The Stanley Parable devs use Sekiro meme to call out achievement cheaters

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"You cheated not only the game, but yourself"

Stanley Parable
(Image credit: Stanley Parable)

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe devs are cheekily calling out achievement cheaters with a meme that spawned from a 2019 debate around the FromSoftware game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

For some context, the original Stanley Parable has an achievement called 'Go Outside' that unlocks when you don't play the game for five years straight. The new Ultra Deluxe edition includes a follow-up to the achievement aptly named 'Super Go Outside' that doubles the time requirement to 10 years. Naturally, that means it's impossible to unlock until 2032 unless you break the rules and set your console or PC's clock forward a decade, and of course there are folks doing exactly that.

The developers at Crows Crows Crows noticed that 3% of players on Steam have unlocked the achievement, and they weren't shy in expressing their disapproval.

Again, in case you're missing some context here, the developers' tweet references a popular meme that wouldn't exist without Sekiro, a PC Gamer article, and one sarcastically uppity FromSoftware fan. See, when the game launched there was a lot of talk about its difficulty and the "right" way to play it, and in the middle of everything PC Gamer shared an article where the author admits to beating Sekiro's final boss using cheats and not feeling bad about it (the gall!). In response to the story was this viral comment, which the author admits was only partly sincere:

"You cheated not only the game, but yourself. You didn't grow. You didn't improve. You took a shortcut and gained nothing. You experienced a hollow victory. Nothing was risked and nothing was gained. It's sad that you don't know the difference."

Now, thanks to the above tweet from Crows Crows Crows, I'll forever hear that meme in the smug voice of the narrator from The Stanley Parable.

Check out our full The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe review to see what we thought of the expanded re-release.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.