The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe has finally launched, remaking the meta-filled office adventure with a modern facelift and important new features like an in-world dialogue skipping button and a bucket of uncertain emotional value. Developers Crows Crows Crows did add some less satirical updates too though, like an exhaustive list of new accessibility features that it broke down on Twitter.
"It’s important to us that The Stanley Parable can be enjoyed by as many people as possible," the Crows Crows Crows developers said. "That's why we introduced many new accessibility settings and quality-of-life features to the Ultra Deluxe edition."
There’s a moment in the game where you’re choosing between a red and a blue door. Certain vision impairments make it difficult to distinguish these colors, so we added a toggle that adds unmistakable text to the doors. pic.twitter.com/SJQmG2cYhpMay 4, 2022
Some of the accessibility options included in the Ultra Deluxe version are things that are largely considered stock-standard these days. SP:UD has fully customizable controls for gamepad and keyboard/mouse, itemized volume controls, and the increasingly available customizable subtitles. A one-handed walking mode, which Crows 3x says it refers to as "coffee mode" allows players to navigate entirely by aiming their mouse and holding both mouse buttons and that "yes, this is totally lifted from World of Warcraft."
Crows Crows Crows went a couple extra miles with even more handy options. There's an important choice early in the game between a red and blue door, which players with certain vision impairments may have difficulty differentiating. A settings toggle provides a Stanley-esque solution and slaps the words "RED" and "BLUE" on both doors so there can be no question.
Another toggle-able option will deliver players content warnings, particularly for sections of the game dealing with suicidal themes. Players will notice an elegant option to skip these endings entirely when they're about to walk into them and still get credit for completion.
Crows Crows Crows isn't don't yet, saying it's currently working on even more requested accessibility features including "a toggleable reticle/crosshair to reduce motion sickness," and "slowing the game down on time-sensitive inputs (such as the doors before the escape pod ending)".
The rest of the new SP:UD is an equally welcome, Chris says in our 88% Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe review, in which he calls it "a delightful update that fills the original game with even more humorous and thoughtful rabbit holes to get lost in."
