The Stanley Parable is an adventure game with multiple endings, guided by a Narrator who can get increasingly frustrated with the player if they take the story off the rails. The Ultra Deluxe edition comes with several achievements that can contribute to the meta-narrative of the various diverging paths, most of which are mocked by the Narrator, along with other gaming tropes.
There is an additional achievement that requires the player to beat The Stanley Parable in less than 4 minutes and 22 seconds, but this only counts if the player specifically takes the path to the "best" ending. The Freedom ending relies on the player simply obeying the Narrator's instructions and getting out of the office as intended, but doing so can take a long time and be deliberately halted by the Narrator unless they know how to avoid this.
How to Skip The Keypad Code
The biggest time delay that players will encounter when attempting a speedrun of the Freedom Ending is in the Boss's Office, where the Narrator spends several minutes talking before hinting at the keypad code that furthers the story.
If the player already knows the code and enters it while the Narrator is talking, he calls out their impatient actions and demands they listen to some relaxing music before continuing. This is a deliberately time-wasting effort, but the game's cyclical nature means this is actually a useful step for the speedrun.
After waiting for the secret passageway to open up, the player can continue and get whatever ending they prefer, such as The Confusion ending. Once the game has restarted, follow the Narrator's instructions like before as quickly as possible.
On a second and third visit to the Boss's Office, the Narrator will skip past the keypad code dialogue and open up the secret passageway immediately, cutting a significant amount of time out of a speedrun.
How to Get Past the Facility Gates
The next part of the path is straightforward: head down the elevator, along the path towards the Mind Control Facility, and press the lightbulb button. This next bit is crucial and may require some practice.
Once the button is pressed, climb onto the chair and desk where the button is situated. Balancing along the edge of the fence and looking down will reveal the catwalk slowly emerging. Walking off the fence and onto the catwalk before it fully raises to the top can shave vital seconds from a speedrun.
After this, the player only needs to continue along this linear path, pressing the elevator buttons and getting inside to reach the Facility Power room as quickly as possible. Once the OFF button is pressed, the way out will open. This takes quite a while, which is why these time-saving tips are important for a speedrun. Once Stanley is guided through the way out, the achievement/trophy icon should pop if the player moved quickly enough.
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is playable on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
