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Slender made it's debut in June of 2012 - a time where highly praised games such as The Walking Dead and Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition (for Windows computers) were exciting the world with their stories, combat, and stylized in-game art. Slender crept in and captured the attention of the CreepyPasta audience - a website dedicated to the scary stories and legends of our world. It was on this website that the first tale of Slender arrived. Excited, readers rushed in to play this seemingly terrifying game only to find that the repetition of cheap jump-scares surrounded by the ever-present sound of crushing, off-key piano chords was not exactly what they had expected. This "horror-survival" game turned out to be more laughable than scary. Even the enemy, the legendary Slenderman himself, was revealed to be nothing more than what looked like a stretched mannequin in a suit. However, I have found that the Slender game does hold potential upon closer examination of its intended ideas and mood for the player to experience.

The game itself is only available through a free download onto a personal computer (PC). The game could run on either Microsoft Windows or OS X (for MacBooks), making it more than accessible for anyone with a computer to play. When the game was released, I immediately downloaded it onto my own Windows computer. The gameplay was based on walking around a wooded area and collecting pages with drawings or writing on them. The game was won once the player collected all eight pages available. Because of the simplicity of the gameplay, I think it was a smart choice on behalf of the distributer to only allow this game to be available for the PC.

Slender: The Eight Pages is a game meant to scare people using ambiance and jump-scares. In order for a jump-scare to be fully effective, the player must be as close to the game screen as they can so that when the scare arrives it will be directly in the face of the player. When using an XBOX or PlayStation system, each player sits away from the television in order to get the best overall view of the game they are playing. With Slender, this would give the player an advantage over the game because it disables the full effect of the jump-scares it uses. Without the jump-scares, the game itself would not be as popular as it was. Popularity, however, is made through the audience's reaction to the game and how it performs its intended role/genre.

Officially, Slender was released as a Survival Horror based game. This genre originally suited the game quite well. In the trailer released for the game, there was a set tone of tension and panic to entice horror lovers to give the game a try. The game also brought in survival players with the quick-witted decisions of how to survive capture from the Slenderman as they trigger the game to get increasingly more difficult with each page collected.

With the difficulty of survival as well as the horror based ambiance and surroundings, the game originally slides perfectly into it's genre. Over time, however, the audience grows used to the jump-scares used in the game, allowing them to set aside the "horror" and focus entirely on survival and "winning" the game rather than the immersion set by the mood. At this point, the game becomes solely a survival-based game with a dark setting. Although the genre of survival-horror does effect the mood and intentions of the player, it also effects how the game is played.

Because the game was released only for the PC, there was no room for any multiplayer modes. The game was meant to be played alone, immersing the player entirely into the game without the distractions that extra players would bring. If set as a multiplayer, the game would lose it's immersion as the players would focus on each other and "winning". Like any player of the game, I personally played the game alone and in the dark. I found that the single-player mode was satisfying in allowing the player to experience the game as it should be - as a product of terror.

Of course, some may argue that a multiplayer setting would make the game more fun as well as allow for an increase in the survival aspect in perhaps keeping each other alive until all the pages are found. As much as this may improve the game by broadening the "survival" in the game, multiplayer settings would drastically take away from the intended horror genre. Like any terrifying event, human beings find strength in numbers. The same goes for horror-based games. Each player would be able to find comfort in each other, laughing off the jump-scares and giving off courage to proceed into the game's dark, wooded landscape. Again, without the horror of the Slenderman and the tension built for successful jump-scares, the game would be entirely survival based - in which one may as well pick up any other survival game with a "dark background" like that of Silent Hill.

As for playing the game, the placement of each page was randomized with each load. This prevented anyone from memorizing exactly where each page would be, thus creating the time-consuming survival of the game. The pages were found based upon the player's advancement into the woods. In this way, the game was not set in real-time nor was it very time-limited. With many horror games, time does not play as big of a role as it may in other genres.

The only aspect in which time may be a disadvantage in Slender: The Eight Pages would be if the player chose to stand still for long periods of time instead of walking. The game engine is set to bring the Slenderman closer to the player with each page, but in my own experience, if the player does not move often the Slenderman will then activate and advance to the player - creating a "Game Over". This minimal time restriction does not often effect the player as most horror game lovers are experienced enough to keep moving forward in a game for the best experience, only pausing to take in the atmosphere or imagery.

In this way, Slender: The Eight Pages relies upon that type of experience expected of it's player(s) to fully understand how the game is played. Though, in this case, it is easy for any player to understand that movement is key after the first "Game Over" caused by standing motionless. This allows even the most unexperienced horror-survival game players to adapt and enjoy the game as an experienced player would.

As for a "target audience", Slender does not seem to appeal to a particular gender or ethnicity. The game is set in first person view, taking away any misconceptions, and unnecessary thought, into who the character is and why they are there. Because of the horror themes however, the game does need to be aware of the age and psychographic of it's audience. Distributed over the internet, Parsec Productions does not have very much authority, nor intentions of restriction, in the type of player who downloads the free game. It is only inferred that the game is to be played by those of a stable, mature mind, and healthy heart, because of the imagery and scares used in the game. Even if the distributors decided to restrict the game to those under a certain age, there is no sure-fire way in knowing that an adolescent does not fake their birthdate in order to download the free game onto a parent's computer.

Perhaps because of this wide variety of players, the game received a variety of ratings for its "success". Although not listed by the ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board), the game is rated online through different gaming sites. Overall, the game seems to receive a 3.5 out of 5 stars. The game is applauded for its "creepy atmosphere " and "simplicity of play". However, players make note that the gameplay is "limited" as well as the "repetitive environment" and "bad graphics" it presents.

This rating is appropriate for the game because although it may provide an atmosphere of tension and terror, the repetition of jump-scares and the environment take away from the gameplay. This is mostly a side-effect to being a product of an independent developer/publisher and could not be avoided. I personally agree that the environment and gameplay are limited, but understand that this is merely an effect of the independent development of the game. Even with its flaws, Slender: The Eight Pages actually  remains a successful indie game in comparison to the many others that are barely playable - on any platform.

As a whole, the Slender game is a fun and challenging game for any audience. The first attempts at the game are always full of tension, terror, and survival instincts, even if the next attempts fail to uphold the same feeling. The chills of being surrounded by a landscape unknown to you as well as the thrills of finding each page to survive the game is exactly what keeps players coming back to this game over time. Even if the attempts are never as "immersing" as the first, the game is able to uphold a certain level of tension and terror by itself.

Even after its release in 2012, I find myself still coming back to the Slender game every once in a while. At first, I played the game non-stop, trying desperately to win. After the game seemed to lose its immersion, I played less and moved on to different games. Over time, I find that the game, although not as enjoyable as it once was, still holds an odd place on my desktop. If it wasn't for an assignment, the game would not be touched more than a few times a year. Even then, the in-game time spent altogether would never reach more than a few hours. The game itself, especially for being an independent project, is not awful as an idea - but the execution of the game is treated poorly in some aspects.

For instance, the soundtrack for the game begins in silence. Surprisingly, this is perfect for the opening of the game by easing the player into the game they are about to play. Only the sound of leaves crunching under the players foot is audible while beginning the game and searching for the first page. Once the first page is found a low bass fill the player's headphones, building the first of many layers of audio. This bass sets the tone for the rest of the game, building tension and eventually panic in the player. While this audio creates the atmosphere of the game, it progresses with each page- building layers of audio on top of each other. After a few pages are found, the audio goes from tension-filled bass to four-year-old-crushing-old-piano-keys. The audio used in the game is one of the reasons that players have stepped away from the game entirely. What once felt chilling and eerie turns quickly into nonsense once the audio loses focus and becomes a jumbled mess of layered audio files.

Similarly, as discussed through many ratings, the artistic style of the game is something to be mentioned. The title card as well as the pages themselves seem truly hand-drawn by a psychotic victim to the Slenderman. Though, this is about the scariest, and best rendered, part of the game. Each tree, for instance, is a copy of the one next to it. While looking straight ahead, this does not create a problem. If the player shines their flashlight anywhere else, it becomes obvious that in the development of the game one tree model was created and simply duplicated to fill a map. This creates a thick, wooded area and gives a claustrophobic feel to the player, but becomes only repetitive once discovered. Other scenery in the game including a broken down truck, building walls, and the actual Slenderman are seemed to be created using simple geometric shapes and stretched computer models. In my experience, it is easy to be distracted and taken out of the game by clipping walls, out of place imagery, and simple box-based cars while trying to immerse myself into a world that otherwise acts successfully. These features originally act fine, but eventually take away from the game and thus act unsuccessfully in creating an environment suitable for immersion and survival-horror.

Overall, Slender: The Eight Pages is regarded as one of the most popular horror games of it's time despite the ratings it has received. In speaking to almost any PC game player, they will have at least heard of the game, if not played it themselves. But why was this game so popular despite its obvious flaws? One reason may be because the game itself is based upon a "legend". When there is a major controversy between urban legends or tales, the legend itself becomes even more popular. The same goes for Slender. The game allows the tale of the Slenderman to be experienced rather than read or spoken about. The game withholds the real truth behind games themselves - the ability to experience something you can't in real life. This game takes advantage of that truth using the Slenderman legend and builds off of it. But, stories and pre-noted weariness can only drive a horror survival game so far. The game must also be praised for its ability to scare the actual player without ever really doing anything.