There aren’t many games out there that scare me anymore. I’ve mentioned a few before in previous articles, but aside from those, it’s pretty tame out there in the world of horror games. That’s why this game caught me so off guard: I can confidently say, that if you’re looking for a genuine creep-fest, look no farther than Slender.
A “survival horror” game from Parsec Productions, it’s based on the recently created myth – completely made up during a contest to alter a picture and make it ‘paranormal’ – of Slender Man, a tall malevolent being that haunts and abducts humans. He is generally described as being between 6-15 feet tall and always dressed in a black suit. What makes him so creepy is the fact that he has no discernible facial features, only a white blank face. He is shown in the backgrounds of various pictures being generally creepy and disturbing. Go ahead and Google a few pictures of him, I’ll wait…Ok, freaky, no?
Now picture being lost in the woods, at night, armed with nothing but a flashlight. Getting scarier! Now add in the fact that you’re being hunted by Slender Man, and he’s silently and effectively cutting off all of your escape routes. There’s no music, just you and the sounds of a forest at night, your footsteps and some sporadic white noise. You have limited battery in the flashlight, your stamina bar limits how much you can run and you have no defenses or map. It’s complete seclusion and isolation. You’re tasked with finding eight pieces of paper, each depicting some fact about the legendary Slender Man. With each paper you find, his abilities to hunt you grow stronger. It starts with you simply seeing him in the distance, watching you. But after 5-6 papers, he’s teleporting insanely fast and can even force you to look at him…killing you.
Now when I say killing you, I mean it. Not only does the game end, but you’re treated to loud terrifying static and a close-up of Slender Man’s face as he catches you, and then it completely shuts off and sends you back to your desktop. Really! Not ‘please try again’ or ‘continue?’, just pure, flat-out game over.
It does a lot of things really well. No, it doesn’t have the best graphics, or any story line to speak of, but it NAILS the horror aspect, because 99% of the time you spend playing this game, you’re terrified. Play it in the dark! I dare you! It’s one of the only ‘horror’ games that legitimately gave me the creeps.
It’s a free download, it’s scary and it’s a definite play for anyone looking to get a jump-start on the Halloween season! Try it and let us know what you think!
