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The Beginner's Guide
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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The Beginner's Guide Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
That’s the thing. The Beginner’s Guide is going to mean different things to different people but ultimately it speaks to a kernel of truth so present in the human condition that I can’t imagine the person that wouldn’t recognise it. If you’re the kind of person that believes video games are the next great untamed artistic frontier then you need to play The Beginner’s Guide. If you think that video games are just complex toys that no one should take too seriously then you should play The Beginner’s Guide. If you’ve never played a video game in your life but you like discovering things about you...
On 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.
“Source Coda”
The Beginner’s Guide poses a number of academic questions around the nature of choice, interactivity, and creativity. While it offers no firm answers, it’s one of the most thought-provoking and ultimately disarming interactive experiences I’ve had all year, and one I won’t easily shake off.
It’s easy to have mixed thoughts about The Beginner’s Guide, but as a game that aims to make you think, it does accomplish this goal. It has some features you don’t see too often, such as narrator intervention during unplayable sections, and each level has something unique about it. I still don’t know whether I truly like it, but I’m not sure it’s meant to be liked, just taken for what it is.
What can you know about people by looking solely at their work? That's the question designer Davey Wreden poses in the opening minutes of The Beginner's Guide, his first game since 2013's clever and thought-provoking The Stanley Parable. Whereas the previous title focused on challenging player agency with humor and irreverence, Wreden's newest creation extends well beyond the purview of video games, tackling serious human issues and emotions in a wholly unique way.
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Prepare yourself for a healthy dose of introspection and confusion as you dive into The Beginner's Guide, a game brought to you by Davey Wreden of Everything Unlimited Ltd., the maker of The Stanley Parable. If you're a fan of cerebral gaming, then this is the title for you.