Hale, Shea: The Eeriness of Liminal Spaces in _The Stanley Parable_

_The Garden of Ideas_ 4 (2):5-14. 2025This paper develops a phenomenological account of liminal space aesthetics through an analysis of "The Stanley Parable". Drawing on Mark Fisher’s account of the eerie as a disturbance of presence or absence, I argue that the game’s empty office aesthetics function as paradigmatic liminal spaces that stage a crisis of agency. The player’s navigation of repetitive corridors, predetermined choices, and cyclical endings produces an experiential confrontation wit