Slender Review

Today I am going to review one of the most popular indie games released to date called "Slender".

Slender Title Screen/Logo

Slender is a small game based off of the "Unity" engine, created by a small company called Parsec Productions.

Slender is a psychological survival horror game released in June 2012. It is based on a paranormal mythological legend Slender Man.
The game begins with the player in a dark forest at night equiped only with a flashlight. The character must be extremely unfit because you can run for only 10 seconds or so before slowing down. In the entire map there are 10 distinct landmarks including vehicles, buildings, trees, concrete tunnel, fuel tanks and brick walls, only bound by a chainlink fence. These are the only boundary in the map and the player is free to travel in any direction, but it is recommended to follow the dirt paths as there are no Heads-up Display elements such as a map to help you navigate.

The worst place to bump into Slender Man,
the bathroom with no toilets

The objective of the game is to collect 8 distinct pages found on the landmarks. These spawn at random and not all landmarks contain the pages. On each of these pages are drawings or notes concerning the Slender Man, who pursues you throughout the game.

The Eight Pages

The Slender Man is the only enemy in the game. He follows you everywhere. As you collect more pages, the closer he gets and the more he randomly teleports and spawns. If you look at him for too long, he "takes" you, and you lose the game. If he gets too close, he also "takes" you. The screen starts to become distorted as he starts to "take" you. If he manages to "take" you, his slender, pale, white face appears on the screen. By the way, I say "take" because once he catches you, who knows where he takes you or does to you.

**KINDA SPOILERS**
Once you manage to collect all eight pages, the game doesn't end straight away. You can try to run from Slender Man but your efforts are futile. He will always catch you.
When you return to the menu, you unlock two new modes. "Day Time" mode, and "20 Dollar" mode. Day time mode is exactly what it says, it's a daytime version. $20 mode is also in daytime, but every time you see Slender the song "Gimme $20" plays, giving a comedic effect. Unfortunately from version 0.9.7, it has been removed for copyrighted material.

20 Dollar Meme

Also in version 0.9.7, if you have previously beaten the gmae you will unlock two new light sources. A glowstick with infinite light and short range, or a crank lantern with a large range but has to be cranked to replenish the light. The player can also now pause the game, except when you're about to be "taken" by Slender Man, so you can't quit in response to fear.

**END OF SPOILERS**

Many mods and other games have been based off of Slender, including a game called "Slender Man's Shadow" which has several different maps. Check the game out here.

Thank you for reading guys, and make sure you download the full game from here. Congratulations to Mark J. Hadley for creating such a successful game, and good luck with Slender and any projects you may start soon. Go show support to Mark by subscribing to his offical YouTube account!

Some amazing fan-made cover art!