First Impressions : Slender

Hey, it's October! It's getting cold, people are putting fake spiders on their houses, and Army of Darkness is playing in theaters. You know what that means- Halloween is near! I am a horror junkie, so I never pass up a good excuse to scare myself.

Jaconian has mentioned a game called Slender in some previous blog posts, and a few days ago he got me to play it. I'd watched him play before and it was creepy but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. I'm a pretty big fan of all things horror and I don't frighten easily, so I figured why not?

How do I say this? Slender scared the crap out of me. The first thing I learned was that being the one behind the controls suddenly makes everything more real. I realize this might seem obvious, but I'm usually the person watching, not playing. Suddenly I had to make all the decisions. And if "Slenderman" shows up, he's here for me, not somebody else. And as a person who doesn't do a whole lot of PC gaming, having a poor grasp of the controls made it even more horrifying. Like I can't run away even if I want to. It also doesn't help any that the game design bears an uncanny resemblance to the woods where I spent my childhood summers.

Exhibit A : Vendée, Quebec

Exhibit B : Terrifying Slenderman-ville, Ohjeeztown

Yeah, I'm never going out there at night ever again. Slender definitely takes the minimal approach to horror. With the exception of some distant rumblings, a low, barely noticeable drone, and a super rare "scare chord" there isn't much of a soundtrack. You don't fight any enemies. You don't solve any puzzles. Your one and only goal is to collect eight pieces of paper that are randomly scattered throughout the game. The thing is, the more papers you get, the more you risk running into Slenderman. The game runs entirely on tension. It doesn't waste time with blood or violence. It elegantly accesses our deep-rooted fear of the unknown.

 Anyway, here are some notes I jotted down immediately after playing :

 Heart was pounding, mouth was dry, body temp. dropped a good 5 degrees, definitely screamed out loud when Slenderman popped out unexpectedly. Reminds me wayyy too much of Vendée. Okay guys, let's just go home now, okay??? HUGE difference between watching and playing, although watching is also pants-shittingly terrifying. Animation for when you get caught will haunt my dreams probably. Great!

The only negative I've heard about this game is that if you play it for too long it's possible to become desensitized, since the "caught by Slenderman" animation stays the same each time. Personally? I have yet to muster the courage to play for long enough to become desensitized in the first place.
Overall rating: 5/5