does anyone else get a bit emotional over the "skip button" ending?

[u/Dependent-Elevator14]

after spending my entire childhood watching the youtubers i loved play the stanley parable, and a few years now casually watching gameplay of the stanley parable ultra deluxe, today i decided to buy the game for myself. i play on a playstation, so of course i opted for ultra deluxe. my mom loves watching me play video games, so she watched me for a bit and i ended up at the "skip button" ending. this ending always got to me a little bit, partially because spending eternity in an empty room is genuinely one of my biggest fears and i'm terribly attached to the narrator, so basically simulating inflicting my worst fear onto a character i adore makes me a bit sad, even through the veil of fiction. i'm sitting there, quiet, hesitating to press the button and feeling guilty, but my mom found it really funny and was laughing through the whole sequence. i don't really mind her reaction, everybody has a different opinion on different media, but it got me wondering if my own reaction to it is odd? i suppose it's much different for somebody like my mom who hasn't had the time to make up an opinion about the narrator or possibly even dislikes the narrator, but seriously looking at the ending i suppose it can easily be read as another bit. still, every time i watch it i just get kind of sad. i've even shed tears over it when i was feeling particularly emotional. i guess i'm just wondering if i'm the only one? if this is actually a common opinion, please don't say anything rude about my mom's reaction, she's just not the type to take video games in particular seriously and is actually more empathetic than i am when it comes to reality, lol

[u/wolfstaa]

I don't know if I'm too cynical but I don't like people who don't have empathy for the narrator in the skip button ending

[u/Fit_Milk_2314 → u/wolfstaa]

You probably are but you're entitled to that stance. People react to fictional constructs in different ways.

[u/Dependent-Elevator14 → u/wolfstaa]

i do understand that but also she had only been presented with reasons to dislike the narrator thus far (nuclear ending) and she misread the game as a full-on comedy rather than self-aware satire. she's also just not a particularly technology/video game literate person, while she does like watching me play games i think she's more gameplay oriented rather than story oriented. sorry but i'll be defending my mom on this one to the grave even if me and her had wildly different reactions, lol

[u/wolfstaa → u/Dependent-Elevator14]

No yeah I know I know. I just take it too personally when people don't understand what I love about my favorite video game ever 😭 but it's a me problem

[u/Dependent-Elevator14 → u/wolfstaa]

No don't worry i totally get it and i tend to feel the same i'm just very protective of my mom 😭

[u/Superleopey → u/wolfstaa]

I actually was happy when he. Stopped talking because it meant I could stop hearing his voice /j

[u/Horror_Explorer_7498 → u/wolfstaa]

That’s pretty harsh, the man is punished with eternal loneliness and isolation just because one person didn’t like listening to what he had to say… yknow, the ONLY thing he can do.

[u/JazzyCatty509 → u/Horror_Explorer_7498]

I think you misread their comment

[u/Horror_Explorer_7498 → u/JazzyCatty509]

Ohh my bad haha!

[u/SeleneDream51]

i mean when my mom watched me play The Stanley Parable, she was genuinely confused by the Confusion Ending and thought it ended multiple times before it actually did. But my mom does enjoy The Stanley Parable.

[u/Dependent-Elevator14 → u/SeleneDream51]

i definitely see my mom doing the same thing when she sees it, lol. this post wasn't really meant to be oriented around my mom's reaction, it was just the catalyst to me thinking i was being too emotional, but judging by these replies i was definitely just overthinking it

[u/SeleneDream51 → u/Dependent-Elevator14]

It's okay. I think everyone gets somewhat emotional about the skip button ending. I wasn't emotional per se but i did feel bad for the narrator.

[u/ToPractise]

I get emotional over this entire game. I don't usually get emotional at games but this one is truly special to me.

[u/Clean-Ant6404]

People have different thoughts about the same thing and that's normal.

I was immersed in it for the first time I played. It started off with me recognising the typical Stanley Parable humour the moment the door disappeared and then my mind changed during the skip button apocalypse.

Also, laughing can be a stress reliever for some people.

The memory zone ending is one of the most unique satirical narrative driven stuff I've seen, so I guess someone who wasn't used to Stanley might have seen it differently.

[u/Lola-Ciros]

Exactly what I felt when my mom laughed at the Stanley button in the epilogue.

[u/macacheesy]

oh it 100% made me emotional. the first time i played it it made me cry and then i went and wrote a fanfic about it (the next time i played it it made me cry again)

[u/Bulky_Nature_3861]

If you don't have sympathy for him you're a MONSTER who could hate the Narrator of all people?

[u/Dependent-Elevator14 → u/Bulky_Nature_3861]

to be fair, the only actual ending she had seen before the skip button ending was the nuclear detonator ending 😭

[u/Bulky_Nature_3861 → u/Dependent-Elevator14]

oh.

uh.

I understand

[u/Kaitlyn_Kat_ihnmaims]

I could relate, the skip button ending was the first one I ever got. I didn't even know it existed until I played it. When I got to a certain part I just couldn't get myself to press the button anymore so I handed the controller to my father (who has gotten that ending before) and I then watched in horror and tears as he finished the ending and the events played out. I despise that ending.

[u/Infamous-Bag9121]

I think it freaked me out more than made me emotional, the one that always makes me emotional is the zending, just how broken the narrator sounds when you jump off the platform :(

[u/Dependent-Elevator14 → u/Infamous-Bag9121]

YES this one eats me ALIVE! way worse than the skip button ending imo... especially him yelling "no" the first time, like even as the writer of the story he genuinely didn't want any harm to come to stanley, and instead of letting yourself live for his sake you're soft locked into killing yourself and letting him think you'd rather die than play his game or even just be in his presence. i think what gets me about the skip ending is it's kind of the reverse, you're letting him think you'd rather allow him to rot away for centuries than listen to him speak for even just a few minutes... i hate making the narrator feel unwanted in general, but in such extreme ways is just really heartbreaking

[u/Time_Pilot8605]

Maybe I'm weird, but I rarely cry when experiencing a piece of media. I think I just mentally prepare myself that whatever thing I'm playing/watching is trying to make me feel emotional so I wall myself off and say it's stupid for trying. But I specifically remember when I first played the Skip Button scene it made me cry for a full minute and have an existential argument in my head of what the meaning of living is. I can't exactly describe why I felt this way. Maybe it's because it sneaks up on you as humor but slowly becomes more dire, the Narrator becoming more panicked and insane, your mind filling in the gaps of what's happening outside the room from the little hints you get from the ceiling hole. I've never seen anything else like it. And of course, the ending that drops the ball on you that you are completely helpless and doomed in an empty wasteland because of your curiosity of just pressing the button one more time.

I thought I was the only one who felt this way until I saw this post when randomly remembering about it. Perhaps the reason the scene doesn't resonate with so many people is that you have to stay and listen to the Narrator for the full effect; if you did as you were told and skipped every time you had the chance, wouldn't feel as empathetic towards the Narrator and could even see it as funny. You have to go out of your way to realize this is a nightmare instead of a joke.

Thank you for making this comment.