes it even better and crazier, truly an experience everybody should try once in their life.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“The glory of The Stanley Parable was always that it was a game supremely confident in itself, giving you branching choices that were not choices, inviting you to push up against the boundaries of its world and see how far you could go. The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe expands those boundaries and gives you new things to explore, and in the process it managed to surprise me even as someone who had picked over the original game quite extensively. While it may not be as truly groundbreaking as the original, The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe is a must-play for fans of the original, and if you’ve never experienced the game, it’s the perfect place to learn what made the original so brilliant while finding a number of new twists.”
read full review ↗ - 95
“Among the indie games I've greatly enjoyed on PC over the years and have wondered when they would make their way to Switch, The Stanley Parable was one of my last holdouts, so I'm thrilled it is finally here...”
read full review ↗ - 100
“The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is an absolute masterpiece of interactive storytelling that uses the medium of video games to interrogate the very nature of player agency and narrative design. By expanding upon the brilliance of the original release with an equally sharp, deeply philosophical layer of new content, this package achieves a level of creative brilliance that is secondary to none. It runs flawlessly on the Nintendo Switch hardware, delivering a beautifully polished, profoundly funny, and conceptually unmissable adventure that represents the absolute pinnacle of meta-fictional design.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is an excellent expansion of a bonafide classic interactive adventure. We'll admit we were slightly concerned that returning to something so masterful, expanding and adding to such a carefully constructed experience, could somehow dilute the magic, but we needn't have worried. All of the new content here simply embellishes what came before, resulting in a wonderful piece of art that's now better, more ultra and, you might even say, deluxe than ever before. Whether you're coming to this one for the first time or returning to see what's changed, you'll be handsomely rewarded for your curiosity.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“Visually it's definitely an improvement, although it's behind the curve by modern standards. It makes up for that by doubling the size of the game with all-new content, alterations to existing endings, and more that fans will adore. If you've played The Stanley Parable before, Ultra Deluxe gives you lots of reasons to revisit the experience. If this'll be your first time, well, lucky you. Once the element of surprise is gone, there's little reason to return, but while it lasts, this is easily among gaming's most unique and memorable journeys.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“It might make you laugh, leave you confused and upset, possibly sad, even scared but never indifferent. Not so much a game as it is a unique experience worth checking out.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“The Stanley Parable is an extremely worthwhile video game and, I would argue, one of the finest examples of meta-humor (as well as humor in general) in the medium. Just don't read too much before you play it.”
read full review ↗
INDIANTVCZ
Slant Magazine
Gaming Professors
Nintendo Life
SpaceNerd.it
Gamer Escape
Nindie Spotlight
Cubed3
Pure Xbox
Push Square
Capsule Computers
NintendoWorldReport…and 32 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- Quality of Life Update!Jul 19, 2022
- The Complete Stanley Parable Soundtrack is Out Now!Jun 14, 2022significant · resets scoring window
- The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe - 1.05 Bug FixesMay 3, 2022significant · resets scoring window