The Stanley Parable — a light title that runs on modest PCs: specs & FPS

2013 · Indie, Adventure · Galactic Cafe · Metacritic 88

The Stanley Parable cover art

Official system requirements

Publisher-published Minimum / Recommended values via RAWG, retrieved 2026-08-21. Real-world performance varies with drivers, resolution and your full build.

SpecMinimumRecommended
OSMinimum:—
ProcessorOS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8—
MemoryProcessor: 3.0 GHz P4, Dual Core 2.0 (or higher) or AMD64X2 (or higher)—
GraphicsMemory: 2 GB RAM—
StorageGraphics: Video card must be 128 MB or more and should be a DirectX 9-compatible with support for Pixel Shader 2.0b (ATI Radeon X800 or higher / NVIDIA GeForce 7600 or higher / Intel HD Graphics 2000 or higher - *NOT* an Express graphics card).—
DirectXStorage: 3 GB available space—
Item 7Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible—

Multi-GPU FPS estimate

Estimated average FPS by GPU at 1080p / 1440p / 4K, derived from The Stanley Parable's demand tier (tier 1, Very light (runs on integrated graphics)) and published TechPowerUp-style relative-performance indices (RTX 4090 = 100), retrieved 2026-08-29. Planning estimates, not benchmarks.

GPU1080p1440p4K
RTX 4090480380219
RTX 4080 Super480341196
RTX 4080480327188
RX 7900 XTX480363209
RX 7900 XT480341196
RTX 4070 Ti Super440291167
RX 7800 XT440291167
RTX 4070 Super414274157
RTX 4070388256148
RX 7700 XT399263152
RTX 3070362239138
RX 6800 XT435287165
RTX 4060 Ti319211121
RX 6700 XT388256148
RTX 3060292193111
RX 6600 XT330218125
RTX 2060264174100
GTX 1660 Super21814483
RX 58025316796
GTX 1060 6GB20713679
GTX 165016510963
Intel Arc A770335221127
UHD 770 (integrated)674426

Method: a game's demand tier maps to a “GPU index needed for ~60 FPS at 1080p”; each GPU's relative index produces an estimate via a diminishing-returns curve, then scaled for resolution. Source: TechPowerUp GPU database (relative performance), 2026-08-29.

For the full hardware spec sheet and a deeper performance breakdown, see Full specs & performance data on GameFigs.

Age rating & regional compliance

GameRulePro pairs each title with its ESRB age rating and, where documented, real regulatory notes on loot boxes, skin gambling and randomized monetization. Every line is source-linked and labeled with its retrieval date. This is an educational reference, not legal advice — verify the specifics that apply to your jurisdiction.

FieldValueSource
Age ratingNot indexed on GameRuleProESRB
Verify locally. No GameRulePro-curated regulatory note is indexed for The Stanley Parable yet. Jurisdiction-specific rules on randomized monetization, loot boxes and simulated gambling vary — confirm against the ESRB rating above and your regional authority before allowing purchases or play by minors.

Similar games you may tune or rule next

Best graphics settings for The Stanley Parable

Pick your PC and get a starting preset — resolution, upscaler, shadows, ray tracing and an FPS cap — tuned to how demanding The Stanley Parable is on hardware. Print it and tune from there. Everything runs in your browser.

Best graphics settings for The Stanley Parable

The Stanley Parable hardware-demand tier: 1/9. Pick your PC above to get a starting preset, then tune up if you have FPS headroom or down if you're under your target.

Estimated starting point — real FPS depends on drivers, thermals and background load.

The Stanley Parable — Best settings (Mid-range (GTX 1660 – RTX 3060))

Resolution1920×1080
Upscaler (DLSS / FSR / XeSS)DLSS / FSR Balanced
ShadowsMedium
ReflectionsMedium
Ambient occlusionLow
TexturesMedium
Volumetric / effectsMedium
Ray tracingOff
Anisotropic filtering8x
FPS cap60–120 FPS
V-SyncOff (G-Sync / FreeSync if available)

Generated at GameRulePro · 2026-09-25

Release, patch & rule-change notes

Official release date: 2013-10-17. Ongoing patches and version history are published by the developer — for the latest patch notes, see the official store or support page. GameRulePro summarizes the official release only and does not invent patch dates. When a developer ships a rule-affecting update (balance pass, mode change, or ranked-reset), re-run the generator above to keep your house rules in sync.

SingleplayerFull controller supportAtmosphericStory Rich

About The Stanley Parable

The Stanley Parable is a first-person interactive story game. Being initially released in 2011 as a modification for Half-Live 2, it was entirely remade in 2013, featuring updated graphics and more content. The game follows Stanley, an office worker whose job boils down to pressing buttons on the keyboard depending on what he sees on his office computer screen. One day the screen goes black and Stanley, not knowing what to do, decides to investigate the building. The gameplay consists of exploring a deserted office building. The game has 19 possible endings that depend on which way the player chooses to explore his surroundings. The Stanley Parable’s key feature is the permanent presence of the narrator who comments protagonist’s actions and suggests player what to do next. However, the player can ignore his suggestions which makes the narrator adjust his story to the player’s actions.

Performance reality & how to tune The Stanley Parable

GameRulePro editorial — these notes are based on The Stanley Parable's published specifications and genre profile, not a single benchmark run. Use them to set expectations before you open the settings menu.

As a 2013 indie title, The Stanley Parable sits at demand tier 1 (Very light (runs on integrated graphics)) — light on PC. It is light enough for older hardware and even integrated graphics at lower settings.

What to tune first on The Stanley Parable

  • Open-world RPGs lean on CPU and storage in busy towns — SSD + dual-channel RAM first.
  • Shadows and lighting scale hardest; keep textures high since they mostly use VRAM.
  • An upscaler at 4K recovers the most frames with the smallest visual hit.

The FPS table above is a model estimate from the demand-tier + GPU-index method. Real frame rates vary with drivers, background apps, thermals and resolution. Treat it as a buying or upgrade planning aid, then verify in-game. For step-by-step fixes, see the crash-fix and optimization guides linked on this page.

● Data updated 2026-09-09

Sources & attribution

  • Game data (release year, genres, platforms, system requirements, description, cover art) via RAWG.io, retrieved 2026-08-21.
  • GPU relative-performance indices via TechPowerUp GPU database (relative performance), retrieved 2026-08-29.
  • FPS estimates on this page are GameRulePro planning estimates from the demand-tier + GPU-index model — not benchmark results.
  • House rules and tournament formats are community-style templates for casual play, not official rulebooks.
  • Pre-launch intelligence (release windows, settings, editions, pricing, beta dates) is compiled from each title's official publisher / studio announcements and is source-linked per item with its retrieval date (2026-09-09). Where a detail is from reporting rather than a primary source, the item's source line states so. This is preview material, not an official specification.
  • Per-game age-rating & regional compliance reference (ESRB rating via RAWG; curated regulatory notes) from the GameRulePro game-rules dataset, retrieved 2026-08-29.
How the The Stanley Parable FPS estimate and rules generator are computed

Each game is scored on a 0–9 demand tier from its published PC requirements (and a year/genre fallback when requirements are absent). The FPS estimate compares your selected GPU's relative-performance index against the tier's required index using a diminishing-returns curve, then scales for resolution. The rules and tournament builder is a community-style template engine: it formats your group size, match format and tiebreaks into a printable sheet. All outputs are planning guides — verify in-game and agree house rules with your group before play.

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