The game designer playing through his own psyche

Article as marketing & role of PR

• Several comments frame the New Yorker piece as effectively a promo vehicle for the new game, arguing this kind of “human interest” is standard soft marketing (similar to book coverage in big magazines).
• Others push back, saying this is just how arts coverage works: creators make things, outlets cover them, and that doesn’t imply collusion or “guerilla marketing.”
• There’s debate over how much PR firms actually drive coverage:
  • One side says coordinated “earned media” campaigns across outlets are now standard and “gross,” and should at least be disclosed.
  • Journalists in the thread argue good PR is about surfacing interesting topics, not buying stories, and that respected reporters still choose what they think matters.

Success, depression, and meaning

• Some readers struggle to empathize with “I got everything I wanted and now I’m depressed,” especially without that level of financial security themselves.
• Others argue this is common: identity bound up in a big creative project or grind, then a void when it ends or “never-work-again” money arrives.
• Multiple comments describe post-mission/post-adventure depression, “aimless ambition,” and how the grind can mask deeper existential questions.
• Several emphasize depression as an internal brain state, weakly correlated with material success.
• Notch/Minecraft is discussed as a contrasting arc: huge success, sale, loss of control/recognition, and later public unhappiness and controversy.
• A few suggest volunteering, new skills, or different kinds of contribution as ways to regain meaning.

Reception of Wreden’s games & Wanderstop

• Strong split on earlier games: some found The Stanley Parable and The Beginner’s Guide profound, precise, and uniquely self-reflective; others saw them as boring, pretentious, or shallow “walking simulators.”
• The Beginner’s Guide is often described as even more pretentious/less funny than Stanley; whether that’s a strength or flaw depends on taste and tolerance for heavy authorial philosophizing.
• One commenter notes Stanley’s magic came from the sense that the game anticipated every attempt to break it; the Ultra Deluxe edition is widely praised as essentially a full sequel.
• Wanderstop is characterized as a “cosy game,” not a deconstruction of the genre. Fans of cosy loops and Wreden’s writing may like it; those who dislike cosy games likely won’t.
• At least one player found Wanderstop’s production values and polish noticeably weaker than earlier work, with immersion-breaking bugs and cheap-feeling presentation.

Paywalls, archives, and journalism

• Some want HN to link directly to archive copies, assuming most can’t access paywalled originals.
• Others call that unethical, arguing we should pay for quality journalism and not normalize casual infringement.
• There’s frustration with subscription overload and shady auto-renewal practices, but also a counter-argument that relying only on free sources leaves people stuck in more biased, low-quality information ecosystems.
• Several note that both free and paid outlets have narratives and incentives; paying doesn’t remove bias, but can sustain more in-depth reporting.

Technical/platform notes

• Original Stanley Parable builds are 32-bit; Mac users discuss workarounds like CrossOver or Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit to run them on modern systems.