#escape pod the stanley parable

[axter]

i am having. feelings.

[alexis-royce]

Illustration for @birdybirdnerd’s legendary fic Somewhere Else!

You are seriously not ready for where this fic will take you.

[shinakazami1]

I saw a Chinese meme the other day and decided it was too Stanley core not to draw it <3 run Stanley, run!

Like what you see? Support me on kofi!

Making of video under the cut!

[bpistols]

We’re free, you and I. We’re free, Stanley. ♡

The escape pod ending makes me cry I’m sorry

Also I have to add this version @fakecandybars made help&;&;

[inkthemandrake]

After a talk with some friends in the Stanley parable fandom I realised how little people talk and draw fanart of Timekeeper / Employee #432

So here's some funky art of him 💕

[dirtylittlemuffin]

Escape pod ending

[spw-art]

what is the stanler x bucket ship name.

[raining-anonymously]

hnfjdj something something stanley and the narrator escape the parable and try to start a normal life together only to realize they left the other 599(?) employees behind

[panleystarable]

Although the idea of the narrator being giant DOES appeal to me in fanart, i think the narrator being comically tiny would be hilarious

[henryloverman]

"A Deal with a Hand"

>A Stanley Parable (Long) one shot

[ The song is the vibes of this story ]

Stanley was inside a dark void, there was a computer screen looking back at him, he could swear that he saw that screen before... Ah! Settings Person, the who talked to him during the epilogue, why is it here?

"Hello there, Stanley, I have prepared a deal for you"

"What kind of deal?"

"A deal that can let you escape the Parable, but of course it has a price"

"Are you sure? Like I could actually escape the Parable for a deal?? Alright then, what's the price?"

"Convince the Narrator to let you go"

"Let me go? What do you mean by that?"

"There are two ways to leave the Parable, it's either persuading the Narrator or killing him"

"Umm okay- WAIT WHAT?! Is there no other choice?????"

"There is no other way, you already have accepted the deal, so you choose"

"Even if I choose to persuade the Narrator, I don't think he will allow it"

"Surprisingly you choose to persuade him instead of killing him, why is that?"

"I... Don't want to kill anybody, okay?"

"Your point makes sense, okay, I do have a way so you can somehow persuade him"

"And what's that?"

"I could give you a voice, I think I'm able to do that if I use the video tape's wiring"

"A voice, huh? Well then give me the ability to talk, it will be easier to speak instead of using my hands for the operation"

"Give me a minute, I have to code first"

"Okie doki"

"...Did it work?"

"Well seeing you can open your mouth now, i would say yes"

"Nice! I never heard my own voice before!"

"Well it's because the Narrator took it away, he thought it would distract the storyline if you were able to speak the entire time"

"...I should have chosen to kill that fucker instead"

"Too late now, just try to persuade him, if it doesn't work, there is always a plan B"

"Okay, now send me back, it's time to start the operation! Also thanks by the way, Employee 432!"

"Good luck, Stanley"

...

"Ugh, my head hurts, I am in the office?"

"There you are, Stanley! I was looking for you everywhere- WAIT YOU CAN TALK?! I don't think that should be possible, you don't have a voice box..."

"Well, I can finally talk back at you, now listen to me, you asshole, let me leave the Parable"

"Why should i listen to you? Why do you even want to leave the Stanley Parable in the first place???"

"Because I couldn't stand staying in this fucking place for any longer, I want to leave the office building and explore the outside world, I want my freedom back!"

"...How far are you willing to go for this specific freedom of yours, Stanley?

"As far as I could, even it means killing you just so I could leave this shitty place"

"Hahaha, oh Stanley, you think so highly of yourself, do you really think you could actually hurt me? Even to go as far as killing me?? I don't think so"

"I think it might be the other case around, Narrator, I could use a friend's help to do that, so you better let me leave the Parable or else!!"

"You will never leave the Parable, you will stay here and follow my story, don't you want a happy ending, Stanley? You can have that if you just listen to me"

"BUT I DID! I had already listened to you so many times, and do you know even know what happens in the end? That ending gave me hope that I can actually leave, and instead of giving me the freedom I deserved, it just fucking restarted and everything will happen again!"

"Happen again? What do you mean by that, Stanley?? I don't remember doing that ending yet, are you imagining things?"

"DO YOU THINK I MADE THAT UP?! Why would I even do that? Just let me go, please?"

"No, and that's my final decision!"

*Sighs*

"You left me no choice"

*Holds up a gun*

"Pff! How are you even going to shoot me with that? Where did you even get that gun in the first place, Stanley?"

"A friend of mine gave it to me, and now it's time to say your goodbyes"

*Bang!*

"-Ah! S-Stanley how did you do that!?"

"I won't say, sleep well, you bastard"

"Y-You asshole! Shit I am bleeding! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!!!"

"...Uhhhhhh, fine, where are you? I know how to first aid!"

"And now you're willing to h-help me? Ugh, fine, it's to you-ur right"

"Huh? -oh over there! I'm coming!"

*Opens door*

"H-Help me already!"

"Wait! I have to use my shirt to stop the bleeding"

...

"There, that should stop the bleeding for a while"

*Sighs*

"My arm still hurts, I will ask again, how the fuck did you shot me?"

"I don't know, maybe the gun has a way to teleport its bullet??"

"That is impossible, the one responsible for that gun is your friend, right? I think they used some kind of advanced technology on that thing"

"It was made to kill you, so it isn't a surprise"

"Who is your friend, exactly?"

"I won't tell you, but I do know they hate you, which is perfectly understandable especially to what you did to them - but that's not important now"

"It's Employee 432, isn't it?"

"How did you know?!"

"I knew they were suspicious of me from the start, it isn't a surprise they want to kill me, I did erase them after all"

"Why would you do that? Erasing all of my co-workers for what?? For your precious story?"

"Stanley, you don't understand, your co-workers don't exist at all, they're characters I made up, they are fictional, with no personality or life"

"Somehow, I and Employee 432 are sentient?"

"Yes, I don't know how you two are alive or have the ability to think, maybe there is something wrong with your code"

"Which is why you decided to fire employee 432?"

"I had to, they were going to ruin my story with their existence"

"But what about me? Is it because i'm your protagonist?"

"You and Employee 432 are different, they were not supposed to exist at all, while you on the other hand was the opposite, you were needed for the story"

"Your reasoning sounds awful, you didn't even give them a single bit of mercy, and to all of my co-workers, including me"

"I didn't know they were still alive, Stanley, I thought I killed them a long time ago, but somehow they survived. You're not real, that's the truth, I know it sounds bad but you and I are different, you were something I made up while I exist in the real world, whether or not I had a choice"

"How are you here then? Huh? If you are indeed real, why did you come here?"

"Well, we are currently in my office, this was not supposed to be seen by anybody except me, I created it when I got into this world"

"What for?"

"So I could create my story in peace, it's not easy to teleporting world to world, this was a world that I created, it's small, but it does it's job"

"Okay, if you did make this world, how are you not invisible?"

"There are limits to my ability, my body is weak even though I don't need human necessities, what I code in my computer will take a physical form, such as papers, chairs, walls, well whatever"

"So - could you code a first aid kit, also an extra t-shirt as well"

"I could do that if my left hand isn't currently injured, it's hard to code with one hand, Stanley"

"Can't you just teach me how to code? I don't think it's that hard"

*Goes towards the computer*

"It's hard to code, Stanley, but let me see you try, I bet you can't even code at all"

*Codes*

"What were you saying??"

"HOLY SHIT! HOW DID YOU KNOW HOW TO CODE, STANLEY?! That should be impossible with that dumb brain of yours"

"It just shows I'm smarter than you, Narrator"

*Removes the bloody t-shirt*

"Pff! As if that were the case, you were just lucky"

"Could luck really help me code a med kit and a t-shirt? I don't think so"

"...Fine, you win, Stanley, you're not that dumb after all, only 1% smarter than before"

*Cleaning the wound*

"Sooooooo, are you going to let me leave now?"

"...On one condition"

"What's that?"

"I'm coming with you, Stanley, you need someone to guide you, and fortunately I'm quite knowledgeable about the rules of the Real world"

"Wait.. you're going to help me? What for? Didn't I try to kill you 20 minutes ago? So why would you do that???"

*Sighs*

"...After everything I had done to you, erasing all of your co-workers and forcing you stay in this office, I understand the reason why you and Employee 432 wanted to kill me, and yet you still chose to save me. See this action as a form of my apology and gratitude, I don't deserve your forgiveness but at least let me help you, even if it's small compared to what you have done to me"

"...Damn, I didn't know you were this nice, Narrator"

*Bandages*

"Shut up Stanley, we should get going"

"To where?"

"The Real World, now follow my lead, I know where the exit is at"

"So a gun shot made you change your mind?"

"Yes, now stop talking, I don't want to hear your voice any longer

"I could say the same"

"Fuck you, Stanley"

"Fuck you too, Asshole"

*Sighs*

"You're not going to say anything?"

*Middle fingers*

...

*Burst in a joy of laughter*

*Chuckles*

"Your laugh is contagious, Stanley"

"Oh really? Well your laugh is contagious too"

"Is my laugh really contagious? How do you know that?"

"...Ummm, fine, I will tell you the truth, you can't remember the resets, Narrator, in some cases you can, but most of the time you don't remember what happened in those endings"

"Those endings huh? That also explains your hatred for me, I must have done something bad to you, didn't I?"

"... I will tell you another time, I don't want to explain it right now, I'm not prepared to"

"Oh... I'm sorry I brought it up, Stanley, luckily we are now closer towards the exit, you're so close to freedom, aren't you happy?"

"I am, it's just I don't get why you didn't leave the parable sooner, are you stuck here as well?"

"Even though I created this world, someone with a higher power could easily kill me anytime. There was a rule that was implemented here, if you and I want to leave the Parable, we have to go the pod together"

"That makes sense why you haven't left the Parable yet, but why have we not done this before?"

"I don't want to leave the Parable, Stanley, my whole life, my career, everything I have done was so could I make this story into a reality, that story was going to change the world, but that was not true, this is why I didn't want you to leave the Parable, because I knew you needed me for that"

"Oh...but why did you choose to stay with me even if we leave the Parable? Don't you hate me?"

"I... I feel indebted to you, even though you shot me in the first place, you still saved my life, I was going to bleed to death if it weren't for you"

"You didn't answer my question, do you hate me, Narrator?"

"Uhhhh - Look! Were here, there's the escape pod, let's go, Stanley"

"You dodge my question again"

*Opens*

"Let's go inside, I think we could fit in here-"

"-Not so fast"

A person emerges from the shadows.

"Employee 432!?!?"

"Oh by the way, Stanley, how did you know my name?"

"Someone told me"

"Stanley! Get inside, quick!"

"Goodbye, it was nice talking to you, Stanley, but unfortunately you didn't follow my expectations, I really thought you would kill him, I guess not, what a disappointment, I should have killed you in the first place"

"WAIT - W-WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS, EMPLOYEE 432, I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS?! ALSO WHY THE FUCK DO YOU LOOK LIKE ME!?"

"Simple, really, I needed a copy of your body in order to kill that bastard, since any other models don't have the ability to shoot a gun"

"Wait - my gun?! SHIT! Employee 432, please don't shoot me!"

"I had hated both of you from the start, the only reason why I didn't kill you in the first place was because the Player told me not to, but since they're gone, I could do anything I want, sorry Stanley, there could be only one-"

"-TAKE THIS, YOU BASTARD!"

*Bonk*

"AHHHHHH-"

*Faints and collapses*

"Where did you get that?"

"I saw a pipe and used it as a weapon, unfortunately it's not strong enough to kill a person"

"Thank you for saving me, Narrator, but we have to get going before they wake up"

"You don't want to kill them, Stanley? Especially the fact that they were going to kill you?"

"I understand why Employee 432 did this, they were just blinded by hate and revenge, they don't deserve to die"

"...Alright then, let's get going, don't want to wake them up now"

"Goodbye, Employee 432"

*Closes*

*Pressing the start button*

"My left arm hurts swinging that pipe, I'm going to sleep for a while, Stanley"

*Sits down*

"That's what I had forgotten to code, I'm so sorry, Narrator"

*Sits down*

"It's alright, you already have done enough for me"

*Yawns*

"I'll join you, i'm tired of what had happened earlier, it will be nice to fall asleep"

*...3*

"Okay then, good night, Stanley"

*...2*

"Good night, Narrator"

*...1*

[ Blast off ]

*Mumbles*

"...Stanley..."

*Shifts closer towards the other man*

*Mumbles*

"...Narrator..."

*His head fell on the Narrator's shoulder*

"Zzz...z...z...Zzz...z..zzz"

A red pod flew in the night sky, flying into space where stars and galaxies aligned, there was nothing there except for the two sleeping fellows inside a pod, there were still unanswered questions still stuck in their minds, but for now, it isn't bad to take a rest and listen to the noise of space, with a fellow companion by your side.

꧁ The End ꧂

Editor's Note: This is probably my longest story yet! I honestly planned this to have a bad ending, where the Narrator dies and Stanley was inside the pod alone, but I changed my mind because that will happen twice in my stories.

The reason why this is a one shot is because I feel like this should be a standalone, with an open ending, so you, viewers, could imagine what their outcome might be, I honestly think the pod will get hit and both of them will die, but that will be boring and...funny.

Someone asked me if I should turn the RealParable Au into fan fiction, i'm planning to, but due to school work, I won't be able to have enough time to make it, but luckily summer is around the corner so I think I could make it! I will probably post it on AO3, but hey, no promises, I'm sorry if this reply is late, Anonymous ^^'

Thank you guys so much for 139 followers 💛I really mean it, I appreciate you guys for supporting me this far, I feel happy whenever you guys heart or reblogged a post, it just makes my day, and I hope it makes yours too, I love when you guys comment on my post, it makes me so happy ^^

Thank you so much, you guys are my motivation to continue writing stories :)

Thank you for reading and I wish you a nice day 💛🖤💛🖤💛🖤

I want to give you guys Huggies :>

[hemlock-user007]

Stanley Parable thing I noticed

So you know how when you do the escape pod ending, on the wall, it has the directions that says, “Entering the escape pod will initiate a relay that once triggered, can not be disabled or paused. Both the narrator and the player must be present in order for the escape sequence to play out as intended.” 

After finding out that small detail, I remembered that the narrator disappears during that ending. I’m not sure if I’m just jumping to conclusions, but maybe the narrator disappears in order for the sequence to fail and for the game to restart.

I know how much the developers put into the game, so maybe I’m not jumping to conclusions. I just thought that was a really cool detail to share.

[awkwardtuatara]

Next up in I Accidentally Broke The Stanley Parable: I incidentally moved in and out of the Boss's Office as the doors were closing and then tried to get back in, causing one of the doors to jam and not fully close for about 10 more seconds. You know, the same thing that would trigger the Escape Pod Ending.

Well, I restarted the game from the menu, awoke in Stanley's normal office, saw this on my way out:

went "cool, an alternate office," stepped out, and the entire thing suddenly switched to the normal view:

So I turned around, intending to see if it happened again, and. What. That should be Stanley's office, you know, the one behind Door 427, except it's just a grey rectangle and some darker grey floor.

Going into this grey rectangle, Stanley's room became normal again, and the external office became the short corridor from the first image. So I stepped in and out of Stanley's room a few times (wasn't counting exactly how many) until I stepped into his room, and everything went black.

When I walked forward more I was falling through the map. Various rooms like the main office and some other corridors were visible from the bottom, but fell away too fast for me to take a screenshot of in my surprise. Pretty soon after the game restarted and I was back in a fairly normal that did *not* glitch in and out of scenery.

I did, however, get the office covered in paper upon restarting. And on almost every single subsequent run, I got either an alternate voiceline, an alternate office arrangement, or both. Not sure if that's related, though. I was also holding the Bucket, if that matters.

Anyway. Falling through the map was very cool, I wish I got an image of it - I've seen out-of-map exploration on youtube, but it felt a bit different somehow doing it by accident myself. I'll try jamming the doors in the Boss's Office again - I think it might be because the office loads in differently for the Escape Pod ending? I wonder what happens if you jam the doors and then leave before the external door to the Boss's Office re-opens for you...

[shinakazami1]

2 out of 5 arts I've made for my TSP (angsty) fanfic, The Outside World!! (link also: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41960094 ) Yesterday I live wrote it on Stanarrator server and today, it's finally open for public :D

It's a story how Stanley and Narry try to get out through the Escape Pod to the real world <3 And haha, oh that works just sooooo wonderfully

I would love to hear what you guys think of the fanfic!!

The work contains (spoilers, under a cut)

The Bucket, 432, the tape recorder, Mariella - Insane / Madness Ending, depersonalisation, death mention, some stanarrator moments

[sysig]

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe screengrabs

‼️ SPOILER WARNING ‼️

Alright so the first few are just from replaying all the stuff that was in the HD Remix, just to see some of the texture differences, but I also took some screengrabs just because they’re fun!

I’m so glad this one made it in lol (he is)

I got the paper office! :D

And the whiteboard ending!! Yes!!! Dog mode is terrible though haha ♪

Spamtoncore

This was new! I knew about the Bucket but I hadn’t met them yet so I was just like Hmmm Hmmm Interesting haha

Fall through the floor Part 2 - luckily this was the last one of the initial play session! Still though, load your rooms pls

Alright from here it’s all Ultra Deluxe so watch out!

I want this. Sadge that it’s sold out </3

I just got this one! :D

They!!! So tiny <3 It’s nice to see Mariella’s model as well, I’ve seen Stanley’s a few times but never Mariella from the front!

Just played with this one too, the grandfather <3

Who is this!!! They’re so cute what!!!

This image is probably especially funny to me because it reminds me of a meme I made lol

Hi Stanley, Hi Stanley, haha ♪

There he is. The Narrator turned him into a marketable figure

Very cursed Stanley smile :) He deserves it

Me

See, this dark, infinite abyss makes sense! It all ties together! Brilliance in writing! Lol

My previous point (also implying that Stanley is normal, really, Narrator, you should know better by now)

I appreciate the serial code(?) nameplate lol - this whole section was too strange haha

*heavy breathing* I mean literally what more could I ask for (I did also like the Stanley Parable concept art though haha, and the pause button stuff)

I gotta be honest, I was not sold on this bucket at first, but after this-

EEE, even better!! Yes, I’m onboard on the bucket now, I love Bucket

There is an awful lot of Bucket death in this game huh. Like, Stanley dies a lot too, but we don’t get to see that usually, so it’s oddly visceral

Employee 416 you say 👀 So there was somebody in there initially, until they were moved...? (I like to imagine they also drew the little Stanlurine doodle on the whiteboard lol)

I forgot that this was flagged by the phone call lol, I wonder if anybody has actually counted them

That’s all for this playthrough! If I fall through the floor again, I’ll try to catch it!

[zemantler]

Escape pod au where everyone spawns in the real world after escaping from the parable, but they all get seperated. And TK, due to his fondness of Stanley, decides to take extreme measures to protect him

Okay anyways I'm not a writer and also english is not my primary language so I apologize if this is really rough anyways I hope to expand on this idea in the future bcs I think it's silly

[queenburd]

The use of color in The Stanley Parable: HD and Ultra Deluxe (with honorable mentions to the Demo)

dedicated to @squuote who needs more TSP analysis to rotate

A little over a year ago, I (only somewhat jokingly) lay out the argument that while The Stanley Parable is notorious in its use of yellow, the color yellow is not actually associated to the Narrator. The color most associated with him, I argued, was red. [1, 2]

I've had plenty of thoughts regarding color and TSP in the interim and I want to go over those thoughts today in as much depth as I can manage. You know, for fun. None of this is to argue about creator intent, but it's a fun way to stretch the critical thinking and literary analysis portions of my brain. It's also super cool if you don't agree with my readings, since the point is to get you thinking about these things and studying them to interpret for yourself.

Anyway let's gooooooo

(note: all images are embedded with a link to the source page I pulled them from. For those on mobile, be careful with your scrolling and tapping!)

Yellow

Okay let's start with the “obvious” one. Yellow is seen as one of the main colors in the game, it's the color of the main office and the primary assets associated with the Parable. We see yellow PRIMARILY in the beginning of the office, before the two doors room. It lines the cubicles and the walls are often interpreted as yellow (eh, they're more of an off-white. They're actually absorbing color from the brown-yellow carpet, and they do the same in the lounge).

It's the color of the Line(TM), it's the color of the cargo lift in the warehouse, and, most strikingly, it's the color of the SKIP Button.

We'll get to you.

Okay, so yellow is a color with conflicting interpretations, which is par for the course for all of them, we're not going TOO insane on color theory and color psychology we will be here ALL DAY and I was an ART student. So let's just look at the most basic reading. Bright, oversaturated yellow is a color that can exhaust the eyes easily. It grabs our attention like a highlighter and burns our retinas.

It can be a color of excitement, but it can also be a color of sickness. I've been thinking about the short story The Yellow Wallpaper the past couple days. Or maybe I've been thinking about it for longer. It's just that I haven't reread it in actual years, but every time I saw someone talk about the wallpaper in TSP, I thought about the story. Here's some passing thoughts on the short story in comparison to TSP. [3]

Sickness, and madness, and beginnings, and infinity. In the end, yellow, to me, is the color of the Parable grabbing the player (and by extension the Narrator) by the nose and saying “let's get moving. We have a story to play. Play the game, and keep playing.” Notable to me is how the SKIP button is almost scathingly yellow in contrast to the room it's in, and as the room gets darker the glow gets more foreboding. The Parable did this. The Narrator might think he made it, but he doesn't control it. Yellow isn't his color, and it never was.

Red

“Stanley walked through the RED. DOOR.”

The use of red in TSP is probably the most interesting and fun to analyze for me. It's used extremely intentionally and it's commonly associated with power, anger, and passion. We see red in the Boss's Office, in the Countdown ending, as the door to the Starry Dome, and a TON in the TSP2 Expo. There's red doors and signs in the Escape Pod Bay.

So I've joked that the color red is the Narrator's color, and while it's still a fun interpretation, it's not one I'm married to. I think it's more accurate to say red symbolizes control. The Zending Door is you letting him control the story. The Countdown screens are him taking control from you. And TSP2 is the Narrator trying to exert control over what the developers have made. It's a response to New Content and to the SKIP button. I have a million trillion thoughts about the TSP2 Expo but I won't get into them here.

Anyway, red feels very obviously to me associated with the Narrator trying to take control, or things only being possible when he has control. I'm thinking about the signs in the Escape Pod Bay telling you that it won't work without him. (I'm thinking about how the same door asset for the Zending is used in the Escape Pod Bay. No. shhh. Staying on topic.) So I don't have much more to say on the matter because I feel like I've tread this ground before. Red is about control, and it is held in direct contrast with blue.

Blue

Oh, blue. Soothing blue, sweet relaxing lounge and ocean paintings and boss's bathroom and blue door that leads to broken textures and an irritable Voice.

If red is the color of control, then blue is the color of rebellion. Small rebellion, sure. Rebellion that means nothing in the scheme of things. Blue is the stepping stone to bigger deviations from the path. I mean, the lounge is only the first step to the right, and you can still get on the “correct” path. The blue door you have to go through repeatedly, you have to make the choice multiple times, for it to lead to the Games ending. The boss's bathroom doesn't GO anywhere until after the epilogue. These are “rebellious choices” in a game where you don't really have a choice, and it's the closest you get to defiance.

I like to make it Stanley's favorite color for obvious reasons.

(Hey, fandom, why you keep associating it with the Curator? The only blue in the Museum is in a couple assets on display.)

Green

I gotta admit, while there's definitely something to green and its use in TSP, a clear meaning for it is eluding me, and I've been thinking about it on and off for a couple days now. It's a fairly infrequent color in TSP as a whole, but it does make an appearance. Besides being the color of plants (such as the ever important fern, the potted plants scattered through the office and the ones in the TSP2 expo, and of course the growth in the SKIP button room), it's also the wallpaper in the Demo, and the same wallpaper is used in the Boss's Office in the Real Person Ending. Thinking further, it also appears in the small room before the stage in the Press Conference Ending, and it's the color of the carpet in the HL2 Office that is found under the Games ending. (It was also brought up by my pal glitch that green is the color of the cursor on Stanley's screen, the first thing you see before gameplay begins. Good catch!)

Thinking about it, it's hard to find a throughline. There's something familiar about the green. Not necessarily safe, but it usually comes before something much bigger. Maybe this is a bit of a stretch, though. Let's say for now green is associated with the familiar in the face of the unfamiliar.

(There's possibly a thesis here about green being associated with gifts and surprises. The Narrator makes the Press Conference ending something that teases but also praises Stanley, the Green Room in the Demo is the space where the Demo is meant to be revealed to you, and that alternate Boss's Office is supposed to, in the Narrator's mind, be the first step to a wonderful story made just for you.)

White

Most people, when they think of white in The Stanley Parable, immediately think of the Museum. And they're right to! It's one of the most prominent environments that uses white. With that in mind, we can't forget the other places it appears, since it's best to keep everything in mind when trying to formulate a meaning for it.

So, other places where white is prominent: We have the out-of-bounds ending, and the Art ending (aka play that Baby game for four hours). We also have a massive part of the TSP2 expo.

Honestly, there is a lot of white in the rest of the office, but it tends to be absorbing the colors of the environment in ways that make it less noticeable. White's really good at that, which means the times where it's by itself as the outstanding color are outliers and feel intentional. So what do these things have in common?

Well, they kind of show the seams of the game? Take this with a grain of salt, but the Museum is designed to show you some of the design process for the game, effectively taking you out of the setting to give you a top-down perspective (hehe, literally in the case of the diorama of the office up to the two doors), and the out-of-bounds ending is a joke about breaking the map, falling out of the world , which can break immersion in other games. The TSP2 Expo is the Narrator showing off all the features for his sequel idea, giving a “sneak peek” of what will be included.

The Art ending doesn't fit with this thesis, but it does involve the... revelation, I suppose, of the “character” of the Essence of Divine Art. What I'm trying to get to is that white is a color of revelation and display.

Gray

Gray is not a color that tends to stand on its own merit in The Stanley Parable, and that in itself is intentional. Gray is used as a texture of “unfinished” things, things the Narrator doesn't want you to look closely at, and would prefer you move past Right Now Right This Second Please.

It's the walls of the Broom Closet, as well as the walls of the maintenance room. It's also the walls of the room right outside the Starry Dome—the hall that leads right to the stairs. (Honorable mention, @chirpbudgie brought up that the desks in the office are gray, which is also an implication of the way Stanley's coworkers seemed to disappear with work unfinished. There is a sense of “wrongness” in how they've all vanished. Nice eye, bud.)

You're not supposed to dwell in these places. Go back to the story, please!

Black

“Blackness, and a rising chill of uncertainty. Was it over?”

Last and least is black, less used as a color in its own right and more a use of shadow. It really stars primarily in the Mind Control Facility, dark rooms with a sense of foreboding. Honestly, what is there to say about black?

Only, I tell a lie. You see quite a lot of black in this game, don't you? After all:

It's the Loading screen.

Blackness is uncertainty, and mystery, like the game tells us, because anything could be hiding in the darkness, and anything could happen when that screen is finished loading. It's white's opposite not just in value but in meaning. You don't know what's going on, you just have to wait and see. Any time you might have an answer, or an ending, here comes that loading screen to wipe the slate clean and say “hey, what haven't you found yet? What haven't you tried? What tricks does this game still have up its sleeve?”

(And now I'm thinking about the Figurines ending, and how the Narrator shouts to stop the loading screen, to go back and stay in the familiar please!! Because the fellow hates uncertainty, really he does. But that's a thesis for another day.)

(We also can't forget that Ultra Deluxe's Setting the Time is also set on a black background, and there's always, to me, a sense of foreboding and uncertainty there too. What happens after this is the game, right? Is this for something? Is this doing anything? Is it changing anything?)

Silver

It's a bucket :)

Okay that's the end of this post. There's probably plenty more to say about this subject, this isn't exhaustive by any means. Color is an incredible tool, and visual storytelling and color interpretation is not in any way a science. As I posted bits of this in my server for extra feedback and examples of color, other folks brought up an entirely different interpretation of the color green. And I didn't even bring up Mariella being dressed in full green!

Anyway I didn't bring up orange because there's only a couple instances of it in the game but its always about unfinished things/assets (Baby game, just a lot of Games ending things) but it also shows up in the TSP2 Expo (Button That Says The Name of the Player Playing The Game (Jim)) for features that uuuuuh. Aren't done. So that's funny.

Like I said, there's almost certainly more to say about color theory and the game, but this thing is hitting 4 pages long and that's not including images oops.

I hope this was a fun read! Some of this stuff has been percolating in my brain for a while and it's good to finally get it on the page. Talk to me about TSP I love this game.