- Adventure, Indie, Comedy, Drama
A metafictional account of Davey Wreden, creator of the Stanley Parable (2013), who takes the player through the games of his old friend, Coda, while giving his commentary and interpretations of them, in order to understand why he makes the bizarre, often melancholic games that he makes, and decipher Coda's personality and inner struggles.
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Character
Contemplative, contemporary, character-led and prestige.
- contemplativerelentless
- contemporarynostalgic
- character-ledplot-driven
- unpretentiousprestige
- intimateepic
Who loves it, who doesn't
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Reviews
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From the critics
A few lines from each review; the whole review is on the critic's site. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
EurogamerJeffrey MatulefOct 2015The second game from the creator of The Stanley Parable is an intensely personal character study and one of the most daring games in years.
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The JimquisitionJames Stephanie SterlingOct 20159.5/10It's a game I may only ever play once, but I'm thoroughly glad I did. For those who hate "walking simulators" and the "pretentious" side of independent games, you should probably steer clear. The rest of you? There's more to this game than it's 90 minute runtime. The fact I'm still thinking about it, deeply, hours after I played it is all part of the value too.
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DestructoidDarren NakamuraOct 20159/10On the surface, The Beginner's Guide is a game about game design and critical analysis. Digging deeper, it provides a window into the mind of a man I might not have fully understood otherwise. It does all of this in a way only a video game could. More than anything else, it has caused me a lot of introspection, a feat few games ever achieve.
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Rock, Paper, ShotgunJohn WalkerOct 2015So did I enjoy it? Kind of. I think I appreciated it more than I enjoyed it, and then that appreciation was tinged with a wish that it could have been more. More clever, more surprising, more deep. But more importantly, it made me think, made me worry about people I care about, made me uncomfortable. And for that, I think, it deserves praise.
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PCWorldHayden DingmanOct 2015It's an unconventional game with interesting ideas—questions we don't ask often in games, mainly because most games aren't interested in this sort of dialog. We subsist mainly on a steady diet of summer blockbusters, and it's not often a weird art house game like The Beginner's Guide comes along, let alone gains any traction.
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Snippets via OpenCritic, where 75% of critics recommend it.
About the game
- Platforms
- Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac
- Developer
- Everything Unlimited Ltd.
- Publisher
- Everything Unlimited Ltd., Klei Entertainment
- Released
- October 1, 2015
- Modes
- Single player
- Perspective
- First person
- Engine
- Source
- Time to beat
- 1 h rushed · 1.5 h main story · 1.5 h completionist
IGDB rating 7.7/10 from 265 ratings.
Screenshots
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