The Stanley Parable - Guide and Flowchart to all Endings and Easter Eggs (SPOILERS)

The Stanley Parable is a fantastic game that is well worth your time but it can be a little confusing as it seems like almost everything you do will set you on an entirely new path. There's a whopping 20 or so endings plus a few 'sort of' endings and these can be pretty hard to find as the paths are rarely made obvious. 

Sometimes drastic measures are enforced to curb that exact problem.

Here I've drawn up a flowchart showing the steps that need to be taken to reach all of the available endings in the game and, further below, a detailed walkthrough on how to get there. I've tried to keep things spoiler free so I won't be detailing anything that's said or shown to you except when absolutely necessary to guide you forwards. You can enlarge the flowchart for closer examination as the text is, well, tiny like this. 

Beware: SPOILERS AHEAD

Guide to all Stanley Parable endings:

Freedom ending:

Follow the narration normally, doing everything the narrator tells you to. When you reach the device at the end, turn it off. This is basically the ‘vanilla’ ending.

Explosion ending:

Follow the narration normally, doing everything the narrator tells you to until you get to the end, this time you should turn the device off. Despite what some say, there is no way out of the explosion at the end and pressing the surrounding buttons and switches does nothing

Coward ending:

At the very start of the game don’t leave Stanley’s office and just stay inside, closing the door on yourself. 

Whiteboard ending:

Whilst the whiteboard ending is not technically an ending since you can continue the game after encountering it, the developers seem to regard it as one anyway. After starting the game several times over you’ll sometimes find yourself starting in an entirely different office which is made up of blue walls. This is in itself an easter egg but if you go through door 426 you’ll be presented with a whiteboard with the words ‘welcome to the whiteboard ending!’ written across it.

Broom Closet Ending:

Everybody's favourite ending is achieved by entering the broom closet prior to heading up the stairs to the Boss's office. Once inside, listen to the narrator, he'll get progressively more irritated as you remain there. Once the 'second player' has taken over you should exit the cupboard, listen to the narration, then go back inside again. When the narrator is through talking to you you can either continue on your way or be alone with your closet forever. The way to do this is to go through the door to the blue stairs but, as the door begins to close, quickly back into the corridor again so you're locked in. Enter your broom closet, and enjoy it. The only way to get out of this is to manually restart the game.

Museum ending:

Follow the narrator all the way until the end but before you go into the facility follow the sign that says ‘escape’, ignore what the narrator says and follow the dark passageway until the very end. After some scenes, you’ll unlock the museum ending.

Escape pod ending:

Follow the narrator until you get to your boss's office but don't go inside just yet. Very quickly you should enter the office but then back out again, effectively trapping the narrator in the room but leaving you outside of it. Turn, and you'll notice that the doors to the way back are now open. Walk all the way back to Stanley's office and you'll see that a previously shut door beside the office is now standing open. Enter it, and climb the stairs to the escape pod.

Madness ending:

When you first come across a choice between the two doors pick the left door. Follow the corridors as normal until you reach the sets of blue stairs that lead up to your boss’s office. Instead of going up, go down the stairs into the garage.

Confusion ending:

When given a choice between the two doors pick the right door. Follow along and go through the door on the left, following what the narrator says. You’ll find yourself in a maintenance room with an elevator to the left side, use the elevator and follow everything from the narrator from that point onwards. This is the ending with the Adventure Line.

Apartment ending:

Go through the right door when given the choice, ignore the narrator entirely and keep going forward, ignoring the door on the left. Follow along and finally you’ll come to a room with a lift above a large storage facility. Ride the lift along to the other side and then, when presented with the telephone, answer it.

Cold feet ending:

Go through the right door when given the choice, ignore the narrator entirely and keep going forward, ignoring the door on the left. Follow along and finally you’ll come to a room with a lift above a large storage facility. Stand on the lift but very quickly get off the lift after it starts moving but before you’re taken with it. Listen to the narrator as the lift leaves without you then jump off to the ground below.

Powerful ending:

This ending is done exactly in the same way as the cold feet ending except, when in the warehouse, jump off of the lift after stepping out onto it. 

Real Person 'Good' ending:

Go through the right door when given the choice and keep going forward. Keep advancing onwards and finally you’ll come to a room with a lift above a large storage facility. Ride the lift along to the other side and then, when presented with the telephone, pull the plug from the wall. Go along with the narrator and when faced with the choice of doors from the beginning pick the left door.

Real Person 'Bad' ending:

This is exactly the same as the real person 'good' ending except when faced with the choice of doors at the very end after unplugging the ringing phone you should pick the right door, not the left.

Window endings:

There are two endings here, described uncreatively as 'Song' and 'Voice Over' in the chart above. To begin with you need to leavE Stanley's Office into the main office, if you've loaded up the blue one you should reload as you need the default office. Locate the desk to employee 434 which is on the far left side of the office. Wiggle your way up onto the desk by getting onto the chair, crouching your way through the board where the numbers are. You'll clip right through onto the desk opposite and now be in a prime position to walk up to the white windowframe and then straight out of it. Below, you'll be faced with two options 'yes' and 'no' after some dialogue. Pick either, then return for the second one if you'd like.

Space ending:
 
Make your way to the storage facility room by picking the right door and continuing straight on, ignoring the narrator. When you get to the lift you should hop on it and wait until the lift is hovering over the walkway beneath you. By timing it right you can jump off and land on this catwalk, do so and follow it round and through the open door. Follow the path until you are presented with a red door and a blue door, pick the red door. Follow the instruction of the narrator to be treated to a rather spectacular display that I won't spoil by putting in a screenshot. When you've had enough, backtrack into the room and climb to the very top of the stairs. Once at the top, throw yourself off, rinse and repeat this until you restart the game.

Art ending:

Similar to the space ending, make your way to the catwalk in the storage facility and jump down onto it. This time, pick the blue door. The narrator will try and encourage you to pick the red door but keep on picking the blue until, finally, the game progresses. When the narrator presents you with a third door, go through it, and follow his instructions. Eventually you'll be presented with a game where the objective is to not let the baby die. This will take four hours of non-stop continuos pressing of the button, there is no getting around this and forwarding your clock will not help. Since it's extremely unlikely you'll actually do this, here's a video on what happens when you press a button for 4 solid hours. Don't worry. It's not four hours long. 

Games ending:

Navigate over to the 'baby game' section and this time, fail the game to be presented with an alternative ending that provides a nice bit of nostalgia for gamers.

Heaven ending: 

In order to obtain this ending you must play through the game several times and find computer screens with 'Awaiting Input' written on it and a purple rectangle. You'll only ever find one screen per playthrough and, after you've inputted onto it, the rectangles will increase to show how many times you've inputted. The screen locations are at desks: 419, 423, the Boss's assistant's desk and finally Stanley's desk. 

Easter Eggs:

Randomly changing office:

Sometimes when restarting the game the floor of the office will be absolutely smothered in paper. This occurs randomly. You may also restart the game to find that a phone is ringing on another employee's desk, by answering the phone you'll exchange words with a woman from 'Future Happiness Industries' who will also give you a four digit code concerning how many boxes are being delivered to the building. Type this code into the key-pad in the Boss's Office upstairs and restart the game to find the office now cluttered with many, many cardboard boxes. I guess the delivery guys were pretty prompt. 

By not answering the phone you'll instead receive a voice message that's from somebody entirely different who talks about the dangers of voice messages.

Mystery employee:

Another employee can sometimes be spotted lurking through a window, this uses the same model as Stanley does. Unfortunantly he doesn't do anything.

Barking click:

Upon receving the Whiteboard ending you can input the command 'bark' into the console (see about the cheats below) which changes the sound of the left mouse click to one of a barking dog.

Socially awkward elevator ride:

Opposite the boss's office, through the double doors, there is a chance to experience an endless elevator ride that goes nowhere. By standing in there music will play and you can sometimes near the narrator coughing awkwardly as though standing next to you. 

Friend betrayal:

In the Games ending you can throw the companion cube through the test door which will result in some narration and you'll have to restart the game again. 

Not you too:

By playing about in the broom closet too often you'll find that, upon restarting the game, the closet will be completely boarded up to keep you and the closet apart. 

Faster progress:

After several playthroughs the narrator will become bored of the general storyline and, upon reaching the boss's office, he'll just open it up for you without you needing to input the password. 

Sometimes you'll restart the game and, rather than the usual office, there will just be a very short corridor leading to the first choice between doors. This is very useful for when attempting the speed run of the game to unlock the achievement. 

Facepunch Easter Egg:

Type in 'facepunch' at any point in the game to unlock a new texture pack. This is a reference to the forum run by Gary from the game Gary's Mod.

Serious ending (cheat enabling):

There is one final 'ending' that I classed as an Easter Egg for the chart simply because it requires you to do a little fiddling about with the game's settings. To access the serious ending you need to do the following: outside of the game, right-click the Stanley Parable shortcut and select properties. Type in "-dev -console" under Set Launch Options then close that and start a new game. Press "~" to open up the console window then type in "sv_cheats 1" at any point during gameplay. This will unlock the serious ending.

Secret Disco:

Go into the Mind Control Facility, where all the screens are but before the elevator up to the room with the power button. Head over to the elevator and press the button, after a while the gate behind you will open and you'll be able to go back across the walkways to the first switch. Go back and press the lightbulb button to unlock this surprise Easter Egg.

Shadow of the Colossus - Secrets, Unlockables and Easter Eggs

There are a great many things in Shadow of the Colossus that can be done but which are not detailed about anywhere in-game. Unlockable weapons, maps, stamina and health boosts and Agro gymnastics are all very well hidden extras in this intriguing game. Below there is a compilation of all the extras that you need to know about in order to get the most out of Shadow of the Colossus.

My full review of the game can be found here.
Annnd my story explanation and various game theories can be found here.

Secrets:

Agro's adventures:

If you are idle at either the start screen of the game or during the opening cutscene, but not during gameplay, then you will see Agro as she explores the world alone and without Wander. Wander is usually shown at the place where you last saved; sleeping or resting by a shrine. Agro will venture far and wide and, the same as in cutscenes, you may control the camera.

The Secret Garden:

At the very top of the Shrine of Worship is the secret garden shown at the end of the storyline. In order to access the garden you need a great deal of staminia and so it is best to attempt the climb when you have maximum stamina. To start the climb go to the back of the Shrine and locate a large growth of vines, in the PS3 version of the game all rest points have been removed so you need to attempt the climb all in one go. The PS2 version of the game also used to have an exploit where you could skip a large portion of the climb but this has since been removed. Once you have finished with the climb you should turn to the left and go up the set of stairs in order to access the garden itself. Doing this will earn you a trophy on the PS3 edition.

White-tailed Lizards

Scattered across the land are two different kinds of lizard; white tailed lizards and regular, black lizards. Whilst the ordinary black lizards do absolutely nothing the white tailed variety can be killed and their tail eaten (press by the shining tail) for a permenant increase to your grip meter. There are 77 white tailed lizards in the game with one lizard for every save shrine you can find and some additional ones elsewhere. By completing the Normal/Hard Time Attacks you can unlock a map that shows you the location of the lizards, I've detailed more information about the map further below.

Fruit trees

As well as boosts to your stamina you can also boost your health by shooting fruit out of trees and picking them up ( whilst standing beside the fallen fruit). The fruit has a range of appearances from very pale skinned banana shaped fruit to darker, brown fruit. Below is a diagram of all varieties. In the game there are 33 fruit trees which range from very large ones to smaller, thinner trees. Quite often a tree will have more than one piece of fruit on it as, though there are only 33 fruit trees in the game, there are roughly 128 pieces of fruit overall. Eating the fruit provides a permenant increase to your health bar and may also replenish any lost health. 

Note: Fruit found in the secret garden depletes your health and stamina and so is considered poisonous. This poisonous fruit is only found in the garden and is depicted at the end of the diagram. 

Agro Gymnastics

Pet Agro: Whilst standing near Agro's head or whilst sitting in her saddle you should equip nothing, as in have an empty hand, and press to pet her on her neck.

Maintain speed: To maintain Agro’s speed you should hold down rather than tap it.

Jump from Agro: You can jump from Agro at any time, standing or sitting, by tapping . This is useful to reach new heights if you can time it correctly.

Have Agro jump: Agro can jump over small gaps and off short ledges if you gallop her towards where you want her to jump. Agro will only jump over or off of things that she will survive from.

Rear then gallop from a standstill: From a dead stop sharply drag and, quickly and at the same time. If done correctly Agro should rear up and then take off into a maximum speed gallop. This is very useful for fast getaways.

Emergency stop: Whilst galloping sharply drag downwards and , as though performing the above move, Agro should drag herself across the ground and stop dead.

Stop and turn around: Whilst galloping sharply drag downwards and   twice (not twice, the entire combination) Agro should once again drag herself across the ground and stop but then quickly turn around 180 degrees, still running.

Stand whilst riding: Whilst either cantering or galloping hold down then drag upwards, Wander should stand up and ride on Agro’s back.

Hang from saddle: Whilst either cantering or galloping hold down and . Depending on which side you want to hang, drag the stick in either the left or right direction. Wander should hold onto the saddle and hang from that side whilst Agro continues to run. You can get off Agro from this position by letting go of the saddle.

Gameplay modes

Upon completing Shadow of the Colossus for the first time you will unlock additional modes; a harder difficulty mode and time attack modes. During gameplay of any difficulty level, including your first playthrough, you may also access reminisce mode.

Reminiscence mode:

Return to the fallen body of any colosuss that you have already defeated. There you will see its body, if you go up to it and press O to pray you can fight the colossus again but with an old film appearance instead of the regular graphics. Check the list below to see where each colossus is located.

Colossus Locations
Colossus	Map Area
1.Valus	F-5
2.Quadratus	F-3
3. Gaius	E-2
4. Phaedra	G-5
5. Avion	H-4
6. Barba	D-6
7. Hydrus	D-1
8. Kuromori	G-6
9. Basaran	D-3
10. Dirge	B-4
11. Celosia	F-1
12. Pelagia	G-2
13. Phalanx	E-6
14. Cenobia	C-2
15. Argus	G-1
16. Malus	F-8

Hard Mode:

Hard Mode can be accessed from the Main Menu after completing the game on Normal Mode and there are several differences.

• No tutorials or hints from Dormin
• Save files have an orange lowercase ‘h’ beside the game clear number, indicating Hard Mode. If the game has been completed three times for example the game will show 3h in orange.
• The following colossi have additional weak points on their bodies; Valus, Quadratus, Gaius, Barba, Argus and Phaedra. All have one additional weak point apart from Phaedra who has two.
• Wander takes more damage from regular attacks whereas very strong attacks such as being stomped on or hit directly will instantly kill him, regardless of your health.
• When playing through Time Attack a different set of items will be unlocked compared to the Time Attacks in Normal Mode. More information on this below.

Time Attack:

Time Attacks can be completed during either Normal Mode or Hard Mode but only after you have completed the game once. During the Time Attack modes there are a lot of opportunities to unlock some extremely useful items though the items unlocked depend on which difficulty level you’re completing them in. To access the Time Attack mode you should go to the Shrine of Worship and approach an idol of your choosing, by praying at any of the sixteen idols you will enter the Time Attack mode for that particular colossus. The goal of a Time Attack mode is to defeat the colossus in the given time limit which differ according to difficulty mode and the colossus being fought. Below is a table of the Time Limit given for each seperate battle.

Colossus	Time Limit
	Normal	Hard
1. Valus	2:30	2:50
2. Quadratus	4:00	4:30
3. Gaius	6:00	5:00
4. Phaedra	5:30	5:00
5. Avion	5:30	5:30
6. Barba	3:30	6:30
7. Hydrus	12:00	8:00
8. Kuromori	8:00	7:30
9. Basaran	7:30	5:30
10. Dirge	6:00	5:00
11. Celosia	5:30	5:30
12. Pelagia	9:30	10:00
13. Phalanx	12:00	13:00
14. Cenobia	9:00	9:00
15. Argus	10:00	11:30
16. Malus	9:30	13:00

By successfully completing these Time Attacks you will acquire a new item for every two that you complete. All new items will appear in the pool at the back of the shrine and can only be used in that particular difficulty level so, for example, items unlocked in the hard difficulty mode cannot be used in the normal difficulty mode. There are eight items for each difficulty level and sixteen in total.

Two items are unlocked in both difficulty levels; the fruit tree map and lizard detection stone but I will discuss what these do further below. Below is a table of all of the items you can unlock by completing the Time Attacks.

Time Attacks Completed	Unlocked Item
	Normal Mode	Hard Mode
2	Whistling Arrow	Harpoon of Thunder
4	Cloak of Force	Sword of the Sun
6	Mask of Strength	Fruit Tree Map
8	Lizard Detection Stone	Shaman's Cloak
10	Fruit Tree Map	Lizard Detection Stone
12	Mask of Power	Shaman's Mask
14	Cloak of Deception	Cloth of Desperation
16	Flash Arrow, Brown Agro	Queen's Sword, White Agro

Lizard Detection Stone:
 
The lizard detection stone will mark your map with an icon whenever you are standing in the general vicinity of a white tailed lizard. The icon on the map will be that of a lizard but they will only appear when you are relatively close by to that lizard. There are 77 white tailed lizards on the map, for more information on finding all of the white tailed lizards, check the trophy guide here.

Fruit Tree Map:
 
The fruit tree map will mark your map with the icon of a piece of fruit wherever a fruit tree can be found. The icons will appear regardless of how close you are to the tree and so, to use this item, you simply need to look at your map. There are 128 pieces of fruit in the game but only 33 markers as each marker has multiple pieces of fruit in the area. For more information on finding all of the fruit, check the trophy guide here.

Normal Time Attack Unlockables:

Whistling Arrow: When fired a whistling arrow will distract a colossus and make them turn in the direction of the arrow. This is a useful way of guiding a colossus or making them turn around so you can access their back.

Cloak of Force: The Cloak of Force quite simply increases the damage done by your sword.

Mask of Strength: The Mask of Strength also increases the damage done by your sword and can be used in conjunction with the cloak of force for even more damage.

Mask of Power: The Mask of Power is an even more efficient version of the Mask of Strength and thus cannot be used in conjunction with it. It can however be used with the Cloak of Force for increased damage.

Cloak of Deception: The Cloak of Deception renders the player invisible to all Colossi, allowing you to roam around their guarded areas without them bothering you in the slightest. This is especially useful during the final battle as you can walk through unscathed. The Cloak of Deception cannot be used alongside the Cloak of Force.

Flash Arrow: Flash arrows explode upon impact and do significantly more damage than regular arrows. Flash arrows can sometimes completely destroy small sigils in the same way that the ancient sword can.

Brown Agro: After successfully completing all sixteen Time Attacks on Normal mode you can unlock a brown variant of Agro, shown below, to use this new skin you must hold down at the title screen when loading a new game. 

Hard Time Attack Unlockables:

Harpoon of Thunder: These arrows do significantly more damage than regular arrows and also have the ability to interrupt a colossus' attack. Harpoons of Thunder can sometimes completely destroy small sigils in the same way that the ancient sword can.

Sword of the Sun: With this equipped the light from your sword will shine regardless of whether you are in the sunlight or not. In order to use it you need to cycle through your weapons until you find it.

Shaman's Cloak: The Shaman's Cloak decreases the damage that you receive from the attacks of the colossi, allowing you to survive for longer.

Shaman's Mask: The Shaman's mask also decreases the damage you receive from colossi and may be used in conjunction with the Shaman's Cloak for added protection.

Cloak of Desperation: The Cloth of Desperation is a parachute that eliminates all fall damage. When using the Cloak of Desperation you will fall slowly with a very flight forward glide. You will still die if you attempt to use it in certain spots such as the cliffs overlooking the ocean This item can be used alongside the Shaman's Cloak.To use the parachute you can hold either or Circle whilst in mid-air.

Queen's Sword: The Queen's sword is an incredibly powerful sword with the ability to destroy even major sigils completely with just one fully charged stab.

White Agro: After succesfully completing all sixteen Time Attacks on Hard mode you will unlock a white variant of Agro, as pictured below. To enable this you must hold down at the title screen when loading a new game.

Easter Eggs

Tree climbing:

Dotted around the landscape are a lot of very large trees with broad branches. These larger trees can be climbed in the same way you would a colossus by scaling up the green moss on the trunk of the trees. This method is a very effective way of checking to see if there's any fruit in the upper canopy and as a way of surveying the landscape.

Grabbing onto Fish and Birds

Several creatures can be grabbed onto with , provided you're fast enough. Try practicing grabbing onto the doves in the Shrine of Worship by running at them, jumping and grabbing with . Wander will only fall off if the bird lands, your grip meter runs out or you manually let go. Aside from doves you can also try this with other birds including hawks which tend to fly up high and for long distances, including over ravines and canyons. Be cautious when grabbing onto hawks as, if your grip runs out, you may fall to your death. Fish can also be grabbed onto if you seek them out in a lake and they'll drag you about underwater for some time before you run out of air. Note: For the PS3 edition of the game there are trophies related to grabbing onto birds and fish, see here for details.

References to Ico

In the PS2 edition if you have a saved game file from Ico on your memory card then the diamond-shaped mark on Agro's head is changed to the "I" from the Ico logo. This only occurs on the black variant of Agro and not on the brown/white skinned alternatives.

The reward from completing the hard mode Time Attacks is the 'Queen's Sword' from Ico.

PS2 Secret Garden Exploit

Find the patch of ivy behind the Shrine. If your grip meter is high enough, you can just jump straight up the side until you reach the first ledge, which has a small patch of leaves on it. Position yourself directly under that patch of leaves and continue to hold and jump straight up. Your character will immediately duck into the leaves and allow you to refill any lost stamina. Once you have regained your grip bar continue around and up the side until you finally reach the path leading to the garden. Bare in mind this does NOT work for the PS3 HD remaster of the game.