“Slender: The 8 Pages” is a free downloadable first person, survival horror game for Windows and Mac. Powered by the Unity game engine, the game takes place in a heavily wooded, foggy forest at night.
Armed only with a flashlight, your sole objective is to collect eight pages scattered in 10 different points of interest within the woods (randomized with each play through). This however is no easy task – the woods are dark and foggy, visibility is poor and your flashlight only illuminates the path ahead of you slightly. Worst of all, as you play it becomes apparent that something is stalking you in the darkness and with each page you find it seems to pursue you faster and faster. The pages you collect serve to offer you some vague clues as to what is after you.
The game is based on the Internet horror myth/meme “Slenderman” that went viral in 2009 and has since become a horror staple on various internet forums and message boards. It has even spawned a “found-footage documentary” on YouTube called “Marble Hornets,” which was recently praised by Roger Ebert. Slenderman is basically the Internet’s version of “the boogeyman.” Like the boogeyman, he kidnaps unsuspecting children at night yet this is only a small part of what makes him so frightening.
What makes Slenderman disturbing is his physical appearance. He wears a formal black business suit and tie and from a distance he may pass for a normal businessman, but upon closer inspection one notices his body is eerily out of proportion; he is extremely tall and his arms are overly elongated and almost tentacle-like. As for his face, he doesn’t have one. Where there should be eyes, a mouth and a nose there is a flat, pale surface like that of a mannequin head.
“Slender: The 8 Pages” starts by randomly putting you in the middle of the woods. You cannot escape, and the outskirts of the woods are sealed off by a fence. Prompted by an in-game text you are told to find eight pages. You have nothing with you besides your flashlight which will begin to dim with prolonged usage, and there are no spare batteries for you to find and pick up. You do have the ability to switch off your flashlight and conserve battery life by right mouse clicking, but by doing so it becomes next to impossible to navigate in the darkness.
Like with other first person games you use the WASD keys for movement and the mouse for pointing your flashlight. You can also use the Q and E keys to zoom in and out, similar to the function on a camera. You also have the ability to sprint using the shift key but if you hold it too long, your stamina will be completely depleted. Eventually, you’ll be moving at a snail’s pace. Walking replenishes your stamina and standing still replenishes it faster (although standing is probably the last thing you’ll want to do). Once you collect the first page, spooky ambient music begins to play in the background and with each page is gets subtly louder and more menacing. You will also come into contact with Slenderman, often accompanied by a sudden disorientating shriek of static noise. He won’t move while you look at him, but the screen will become fuzzy and distorted if he’s near. Look at him long enough and your vision will only become grainier and you risk losing your sanity and dying.
What makes “Slender” work so well is that its designers chose to do what very few games do: make you vulnerable. You are essentially lost, disorientated, unarmed and there’s something after you. This is the foundation of horror in all media, and yet it seems game developers have completely forgotten this rule in recent years. The majority of recent “horror” games are more horror-themed than they are actually horrific – essentially they are just action games with monsters. Games such as “Resident Evil 5” and “Dead Space 2” empower players by giving them an assortment of effective weapons and ammo (which is as abundant as snowflakes in a blizzard).
Look at it this way: would the “Blair Witch Project” be the same film if its main characters were armed with machine guns and could blast the witch to kingdom come? All you have in “Slender” is a flashlight. You cannot fight or kill Slenderman. By looking at him directly too long your sanity drains, the screen begins to tear and distort loudly and you die. Your only option is to run and pray you find the 8 pages before Slenderman finds you.
In terms of game mechanics, “Slender” shares a lot in common with cult classic game “Hellnight,” an obscure Japanese Playstation 1 game that was only released in Japan and Europe in 1999. Like “Slender,” it takes place in first person and you are constantly followed by a mutant creature that is out to kill you. You also have limited stamina, and you have no way of fighting back.
Luckily, “Slender: The 8 Pages” is not as obscure and is available as a free download for both PCs and Macs. In a generation full of uninspired pseudo-horror games, “Slender” is a breath of fresh air. Its simplicity and minimalist design makes it an effective horror game in every respect, and having been made on a shoestring budget, it puts big name game developers to shame. Did I mention it’s free? Hopefully someone from those big game companies is playing “Slender” and taking notes.