The Beginner's Guide

This "game" its not a game its an expirience that has double story the one that its told to you and a one that you create yourself its a great product. I dont know how to feel about it other than its unique. It may not suit you but it found a place in my memory and thoughts. I would still recomend buying it and trying.

For the average person, it's a good game with a thought-provoking story. For the average creator, it's a bit of a mind-fuck with a pretty powerful message.

It's a walking simulator and you might see it as pretentious, but I found it to be really neat and something that'll stick in my mind.

9/10

A very good narrative that makes it hard to test what is real and what isn’t

Broke my Top 5 Psychological Horror games list. Amazing experience, but I advise to go in it blindly. 10/10

The game definitely makes you think, and not so much about a specific thing, but in general, questioning shit and what the message of the game could have been, definitely recommend checking it out. But it also makes you want to just... try your hand at making a game, even if its something simple and pointless.

p.s something about the backgrounds chapter just felt right to me.

what an insanely well-made game. the story is unbelievable. i'm still not sure if this broke me or awakened something in me. maybe both. it made me pretty emotional here and there because i found 'coda' pretty relatable. these are by FAR the best 10 bucks i've spent - ever.

I hadn't heard of this until I watched a short of PirateSoftware's where he says, "If you are ever struggling with motivation and you are in a position in which you are doing creative works, I want you to play this game. This game is about a story about what it means for a community or a person to consume the content of someone who creates." That sold me. And what he said is accurate.

I can't even begin to explain how this game made me feel. It's not for everyone, not even in a 'I know not everyone likes walking simulators' way but in a way that its story and the interpretations that come of it are not things that a lot of people are going to at all relate to. But if you do relate to it, then you relate to it hard. You don't expect it but then it hits you like a truck. It hurts, I felt absolutely awful at times. I wish more games did that. Incredible experience, an essential play.

It is quite overhyped. The game is good, but source engine do really feel old these days, plus we had so many indie marvels that in 2024 it's just okay, and an important step in your video game culture.

Enjoyable experience nonetheless, just not a giant slap of awesomeness

This game is very interesting. At first I was disappointed cause it felt like there was no real ending, but after a while I realized that is the whole point. The games Coda enjoyed making didn't have a point and Dave only saw games as something that needed to be finished or completed and not as something that needed to be enjoyed. I saw games like Dave until I played this game. Unless it was online games, I needed to finish, and get to the end of a game as fast as possible, and I needed to feel completion. What's important about games is not the ending, it is the journey and the in-between. Not all games need lampposts (or endings) to be fun or enjoyed, sometimes you just need to live in the moment and be happy for what you have and what's there.

the story is definitely up to interpretation, but I found it very interesting and would recommend it to anyone who likes walking simulators

I checked this game out because Jacob Geller recommended it on Minnmax content. It was a very interesting critique of critics and the way critics can paste their own feelings onto creators. I would recommend this to any games journalism enthusiast.

Even though I only played this game for an hour and a half, it is one of my favorite experiences that I have had in recent days. It told me about the ideals of being a person. The tower truthfully feels like the best example that I have seen and experienced. It is a true concept of the mind, and the line of technically possible in theory put impossible in practice feeling of holding back how you feel from someone you know.

I had my emotions ripped from me and I think this is the only time I have cried because of a game.
10/10

This game is rich in feelings, a very interesting experience. Even if you just walk and listen.

Coda, we love you

SPOILER ALERT!

This is a very unique game that guides you through Davey's personal struggle with the need for validation. While playing it, I assumed that Coda is a real person and perceived the whole story as 100% real. Naturally, I had very mixed feelings, because if we're talking about a real person, Davey's behavior was definitely invasive.

Thinking about it again, I am even glad I had this confusion, as the feelings I experienced while playing were even stronger.

100% recommened to anyone that does any kind of creative work.

As someone who's highest extent of story based games being Honkai Starrail; this game has been the best introduction to a story game. They summarized Coda in a advanced way while also keeping the story quick and precise while also self reflecting on what they did. All thing's considered I highly recommend this game!

This game is a journey and one that truly spoke to me. Yes the game is short, 1.5 hours give or take, but I find that bite sized experience talked to me more than most 10+ hour games. This makes you think, it makes you question and to me it gave me chills. I love how open ended it is and I made my own interpretation of what this game is and I feel like many might not agree with my interpretation but that's why its mine and I'm glad it is. Play this game, maybe wait for a sale though

this game has always been in the back of my head for many years.

a long time ago, jacksepticeye played this game, and as a kid i watched all of his videos. I would always start it, but i never finished the video. I never saw the end of the game. that changed today.

there are a lot of interpretations you could have with this story, but my thoughts about it are: "this is about two people who became friends, but one of them learned that they are just too different, so he left"

The Beginner's Guide is what you get if you took the developer commentary mode from Valve games and made it into its own game. Great game for people who like walking simulators, liminal spaces, or youtube video essays about video games.

A truly amazing story, packed with emotions and twists with a very artistic and beautiful take on actual real life problems. Absolutely incredible.

this game has been with me for a long time. even though i´d never actually played it myself until now (only watched others playing), i kept thinking about it every now and then. it was always in the back of my head somewhere in times when i was struggling. and now that i´ve finally played it, it still holds up so incredibly well. it doesn´t take much more than a compelling narrative to make a great game. i´m such a huge fan of games like this. simple, surreal, emotional. i think every person who is an artist in one way or another will feel very understood by this game. one of my favourites to this day.

Amazing, let me say it louder, AMAZING. I love it and have to say this is part of the best short story game there is.

This is a game about the creator’s mental turmoil about losing a friend. This game is very emotionally deep, and there simply isn't much else to say. Highly recommend

The first game to actively make me cry in years, it's best to experience blind.
I cannot recommend this game enough, and i hope it can move you as it moved me.

Holy SHIT this game is good. It's also not really a game, I think that would be a categorical error. To me, it seems more like a narrative that take place in an interactive medium. You're not playing a game, you're not really doing anything. You're just making your way through pieces of art. This is one of those rare things that you should experience not because it's fun, but because you might learn something about yourself or other people.

Highly recommend playing this blind. So much deep meaning in this game yet some not answered. Worth every single cent I spent on this game to experience this. Thank you to the person that recommended me this game it made me look back at myself and think about it. That is all bye!

The game crashes on start because the dev refuses to fix the game. The engine is so old that it only supports 8 core processors, this leads to the only way to play the game being having to manually limit your cores to launch the game and then putting it back after. You are paying for a working out of the box product and you do not get that.

The game overall I did end up really enjoying after jumping through the hoops to play, and this would be a very positive review for the game otherwise. Yet I still feel scammed that the product was broken when I bought it.

This game was something else... I have never played a game that taught me something. If u plan on getting this go in blinded. Don't watch a youtuber or anything on this. The experience is worth it.

Don't know where to begin, don't know where to end. i found myself sympathizing with the narrative on a level that had me question myself. this game is not a typical game and its not like the stanley parable. it's mostly a story to be heard and conceptualized in your own way. its a short play, so give it a try and refund it if you didn't like it.

At a loss for words as to how I feel about this. It's genuinely incredible how much is packed into the deeper meaning behind this game and it's says it all in such a short time. From how we delve into the creators of our favorite games and psychoanalyze them, the nature of if games are even meant to be fun or playable to have something to say, and so much more. Go in completely blind. That's all I say. Actual masterclass piece of art.

A lot of people, when they look at this game, think: "$10? For a 90-minute walking simulator?" But, trust me on this. Those 90 minutes of gameplay have stuck in my head for hours. I have gotten well more than my money's worth.

This is a game I think everyone should play. If you've managed to remain unspoiled on it, I recommend going in blind. This game matters. Please play it.

Alright to anyone who is having issues with this game, Particularly it crashes when you start it. The game was only made to run on systems with 12 cores, so if your PC has more then 12 it will crash on startup

You can do a temporary fix by pressing
Windows key + R (You could just search run in your search bar)
Then typing msconfig
From there go to the Boot tab
Click Advanced Options...
Turn on Number of processors
Then set your processors to 16 (Which is Eight Cores)
Then restart and Play the game
Once done Go back through the settings and uncheck number of processors and restart to get all your cores back

A truly deep look into the relationship between an artist and the audience and how parasocial it can become

I don't know what to feel honestly. Was I expecting this to change my life?
I'm probably just another person that gives up on a lot of things and wont change, but I really like this game.
Its worth the 10 bucks for most people, I hope

It's been years since I have cried. This game did that to me. Not the tears that make you wallow in sadness. There's no emptiness afterwards. I just want.... to absorb more then I am in life. If you are a creator of, well, anything creative.... this is something you should spend $10 for and set aside 90 mins in a dark room, alone. Listen. Look. Feel.

This game is a mirror.
Its unique and thoughtful.
If you need inspiration play this game.
If you're down play this game.
If you want joy play this game.
if you want a mirror play this game.


Its just ...

This is honestly my favorite game ever made, I absolutely adore the concept, the story, the quality, and practically every single detail. I cannot do this game justice with words and I feel that playing this game in one sitting is the best way to get through it.

mind breaking game probably gonna affect me for ages the less you know about it the better it is

wow. i don't think i can form any thoughts that can seriously convey what this game made me feel. any creative person should play it at some point, i highly recommend this. it's an emotional, relatable experience and i couldn't stop crying at the final chapter + epilogue.

Approach this game as blind as possible, that means no reading too much Steam reviews than you need to to know that this game is worth trying out.

The most life changing game I have ever played
And the most incredible message I have ever heard...
I just finished the game while writing this and I have been crying for hours
Play this game. No matter who you are play this game.

I don't know, did nothing for me, sadly as I have heard it is a great artistic meta narrative story... But to me it feels like trauma dumping a person's problems with their artistic and creativity issues.

I don't know maybe I'm just not the target audience

It's short and depressing, but really interesting. You just can't stop thinking about it.

I don't know how to feel about this.
I'm writing this minutes after finishing it. So it's very fresh in my mind. But I still don't understand and I want to understand but I don't want to understand what I want to understand but I don't want to understand.
If you have a spare ten dollars, play this, trust me, you feel feel like an asshole.

I wish this game got the resurgence that The Stanley Parable got.

Warning, it is basically a walking simulator but it has an engaging story and uses the medium of game demos and games to show that.

This game story is so beautifully told. The medium of using game demos to get a glimpse into a person feelings, their likes, fears and disdain. Sometime its nice to load into a game and just walk around it, no need to complete something bigger. Happy with what's there and a feeling what we see as an uncompleted game might be complete to the creator.

I think how this game manages to make a dislikeable main character still fun to play along side is a great achievement. The narrator is selfish and self absorbed but his dialogue makes it so that you don't hate his negative treats enough to stop playing. The unlikeable narrator doesn't make the game unlikeable, quite the opposite. A bad character that you can stand is hard to do, especially when he will be the only voice you hear for most of the game but it's done beautifully here. You can understand why he is the way that he is. The game also wraps itself up perfectly. I don't need more of the story. You can hear his side from what he says and you can kinda work out Coda feeling from the games and the themes. Whether Coda was trying to tell anything at all and its the narrator insistent that there must be a theme to the games influencing the player to think there is something you could debate. You could go into one playthrough where the games do mean something then one were they don't.

It's not everyone's cup of tea but I love this game. I wish I could play it for the first time again, play the last world again, hear his pleads again.

The story of two opposing views of art through video game development told by a video game, it doesn't get more meta than this, and it short enough to get the message across.

I'll keep it short and sweet with a few quick bullet points.
1. You should go into this game as blind as possible. It is a different story the more context about it you have.
2. This game affected me more viscerally than any other. It is the most impactful game I have ever played.
3. This game is especially impactful if you are someone engaged in game development, or any sort of creation.
4. The game lasts ~100 minutes (exactly, if you're me), and feels like a thousand sucker punches to the gut.
I cannot recommend it enough. Please play this game.

An emotional experience and thought experiment that sticks with me too this day. All aspiring game designers should do this one at least once.

A little short and it's just a walking simulator, but effective at communicating itself. I really enjoy the simple and comfy yet uncanny enviroments and music present in the game. As for the story, you really need to play it yourself to experience it properly.