SLENDER - beta review PC

“We didn’t want to go, we didn’t want to kill them, but its persistent silence and outstretched arms horrified and comforted us at the same time…”







The last time a game got me truly scared was back into my childhood playing the first Resident Evil game for the PlayStation, the tension and utter fear that gripped me as I entered into a new room is something that made me fall in love with the survival horror genre from a young age, another game that comes to mind which had the same effect was Silent Hill, again for the PlayStation.

Walking through the fog at the very start, hearing the eerie sound effects and not knowing what was going to happen next almost made me want to turn the thing off and play a more light hearted game. But that never happened, simply because being scared was and is something that I love and can’t help but crave.

Unfortunately though, I haven’t felt that feeling for a long time, maybe it’s because I’m older and have become de-sensitised to such things or maybe it’s because survival horror just isn’t what it used to be, the recent Resident Evil games have completely put me off the franchise now, because (to me) they simply joined the ranks of generic action shooter, giving players something else to shoot in the head and not have to think and feel too much.

That might just be me being a bit harsh on the much loved series, but in my eyes it’s a fact that they just don’t make ‘em like they used too…That is, until I played SLENDER.

Mark J. Hadley, the game designer at Parsec Productions obviously knows what true horror is and thanks to him that rush of fear came back as strong as it did back when I was younger.
Slender is a game made using the UNITY engine about the slender man internet myth, an unknown entity depicted as a creature with a humanoid form with long slender limbs and arms that can stretch to capture the unfortunate victims who lay eyes on him, his face contains no features, only two white disks where his eyes should be (The hairs on my arms are standing on end just typing this), his gaze is said to hypnotise you and his outstretched arms lure you towards him, rendering you unable to turn and run away. Click Here for more information about this myth.

I think the main reason this game freaks me out so much is because I am aware of the story and his creepy appearance is all I can think about as I blindly wander around the atmospheric forest.

Anyway, finally to the details of the game, it is still in beta mode so it would be unfair to criticise it in any way until the full version is released.

The beta plonks you into a dark forest with a flashlight and a goal to collect 8 pages scattered around the area, although the environment consists of mostly trees and a few buildings the creepy audio and the pitch black do more than enough to immerse you entirely, making you genuinely scared to turn around in fear of seeing the slender man standing uncomfortably close to you, the gameplay is simple, WASD to move, Q + E to zoom and the mouse to look around and use your flashlight, the fact that the player actions are limited is what puts you in that vulnerable situation, your loud footsteps make you easily detectable and you move slowly, you can sprint for a short time but this really doesn’t make much difference. I am instantly brought back to the first zombie encounter in resident evil, the controls are so clunky in that game I was too scared to fully commit to attacking a zombie in fear of taking to long to aim correctly and instead ending up with a zombie chewing my face.

On my first play I entered a small abandoned building in search of my second page, the blood stains on the floor made this a place I wanted to get out of as quick as possible, I turned off my flashlight to preserve the battery and nervously turned the corner, fully expecting to see him there looking down at me, thankfully he wasn’t, instead I came across the second page and swiftly made my way out.

I turned left as I exited the building and pressed my flashlight on and there he was, inches in front of me, I won’t give away the details as to what happens when you’re caught but I nearly had a fucking heart attack.

That was the most I dared play for that night, I have played a couple more times since then and the experience was equally as horrifying, I have yet to get more than 3 pages without falling victim to the creature, the shock of getting caught by him makes me unable to play through again on the same day and that is why I love this game, it injects fear that I wish the games industry had more of.

Do some slender man research, Download the latest beta from here, turn off the lights and launch this game alone or with a like-minded friend to share the horror with, I’m preparing myself for another go as I type this…wish me luck!

Reviewed by Mark Wilson 22/11/2012.