Imagine being trapped in a dense forest in the dead of night, armed with only a flashlight, being stalked by the most relentless creature the modern world has ever seen. Welcome to the world of “Slender: The Eight Pages”, the free, PC Indie survival horror game in which the only way to survive is to collect eight notes taped to land markings for a reason even the game player does not know.
“Slender” was made by Parsec Productions which was released June of 2012. Since its release, it has become very popular, with many gameplay videos online. It focuses on the deity known as “Slenderman”, a very tall and slender man wearing a suit and tie; he has a blank white face, and is sometimes portrayed as having tentacles sprouting out of his back.
Unlike certain mystical beings, Slenderman has his origins on the internet. He was created for a contest on the Something Awful Forums in June of 2009. The participants were to digitally make photographs with their fictional character in it, like a ghost or other paranormal creature. Slenderman was one of those entries, being described as a mysterious creature who stalked children. After people caught wave of this certain deity, Slenderman was used as a character in a creepypasta – which is a horror story spread throughout the web – on the internet before the game was made. Since the pictures and creepypasta stories were made, the story of the Slenderman has grown far and wide, and even more so since Parsec Productions made their game “Slender.”
“Slender” is not to be confused with another free indie game called “Slenderman”. This game is based off the YouTube series made by MarbleHornets, and has an entirely different game play and story.
As a game, “Slender” is fairly simple, only having a few controls, a very basic story, and a short playthrough. You can beat the game in under an hour. The reason this game so popular is because of its simple horror and graphic quality that no other game can mimic.
Kasandra Wojac, a Junior at Milford High, has played “Slender” six or seven times. Out of her tries, she has only gotten three out of eight total notes before being captured by Slenderman. Wojac says what makes the game fun is that it’s “loud, suspenseful, and you always have to keep going.” In “Slender”, if you stop moving, Slenderman continually stalks ever closer to you, so a sense of restlessness is always hanging over you.
When you start up the game, you hear the faint sound of what sounds like the main character climbing over a fence. After the home screen, you are inside the fence, searching for 8 notes with no way out of the enclosed, fenced-off area. Every time you start a new game, the notes spawn in different areas, so that the game is different every time. You have the old WASD controls to move, with left shift being the run button, the left mouse button to pick up notes, and right mouse button to turn on and off your flashlight. The Q and E buttons are for zooming in your camera’s view, which you are supposedly looking through.
When you collect a note, the game difficulty increases, as Slenderman continues to follow ever closer to you with every note collected. After you have collected 5 notes, he can then teleport anywhere in your near vicinity, which means he can appear right in front of you, as well. The ability to run is there, but it is limited, along with the flashlight battery life. If the game goes on for too long, your flashlight battery will die, and you will be left in complete darkness; from this point on, it is nearly impossible to finish the game.
Every time you catch a glimpse of him, the screen will start to fizzle out, like an interruption in your television broadcast. The screen will have increasingly more static the longer you look at him, until you go insane, get captured, and lose the game. Then you have the option to start the game over with zero notes.
Nicollette Montgomery, a Junior, says she cannot play “Slender” without shaking throughout the game. She has only collected five notes so far.
The game has very well-done graphics, with the trees looking real and the few landmarks that it has are placed in great places as well; not too far apart to get lost in the woods on your way, but not too close so you know exactly where you’re going. One thing that could use some improvement on, though, would be the actual Slenderman. Because of the fear that you get upon the first few times you see him, you can’t get a good enough glimpse of him to see any of his details. Upon closer inspection, you see that Slenderman is nothing more than a black stick figure with minimal designs, acting more like a prop than an enemy.
Montgomerysays Slenderman is “rather fancy and scary at the same time… [it’s] because of the suit and tie!”Montgomerycomes back to the game every time because she is determined to beat the game. She wants to know what happens when all eight notes are collected. This is the one main factor that makes people continue playing the game.
Because this is a free, indie computer game, Parsec Productions continually updates the game with more new and exciting features, most of them making the game feel more like a full game. The first few versions of the game were basic and extremely easy to beat if you never looked behind you. Now, in its latest version: beta v0.9.7, you absolutely HAVE to turn around and look at him every once in awhile, or else he will catch up to you and you will lose.
The sound is what makes up the most horrific part of the game. Every time Slenderman teleports close to you (Or something to that extent) a loud fizzing noise lasting half a second will scare you half to death. This completely freaks you out and may make you run further into the dense forest, losing all sense of direction, becoming an easier target for Slenderman. Before you collect your first note, no sounds can be heard except for the normal sounds of trees rustling and the occasional animal noise. Panting sounds can be heard coming from your character when you run too much and you run out of stamina.
After you collect your first note, drums start playing, sounding like a heartbeat, respectively. After three notes, another, somewhat distant sound starts; at five notes, another joins in with the first two notes, somewhat sounding like somebody is breathing in your ear; and then at seven notes, the music starts going crazy. Because I don’t want to give out spoilers, I will not say what happens after you get the eighth note.
This game doesn’t have too much of a storyline to it. You learn nothing about your character, except for the characters’ high-pitched breathing when you run too much suggests you play as a female. You don’t know who wrote the notes, and why they stuck them to random monuments. Many questions are never answered at all. Why is Slenderman after you? Why did you ever jump that fence? Why is it night time? These questions would provide a greater sense of story to the game, but alas, is not implemented.
With all of these parts thrown together, you get “Slender: The Eight Pages”. Overall, the real horror comes from the tense atmosphere created from the music and the expectation that you know that Slenderman is always there, watching you, yet you can’t see him. If you have not seen Slenderman in awhile, you tend to let your guard down, and that’s when he scares you the most. If you want the most out of “Slender,” I recommend playing in a dark room with headphones at night with everyone else asleep, completely alone. If you are prone to screaming, wetting yourself, or just plain don’t want to be scared, do the complete opposite of this.
Now, while for the first fifty times you play “Slender”, you may be too scared to even take a few steps. You may take too long finding the notes and run out of flashlight battery, and you most likely will have no idea where you are going. But, the next fifty times you play it, you will probably have learned where everything is on the map, will know certain tricks of the trade, and won’t jump too much or be scared of Slenderman. After awhile, it just gets somewhat boring. You know exactly what to expect. This takes away from the replayability of the game, because over time, you become immune to Slenderman’s old tricks. This unfortunately takes the rate of this game down a notch.
A collection of Slender spin-offs, called “Slenderman’s Shadow”, were developed by Marc Steen and Wray Burgess. These multiple games are based off of “Slender”, with the difference being the objects you have to collect are different, the stories and settings are completely new, and the horror factor has been shifted. The only thing that keeps these games somewhat tied to the original is through the main antagonist, which still remains as Slenderman. The complete package contains nine new maps, costing only $6.99, with “Sanatorium” and the Christmas special being free demos. You can purchase it here: http://www.slendermansshadow.com/
Slender: The Arrival, which was released March 26, is the direct continuation of the game, with vastly improved gameplay, visuals, and includes a story. It introduces a new antagonist, with more “levels” for finding pages than the previous game. I recommend checking it out. It is $10 right now to download the game for your PC or Mac: http://www.slenderarrival.com/
By now everyone should know that this game was not meant for little kids. The recommended age rating for this game is about twelve years old. Anyone younger I advise should not play.
Overall I give this game an 7/10, or a B. This game deserves the recognition it has, and should be checked out by all who thinks they are ready to see what pure horror looks like; which is a completely blank face.
To download the free game, Slender: The Eight Pages, go here: http://www.parsecproductions.net/slender/