The Stanley Parable is an interactive drama with no combat or action to speak of apart from walking around and interacting with everyday objects. You guide a silent protagonist, Stanley, while discouraging narration plays in your ear. As you discover diverging pathways you must decide whether to disobey the narrator's suggestions or not.

As the narrator explains, Stanley works in an office and is tasked with monitoring data on a computer screen and pressing buttons appropriately without question. But one day the screen goes blank and Stanley starts to explore the building.

There are various points at which you need to make a decision. Will you follow the narration and keep the story on track, or choose to disobey and cause the narrator to adjust his story to get the player to return to the "proper" path. Depending on your choices there are different endings.

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe expands the original with new content, new choices, and new secrets to uncover. The game has been visually upgraded to reflect modern technology while faithfully preserving the tone of the original game.