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The Beginner's Guide on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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The Beginner's Guide is a narrative video game from Davey Wreden, the creator of The Stanley Parable. It lasts about an hour and a half and has no traditional mechanics, no goals or objectives. Instead, it tells the story of a person struggling to deal with something they do not understand.

The Beginner's Guide is a story rich, walking simulator and narration game developed by Everything Unlimited Ltd. and published by Everything Unlimited Ltd. and Klei Publishing.
Released on October 01st 2015 is available on Windows, MacOS and Linux in 5 languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain and Russian.

It has received 22,002 reviews of which 19,369 were positive and 2,633 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.6 out of 10. 😎

The game is currently priced at 9.75€ on Steam, but you can find it for 6.66€ on Gamivo.


The Steam community has classified The Beginner's Guide into these genres:

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at The Beginner's Guide through various videos and screenshots.

System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows
  • OS *: Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10
  • Processor: 3.0 GHz P4, Dual Core 2.0 (or higher) or AMD64X2 (or higher)
  • Memory: 2 GB RAM
  • Graphics: 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 Intel Express graphics card).
  • Storage: 4 GB available space
  • Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
MacOS
  • OS: Mac OS X 10.8 or higher required
  • Processor: 3.0 GHz P4, Dual Core 2.0 (or higher) or AMD64X2 (or higher)
  • Memory: 2 GB RAM
  • Graphics: ATI Radeon 2400 or higher / NVIDIA 8600M or higher
  • Storage: 4 GB available space
Linux
  • OS: Ubuntu 12.04
  • Processor: Dual core from Intel or AMD at 2.8 GHz
  • Memory: 2 GB RAM
  • Graphics: nVidia GeForce 8600/9600GT, ATI/AMD Radeon HD2600/3600 (Graphic Drivers: nVidia 310, AMD 12.11), OpenGL 2.1
  • Storage: 4 GB available space
  • Sound Card: OpenAL Compatible Sound Card

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

2 hours played
June 2026
I've had this game on my wishlist for years, and I finally tried it out. I had imagined it as a narrative puzzle game, and really it's just a narrative. I don't believe Coda was an actual person in this story, but Coda represents some real concepts and real people. Possible spoilers ahead, in case you care about that: ------------------------------------------------------- The message I got from the game is that sometimes you'll see people that have a problem, and that you feel like you have to fix them. But in the process you don't naturally gravitate to first understanding them, so you try the wrong things, go too hard, and give them no space. They push you away because your attempts to help them are only causing harm instead. The lesson I think to take from the narrative is that you don't need to fix people, you can show your care and be open to listening, but if they don't want to "be fixed" or even talk to you, forcing it is not a good idea, no matter how good your intentions are. And in the same respect, you may feel that you need to fix yourself, that there's a problem with you that you discover in your same attempts to fix the other person. But that's shown to mostly be hindsight, and in the process of trying to fix your problems, for the sake of efficiency or for the sake of negating any wrongs you've made, you may find that you can't negate the inefficiency, you can't fix your mistakes, and it can cripple you. You may find that the healthiest option to begin with, was instead to let it go, forgive yourself, and move forward with what you've learned, because what you've learned isn't nothing.
3 hours played
May 2026
A game for game developers from game developers. I highly recommend if you are working in a creative sector.
6 hours played
March 2026
If you want to play this game I think you should first play The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe and if you liked the game then play The beginer's guide. Wow this game. It changed the way I view art and the author behind it and showed the power of games as a means of telling stories. What I mean by that is you can't make this into a movie or a book or a poem or anything else. It would be impossible to do so. The beginer's guide works because it is a video game. This is one reason I love this game (and The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe it's my favorite game of all time) but I don't want to say more about The beginer's guide witout spoiling it. It's the most video game game ever. I love it
1 hours played
Dec. 2025
TL;DR Maybe art isn't really for everybody, but that's not a bad thing, you think as you calm yourself. When my friend first showed me this game and told me absolutely nothing about it, except that this is a mind changing game I was instantly hooked up, back in the days I was... let's say... "very straightforwardly minded", maybe it's not the best way to describe how I felt, but, I just wanted a solution, I wanted to skip the part where you research, spend time and just become absored in the work process, all I wanted is an instant result, preferably positive. If you wanted to become a better person, then you should try doing things by yourself, it'll be hard and an extremely unplesant, tiring experience, but it'll work, through discipline or consistency you will be able to become better. So I tried doing everything by myself, even though, at least I, consider myself as an independent person, there were times when I felt... Lazy? I began doing my own researches, expanding my mind and worldview by not only trying to find what is this that I enjoy and like doing, but also improving and refining my tastes, I actually began enjoying complex and previously music that I didn't understand, began reading better books, began playing better games (although that's arguable) and as I did all of this, thinking that I'm on my way to reach peak of my existance I install The Beginner's Guide. And I was left with dried tears, blankly staring at the main title screen after the epilogue. The moment you realise, key word realise what this game is about, what topics this game brings up and what story it tells you, whole picture just snaps. It's nice coming back to some games to just... Reflect, relax, calm down for a moment, I could just stay still and listen to the music on these levels, it's so, transcending, atmospheric and... I don't know what else to say about this game, I feel bad, like, really really bad for hating myself and doing nothing about it, letting hatred and jealousy absorb me from the inside I just can't, I can't and I won't be like you and even though I wholeheartedly wish only the best for myself, it's almost as if... I need help and it makes me mad seeing how much people support you and what you do, I just wish I could be surrounded by so many good people like you, but I'm getting destroyed, humiliated by people I thought I could trust and it makes me so jealous that I had to suffer through all this unfair and unneeded hate, watching them kill me as I helplessly cry and beg them to stop, turning me into dysfunctional, latent "human being" and it hurts me so much seeing you being kind to others while I'm being abused with my honesty and friendliness, even though I try to be best for my friends and family, it's not enough and it'll never be enough of my kindness for them, for everyone, all my humanity is being sucked out of me, leaving me with emptiness that's filled by rage that I need to use on someone, but I won't. I don't want others to be hurt by me, I don't want this to be a closed circle of all negative emotions that I feel. So, I... I think it's for the best I just... Leave you be, before I do something bad that I'll regret. I'll stay wrapped in my cocoon of rage and jealousy, so everyone around me would be safe, I'll sacrifice my abilities, my nature gifted talents for the sake of those who I care about. I will never be like you and I don't think I will ever be. No matter how hard and desperately I try, my wish is not enough. • • •
2 hours played
Nov. 2025
This game is a linear story that you will finish within two hours and probably be done with forever. It is also not a funny experience in the slightest, despite being made by the writer of The Stanley Parable. So know those things going in. With that said, I first played this game when I was 12. At the time, it had me in tears, and that doesn't happen to me often. But I really only processed it on a superficial level. In the decade since, I've thought back to this one numerous times. The layers have become apparent to me with time, and it's become one of the most prescient stories I think I've ever heard. Every year it seems more relevant to more people in my life, and I shout at more of them to play it. It becomes more relevant to my own dealings, and I find myself using it as a sort of blueprint when I'm trying to figure out if I'm crossing anyone's lines or making any ill-considered judgments. If I were to write out on paper the lessons I took away from this game, they would sound shallow and obvious as hell. But it's clear to me that not enough people have processed them. Especially in our online-first world, this story is something I feel everyone should experience. Set aside two hours to play this, and set aside another two hours to just sit in it and think about it. And then ask other people in your life to do the same.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The Beginner's Guide is currently priced at 9.75€ on Steam.

No, The Beginner's Guide is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 9.75€ on Steam.

Yes, The Beginner's Guide received 19,369 positive votes out of a total of 22,002 achieving a rating of 8.62.
😎

The Beginner's Guide was developed by Everything Unlimited Ltd. and published by Everything Unlimited Ltd. and Klei Publishing.

Yes, The Beginner's Guide is playable and fully supported on Windows.

Yes, The Beginner's Guide is playable and fully supported on MacOS.

Yes, The Beginner's Guide is playable and fully supported on Linux.

The Beginner's Guide is a single-player game.

No, The Beginner's Guide does not currently offer any DLC.

No, The Beginner's Guide does not support mods via Steam Workshop.

Yes, The Beginner's Guide supports Remote Play on Tablet. Discover more about Steam Remote Play.

Yes, The Beginner's Guide is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.

You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for The Beginner's Guide.

Data sources

The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.

Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.

Last Updates
Steam data 20 July 2026 00:01 UTC
SteamSpy data 26 July 2026 19:16 UTC
Steam price 29 July 2026 18:44 UTC
Steam reviews 28 July 2026 01:59 UTC

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about The Beginner's Guide, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

  • SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about The Beginner's Guide
  • SteamCharts - Analysis of The Beginner's Guide concurrent players on Steam
  • ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck The Beginner's Guide compatibility
The Beginner's Guide
Rating
8.6
19,369
2,633
Game modes
Features
Online players
7
Developer
Everything Unlimited Ltd.
Publisher
Everything Unlimited Ltd., Klei Publishing
Release 01 Oct 2015
Platforms
Remote Play
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