So I had the Idea to record my reviews and make a pretty little presentation to go with them, but I haven't gotten to it yet. But I will be doing it eventually, and you get to hear my awesome voice....
Slender
Yeah, I'm doing it.
For those of you who don't know, please crawl out from the particular internet rock you've been hiding under and gather 'round.
Slenderman is a creepy pasta that was first created on the Something Awful forums by a user named "Victor Surge". His invention was a faceless tall man with long arms and legs, in a dark suit who would show up randomly around children, often in pictures, and the children would later disappear.
After a few people added onto it, Slender Syndrome was developed, The tell-tale sign that Slenderman was targeting you. You'd develop Shakes, Coughs, Migraines, You'd hear static, and your vision would fuzz up, and you'd start becoming delirious and develop Amnesia.
Then it got creepy.
Someone (Who should really see a psychiatrist.) Came up with what Slender does to his victims. He'd lure them out into the woods and toy with them, driving them to madness before taking them, impaling them on a tree..... taking out their organs..... putting them in plastic bags.... and putting them back.....
Now, Slenderman was doing alright. Then a fateful thing happened.
An independent studio known as Persec Productions made a free downloadable game dubbed Slender: The Eight Pages, or Slender for short. The game was built on the unity engine and Has since seen Slenderman cast into the Internet spotlight, adding the Pages, the woods, and various other things to his already horrifying persona, and making him a pop culture Icon.
Now the game it's self makes itself on atmosphere. The dark large woods with the ambience that adds in as you collect pages. the fact that Slender can,and will show up anywhere, is maddening. But....
The fact that the pages are so hard to find can really ruin the game. My first experience with it was a four hour walk around as I tried to find a single page, before quitting. Now I know some people may say this difficulty is what makes the game, but I didn't enjoy wandering through the woods alone. I can do that myself. If they wanted to make it a bit more interesting, you could have coded things slender does to mess with you, for instance, there's one building in the game that is entirely empty, except for two chairs. It wouldn't have been much of a stretch to make them follow you when you aren't looking. Once again, my opinion, but this really bothered me.
Now, I know the Unity engine isn't the best thing out there, but Slender's lack of an animation, and downright shoddy model can break the immersion at times. I shouldn't go from whimpering in terror, to giggling as he ominously slides toward me. But then again, I'm sure just coding Slender's A.I. must've taken most of the development time, and by the time it was done I probably would've just wanted to release the game too. I'm not saying that's what happened, but It seems like a possibility.
Overall, without the atmosphere, the game is mediocre, but it's due to it's atmosphere that made it popular. So in the long run, It's a good game.
Final rating: 8/10
Slendy's also had a mass of other games, as well as making tiny cameos in countless others. If you get the chance, look up Haunt: The Real Slender Game... omg scariness.
*Runs away screaming*