This isn’t so scary, senior Tyler Elzi thought as he searched a virtual forest for eight mysterious pages. Six pages down, two to go. Suddenly the sound of static fills the room and Elzi jumps back from the screen, screaming in terror as he does. He has just experienced his first death in Slender: The Eight Pages.
“I like the game because of the suspense that’s built up when you know that [Slender Man] is waiting for you,” sophomore Graham Klobe said. “It’s not necessarily the horror aspect, but the psychological aspect that makes it so great.”
When the game is launched, the player is found in a forest with eight randomly placed “notes” scattered throughout. The player must collect all these notes before Slender Man, a very tall, faceless entity, can track and kill the player.
“It’s very intense,” Elzi said. “Anyone who’s played Slender knows that the bathrooms are the worst because of all the corners. Every time you turn, he could be there, waiting to kill you.”
Slender Man was originally a story from Something Awful forums, but quickly spread to become a creepypasta and even a meme. However, the game was only loosely based on the original stories.
“I got the inspiration from games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which puts the player in a helpless situation,” creator Mark J. Hadley said in an interview with the University Observer. “I like the idea of not being able to fight back, because it adds more dread and makes the stretches of time where nothing is happening seem scary.”
Slender seems to be gaining popularity as critics rave around the United States, the IGN Gaming Network praising it’s ability to “directly thrust the player into the heart of fear.” But Hadley didn’t think it would become such a big hit.
“Honestly, it feels very strange having the game get a lot of attention like this,” Hadley said. “On one hand, I think it’s great that people are enjoying it but, on the other hand, now I’m obligated to finish it as best as I possibly can. I’m trying to approach this carefully and not let it become too overwhelming.”
However, sometime earlier this year, Parsec Productions (Hadley’s production team) announced a new game based on.
This new game has been described as even more terrifying than the first, with more levels and improved visuals although the storylines are essentially the same.
“I know the new game is going to be just as good as the first, if not better,” Klobe said.
The game is available free for Mac and Windows on Parsec Production’s official site at parsecproductions.com/slender.
