The Beginner's Guide

Debates about this being a game or not put aside, this is a lazy piece of media.

I found the narration to be really annoying, and the levels had very little effort thrown into them. If you go to gamejolt right now and browse the free unity games, you'll find levels with much more content. Sometimes the game will tell you that the level you're looking at is so weird or strange. However, again, gamejolt fan-made games feel like they were created under the influence of LSD. When mindbending games like Antichamber exist, or metagames such as The Stanley Parable, there's not much excuse to how little is here. Even $5 is far too much for this.

On top of that, the story wasn't really believable. It feels like the equivalent of showing me a completely blue canvas and explaining why it's so ground-breaking and emotional. The main character is so unlikable, as part of the story actually is that his interpretations of the levels are off-base entirely. So essentially we're just listening to a guy rant about his emotions while being subjected to unrelated unity demos. This is the worst of all the "walking simulators".

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Debates about this being a game or not put aside, this is a lazy piece of media.

I found the narration to be really annoying, and the levels had very little effort thrown into them. If you go to gamejolt right now and browse the free unity games, you'll find levels with much more content. Sometimes the game will tell you that the level you're looking at is so weird or strange. However, again, gamejolt fan-made games feel like they were created under the influence of LSD. When mindbending games like Antichamber exist, or metagames such as The Stanley Parable, there's not much excuse to how little is here. Even $5 is far too much for this.

On top of that, the story wasn't really believable. It feels like the equivalent of showing me a completely blue canvas and explaining why it's so ground-breaking and emotional. The main character is so unlikable, as part of the story actually is that his interpretations of the levels are off-base entirely. So essentially we're just listening to a guy rant about his emotions while being subjected to unrelated unity demos. This is the worst of all the "walking simulators".

nospr 2016-06-14T20:36:12Z

2016-06-14T20:36:12Z

1.0

In collection Want to buy Used to own

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Filter by: All 132 Owned 97 Rated 106 Wanted 13

mrmoptop2 The Beginner's Guide 2024-04-24T01:01:12Z

Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix

2024-04-24T01:01:12Z

In collection Want to buy Used to own

BeardAlmighty The Beginner's Guide 2024-03-30T18:42:52Z

Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix

2024-03-30T18:42:52Z

4.0

In collection Want to buy Used to own

kevinlater The Beginner's Guide 2024-03-18T03:43:41Z

Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix

2024-03-18T03:43:41Z

3.5

In collection Want to buy Used to own

bsfratingsystem The Beginner's Guide 2024-01-19T22:46:07Z

Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix

2024-01-19T22:46:07Z

4.5

In collection Want to buy Used to own

macius The Beginner's Guide 2024-01-18T18:02:46Z

Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix

2024-01-18T18:02:46Z

4 /5

In collection Want to buy Used to own

butterfly_tom The Beginner's Guide 2024-01-05T04:37:59Z

Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix

2024-01-05T04:37:59Z

3.5

In collection Want to buy Used to own

EricZhang456 The Beginner's Guide 2023-12-23T16:21:16Z

Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix

2023-12-23T16:21:16Z

In collection Want to buy Used to own

Green_h The Beginner's Guide 2023-12-14T09:18:47Z

Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix

2023-12-14T09:18:47Z

2.0

In collection Want to buy Used to own

killedthevibe The Beginner's Guide 2023-12-04T00:34:35Z

Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix

2023-12-04T00:34:35Z

7 /10

In collection Want to buy Used to own

Steam controller

freeziez The Beginner's Guide 2023-11-05T03:11:29Z

Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix

2023-11-05T03:11:29Z

4.5

In collection Want to buy Used to own

burny The Beginner's Guide 2023-10-27T20:28:16Z

Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix

2023-10-27T20:28:16Z

In collection Want to buy Used to own

chenille The Beginner's Guide 2023-10-25T19:07:02Z

Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix

2023-10-25T19:07:02Z

5.0

In collection Want to buy Used to own

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Previous comments (24) Loading...
dzhakh 2022-11-05 19:19:40.404328+00
perhaps the most tell dont show game in existence

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- romanticism 2022-12-11 18:24:26.284563+00
  not that it's a bad thing, the narration being so overt is key to conveying the manipulative nature of davey as he gaslights the player. he refuses to let the player come up with conclusions on their own so he can advance his
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CecilyRenns 2023-01-30 10:55:11.466265+00
To be honest I understand the criticism that the message this story tells it a nihilistic one. This is one of my favourite games of all time, but I don't agree with the core lesson from it. I think you should be allowed to read into people's works - but I also agree with it that parasocial relationships are unhealthy. I love this game precisely because it allows for a nuanced interpretation of it - which is perhaps ironic, considering what it's trying to say at the end

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- arcticbreath 2023-07-16 18:53:08.413004+00
  I said this to another person here, but I would seriously doubt that is the core message of the game.... I REALLY seriously would doubt it.
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DomMazzetti 2023-03-17 03:17:24.579449+00
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- Circuz 2023-07-10 05:06:13.116256+00
  You really thought deep with that one, didn't you
- DomMazzetti 2023-08-11 20:23:12.942283+00
  If the creator of The Stanley Parable tried talking to me I'd avoid him too.
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sk3rk 2023-07-11 21:34:44.839288+00
i love a lot of the themes this dabbles with but at the end of the day this seems to end on the idea of analyzing and putting meaning onto art and the people who make it a harmful thing, which it didnt have to imo. Maybe im missing something, or doing exactly what Davey did, imposing my own interpretion onto the work, but reading into the artist and their thoughts is a completely natural and human thing to do. Not to the parasocial and borderline psychopathic lenght as davey, but its simply not black or white situation

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- arcticbreath 2023-07-16 18:52:07.832516+00
  I mean, I think you said it perfectly right? It's NOT a black and white situation. But regardless, I don't think that the entire point of the game is to critique art interpreting itself... i think its one of the many takeaways of the game. For me the game is a lot more about self hatred/depression, and the obsession that comes from that. The art people cling to or attach their whole personality to (perhaps unknowingly even), when they are at their darkest time. The only glimpse of warmth during those dark times. I mean it is worth noting that these are all games Davey Wreden made... I feel like what he's trying to show is his lack of ambition and his self hatred and how it ruined his OWN art, because of how much he lost himself in his work. Especially when you look at it from a lens of it just being himself, it really puts in perspective how self critical he is towards himself. "Stop adding lamp posts to my games". I think he believes he had something truly special at one point in his creativity, and as he made more and more, it just became more of a mess, and started doing things to his games to give him any semblance of the feeling it used to give him. I dunno, that's just sorta my own interpretation. There are a lot for this game though, and it takes on a new meaning for me depending on where I am in life. I think that's what I love about the game. Haha, I mean in that way, it'd be a little silly on Davey's part to make such an open ended game and then tell the viewer that they shouldn't be interpreting it.... at least I would find that very hard to believe he would do that. I feel like it's just generally about creativity as a whole and what that means to the artist, or what it could be.... but, then again, what do i know!
- sk3rk 2023-08-20 20:39:24.83938+00
  @arcticbreath
  yeah that sounds about right. I like your interpretation
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mesinging 2023-12-21 06:39:05.821337+00
i played this when i was wayyyy too young to fully grasp the themes, i desperately need a replay [2]

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bigzookers 2024-01-31 00:58:32.597993+00
lovely game. play this about once a year and it's just as good every time

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LavKazan 2024-02-01 00:18:10.831648+00
Thinking back on it now, the Charlie Kaufman influence on both this and The Stanley Parable is SUPER apparent, which isn't a bad thing at ALL.

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