Slender

I’m not one for PC gaming. When my laptop goes on it’s for work, watching anime and perhaps the occasional venture into the world of girl on girl action…but not games. And then we heard about Slender….

The premise is pretty simple. It’s a first person ‘how long can you last’ horror survival game that has you exploring a woodland at night and hunting for 8 pieces of paper. These are normally located in or around various landmarks and armed with nothing more than your trusty torch you embark on a snatch-n-grab session to collect them all. However every page collected brings you that much closer to being caught by the phantom figure known as ‘The Slender Man’. Once he’s got you its game-over. That’s about it – original but not particularly earth shattering stuff, there’s no background story, the graphics are pretty basic, there’s no fighting system involved at all and yet…it’s as scary as hell.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what makes Slender just so damn terrifying. It could be the music and sound effects that get louder as you progress through the game, maybe the shock factor when your torch unexpectedly lands on the Slender Man’s approaching figure (which can happen at any time). Perhaps it’s the static that travels across the screen when he’s nearby that makes you run screaming or possibly it’s the creepy childlike drawings and messages on the paper you collect that locate you in a nightmarishly inescapable phantasm.

For whatever reason it’s a formula that works, and it’s kinda nice to see a small indie game able to make us jump in a gaming environment where there is an increasingly push for ‘dramatic’ horror survival. It’s not that I don’t like dramatic horror I just think it’s nice that Slender shows us all that all you need is a good idea. And apparently I’m not the only one; the online game that came out in June has already been taken into development with Blue Isle Studios in Toronto who are working with the game’s developer Mark Hadley to make Slender: the Arrival. It will be a re-imagining of the first release boasting improved visuals, more levels and a storyline to terrify us all over again.

Since I know you came here to see me screaming like a girl check out my gameplay below. I’d like to say I was being tactical but that’s complete bull; I ended up getting lost and going in a big ass circle (haha) Part 1 if you’d like to see how I faired from the start or you can click on part 2 where I get caught. Enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

Angelic Rogue

Images from Google Images and video from youtube. All image rights to their respective owners.