When comparing Besiege vs The Stanley Parable, the Slant community recommends The Stanley Parable for most people. In the question“What are the best indie games on Steam?” The Stanley Parable is ranked 11th while Besiege is ranked 54th. The most important reason people chose The Stanley Parable is:
One of the main themes of the game is the illusion of choice that's presented in games. While a player can make a vast number of decisions in the game, the narrator reminds the player he can only make decisions that the game allows him to and how the game manipulates the player into making them. The narrator points out that not just common choices such as what path to take to get from point A to point B, how to approach a certain situation or what ethical choices are available are limited to the game's designers having thought of and implemented those aspects of the game, but decisions such as purposeful suicide, not taking action, disobeying instructions and even turning off the game are only there if the game allows them to be there.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Beautiful design
Each level takes place on a stage of blank white, giving the users unlimited space to test machines. The destruction of machines, buildings, and NPCs in this game is graphic and hilarious.
Pro Encourages creativity
In each level, the player is given an objective. The objective can be reached in any way. Players are able to build a huge variety of custom weapons and vehicles. Potential vehicles include airplanes and helicopters, tanks, catapults, hot air balloons, and more.
Pro Active community
There are loads of forums where you can discuss stuff about the game, share creations and ideas and look for servers you can play on.
Pro Sandbox Mode and Multiverse (multiplayer and level editor)
Remember, it's not just levels! In the Sandbox you can test your machines which is neat. The Multiverse has a lot to offer as well: the multiplayer function and the Level Editor. You can upload your levels to the Steam Workshop (Steam only).
Pro Community Workshop (Steam only)
In the Workshop, you can post your creations for other users to use and you can download other people's creations.
Pro Discusses the illusion of choice in games
One of the main themes of the game is the illusion of choice that's presented in games. While a player can make a vast number of decisions in the game, the narrator reminds the player he can only make decisions that the game allows him to and how the game manipulates the player into making them. The narrator points out that not just common choices such as what path to take to get from point A to point B, how to approach a certain situation or what ethical choices are available are limited to the game's designers having thought of and implemented those aspects of the game, but decisions such as purposeful suicide, not taking action, disobeying instructions and even turning off the game are only there if the game allows them to be there.
Pro Exceptional narration
Excellently crafted, hilarious writing delivered by a well spoken, charismatic British narrator. Kevan Brighting has become somewhat of a cult success since the game due to its cult like status which just shows how deserving he is due to how well done the narration of the game is done.
Pro The game has a lot of different endings to find
There are numerous ending to the game that appear to play out even when the player makes the same choices as their last playthrough.
Pro Insightful commentary on state of game design
The game tackles topics such as ludonarrative dissonance, choice in games, narrative limitations, etc while mostly focusing on the relationship between the game and the player in terms of storytelling in a very meaningful, educated and entertaining way.
Pro Points out narrative limitations in games by encouraging breaking narrative structure through gameplay
The game encourages players to explore decisions that would change the meaning of the presented story. What if you took a left turn where the game asked you to take a right? What if you decided not to push a big red button needed to continue playing because you didn't agree with pushing the big red button? What if you died in a boss battle? How would that affect the narrative of the game?
The game rewards you for not following the "intended" narrative structure of the situation in order to point out how the structure is unavoidable in games as a whole. The process of attempting to break the structure can be highly satisfying in The Stanley Parable and can help you better notice limitations of narrative in other games.
Pro A few nods to other games can be seen throughout the game
References to other games including Half-Life 2, Portal & Minecraft can be found throughout the game.
Cons
Con Another one of them games forever stuck in Early Access
Con Still in alpha testing
Some of the best features of this game are still in development. The final version isn't said to be released until mid 2016.
Con More an interactive story than an actual game
The Stanley Parable is not much of a game in the strictest sense but more an interactive story or interactive "art".