The Beginner's Guide

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.

I would say something like "i wish i could erase my memories and play this again blind", but that's not true. I'm glad that I learned what this game taught me, and i don't want to forget it.

Interactive Storytelling in a Unique Format

Really pretentious artsy game
It's trying to hard to be deep, but it's just being vague and acting like it has something so interesting to say
It's just really boring, there's nothing you'll want to look at, nothing fun or interesting
Just some loser narrating me walking through bland hallways about how he's depressed

As a game dev, this one hit hard. I knew the story of the game going in since I watched a playthrough on Youtube a while ago, but it's worth experiencing for yourself, especially if you do any kind of creative work.

I wish I could put in words what this game made me feel. It is an incredible glimpse into what video games could be, and what the art form of video games could look like.
It made me ask for the first time if a video game that is not intended to be played had any value in it -- before, I would've said "obviously no", but I would not say that a painting that nobody understands, or a book that no one reads except for its creator lacks inherent value. There is value in art being made, for art's sake alone, or for the artist's sake. For some reason I never thought of video games as enough of an art to extend this generosity to games as well.
Brilliantly executed game.

Before you buy, this game is NOT gameplay rich. People have talked bad about it because of that, literally says its a narrative game. With that said, this is a great art project. I would say its worth the full price

such a gooooooodddd game the writting is genuinly so solid

spoilers
i really love the intruding on the artists work concept its so well made, and the part about how games don't need to be playable hits hard, making stuff for the sake of making stuff ABSOLUTE BANGER

Art is not meant to be understood but interpreted, right? The game feels personal and sincere.
Narrative walking sim focused on the subjects of self-expression, mental health and the need for validation. I'm sure this will resonate with anyone who do creative work, or any work or anyone who dealt with isolation, loneliness at some point in their lives.

If your feeling down and struggling with your work in some way. You need to play this game, it has a message that can really help you with whatever your going through rn. I wish to have release just like Coda. It would make me feel like I have purpose again. Thank you to the creator for making this game, and to Stanley as well for no particular reason :). I hope this heals the hearts of many content creators of all kinds whether it be artists, game creators, animators, etc. I hope this games messages gets through to you.

Played with an expectations that this game would make me start and finish the stuff that i've left unfinished.
Though, finished the game. Left with the not only Codas but also Daveys internal breakdowns.
Kinda creepy-ish 1 hour adventure. Beginner's guide? more like Creator's struggles.

It kinda felt unfinished, unresolved, and filled with a twists that was unexpected. Same as life.

This game is absolutely amazing. There are no words to describe the experience, just play it already.

What began as an captivating peek into the mind of an unorthodox game developer, suddenly takes a hard left as the narrator has a mental break about his obsession with his friend's game projects and how they give the narrator meaning. Nothing further is revealed or resolved. The narrator simply expresses his displeasure with himself and his manic compulsion to be validated by others, and then the game ends.

I understand this game is a narrative, and so the story is simply told as it unfolded and in bare truth, but it leaves a bitter feeling. In the end, I cannot agree with the narrators actions - despite what happened, he continues to go against Coda's wishes because he desperately seeks validation - he selfishly MUST have his apology be heard, even if it means continuing along the path that he originally wishes to apologize for.

In any case, this is only my interpretation of the game, but the only moral I feel that I'm left with is: "Some people will do anything to solve their own problems, even if it means causing ones for you". Perhaps shutting yourself away from others was the better option, after all.

This is not really a game. This project should be turned into a short inspirational movie and shown only at game developers conferences and seminars only. it would work perfect as such! But as an actual game on steam it should be either free or taken down.

As a "game" it feels too rushed. Unpolished, incoherent and not seamless. The narrating voice sounds like a person from "another department" who did this for free after working hours, like he doesn't cares the slightest about either the story of the game, the developer character or his projects. Just sounds rushed, impersonal and disinterested.

There is nothing interesting, captivating, deep or compelling about this game worth spending time or money on. Like why should I care about the story? or the details of the levels? Or your friends issues? If I, as a player am not engaged in some way the game does not become meaningful to play. This project is like a pouring a whole bunch of unrelated ingredients that you raided from someones trash into a bowl, without giving it the proper cooking, stirring and love, while thinking you made the best dish of all times, branding it something fancy and trying to sell it.

I'd love the concept of putting half-begun projects into one project and weaving them together into a single game, but this is not the way to do it.

This is the deepest game I have ever played & I believe that there nothing alike out there.
It was...umm..I can't even explain...just something else. Pure Experience.
I truly hope the developer comes back.

this game makes me want to do to this game what i maybe shouldn't do according to this game

if that makes any sense

The game is subversive and ironically its predictable because of it. and the title doesn't really match the story either so not sure if can recommend this game.

Ever since i found out about this game, it has always found a way to stay in my mind. Like, the storytelling and narrative here is isn't amazing or shattering, it's just specific. Perhaps it's too artsy or you find it too pretentious, or maybe you love it.
Either way, you aren't at a loss if you do get this. The game is about 90 minutes or just under 2 hours, so you can refund it if it didn't sit right.


For me, it's timeless.

This is one of the few games that left me absolutely speechless after completing it. You need to play it for yourself to understand.

The 2nd game I bothered leaving a review for. Also the 2nd game to make it into my list of best games of all time.

I really want to keep replaying the house cleaning game, but Davey won't let me :(

More art than a game, took me ~1.5h to get through. Ultimately it's a high personal work from the creator of the Stanley Parable that is absolutely worth a look if you're looking for a more chill but thought provoking experience.

Wait for it to go on sale and snap this one up.

I have never left a substantial review on anything of note in my entire life and I did not think I would pick up the habit now, but after playing this game I believe it is the proper thing to do. There is no real way to discuss this game without ruining the atmosphere and twists the plot builds throughout the course of the game, and as much as I would like to, that would be a rather poor use of a review. I first learned of this game through the fan-made Left 4 Dead 2 map The Divide. It bridged a crossover between Portal, The Stanley Parable and this game, and so when I had stumbled through confusing, almost pretentious attempts at recreations of the former two games and landed at The Beginner's Guide, I was hesitantly curious. I wasn't quite sure where the recreations of this game and the original content began. And so, having made my way through something that felt both deeply personal and yet entirely ethereal, I was left with the task of figuring out what I had experienced and how it made me feel. I couldn't tell.

As I played the rest of the maps adjacent to The Divide and watched the documentary that the developer made, my previous main complaint of the map feeling too pretentious and full of itself for a Left 4 Dead 2 map quickly became unjustified. The more I picked apart at the maps and browsed the scant information available online about it, the more I felt that this "melodrama" made perfect sense considering the history of the The Divide and its creators. I only bring this up not to take away from The Beginner's Guide by highlighting a mod for a video game that used its assets, but with regards to the fact that I had clearly learned nothing of The Beginner's Guide's themes by scratching at a Frankensteined bunch of maps. So when I at last bought and played this game, I was taken aback. Without spoiling anything else of the narrative, I simultaneously saw myself and another individual I'd rather forget in the narrative. Then I saw myself in both places, and then neither, then back again in a cycle. I still don't know exactly how I feel regarding this game, but it left me in a state of introspection that little else has come close to in my life. I understand this is likely not a particularly widespread feeling towards this game, but everyone should play it at least once. Even if not for the possible personal revelations, for the fantastic narrative it tells.

The game is like second hand depression. Its story is very shallow and there is no world or game play to add some value to the basic story. Its maybe smart for a teenager that never exposed to the "depression for depression–sake" media but not for another type of player.
If you really want to be depressed by a game, there is a lot of good depressing games liker senua, edith finch, or even last of us

Played this three times until completion, and have cried three times at that one particular level when the looping guitar kicks in. Beautiful game.

A reflective, unsettling, and wholly upsetting walking simulator. 100% worth a play

A delightful stroll through an autobiographical story. Worth the purchase, but likely it will only land for people that are there for a story without much traditional "gameplay". If Stanley Parable is your cup of tea (as it is mine) you will love it.

This game can be interpreted in a lot if different ways, like that it's important not to project your own hope and meaning of someone else's creations onto them when they might not want you to, or that creative works can have different meanings for the creators of them and the consumers of them and both could be respected? Or maybe we're putting a lot of meaning into works we make and consume and sometimes there just isn't a whole lot of meaning intended, and there doesn't have to be. There's nothing wrong with making things just because you like to, no matter their faults. Though it is fine to derive meaning from art, let's rethink our obsessiveness of the artist themselves and let them be free in creation, even if that artist is yourself. Especially if it's yourself.

Damn these prisons are kinda sick huh?
How the fuck do you open these doors?
This Davey guy is kinda wild

Really tho this game is worth an hour and a half of your life for sure. Or more if you want.... or whatever :)

i've played various games that have moved me in the past. but none managed to encapsulate whatever range of emotions i experienced while playing this one. it was truly beautiful

GO IN BLIND AND DON'T READ OTHER REVIEWS

The story is a super interesting and unique concept, it's got me feelin like a philosopher right now digesting what it all means. For 10$ I'd highly recommend picking it up. It has so many messages depending on the way you interpret it, something about this game is gonna resonate with you even if it takes a few days to find out exactly what that is.

Its a good game. I finished it in 90min and refunded it. Cute story telling but completely overpriced

One of my favorite-st games of all time. Has made me think, feel, and introspect far beyond the bounds of what I ever expected games to produce. I recommend everyone to play this game, to get a deeper perspective of what it means to be the viewer/reader/player in a piece of media. This is a game that pins you to the wall and forces you to spend time thinking critically, engaging in deeply hard media analysis.

Like many great works of art, I feel that this has abstracted a situation so well that I can find threads upon threads of interesting nuance to pull at every time I play. I have found that this is a great litmus test for online reviewers, if they can be mature and analyse this game to a cogent degree, they are going to be a worthy follow.