The Arrival should help to expose more people to one of the scariest games in recent memory.
By Chris Pereira Sep 26, 2012 5:01PM PST
Tags: PC What is now known as Slender: The Eight Pages has to be among the most terrifying games ever released. Originally released under the title Slender earlier this year, the game places you in a pitch-black forest with only a flashlight and no real way to interact with the environment. Your only goal is to collect eight pages (hence the subtitle that was tacked on post-release) scattered all around while avoiding the Slender Man -- the simultaneously fascinating and creepy Something Awful meme -- who teleports around and stalks the player. Look at him or allow him to get too close and you're eventually driven insane.
It's difficult for words to do the horror justice; it's really the sort of thing you need to experience firsthand to fully understand. A crude version can be played in your web browser, but ideally you'd check out the downloadable version available from developer Parsec Productions' website. It's free and not especially demanding of your computer's hardware. The tradeoff, of course, is that the game isn't especially spectacular-looking. Even so, it's as scary as just about anything else I've ever played; even the web version, which lacks any appearances by the Slender Man himself (something you might not realize for a while, unless you read the notes), can be awfully scary -- and this is a game played on a web page with a white background. That's quite the testament.
The Eight Pages is very much a niche game -- although it has spawned some very entertaining reaction videos, it hasn't gotten much as much exposure as it deserves. That makes me hesitant to compare it to something like Minecraft, which has long since passed the point of being an extremely successful product, but it's clear Slender has served as the inspiration for other independent game developers to create their own games based on Slender Man. Steam Greenlight has seen more than a few submitted, multiplayer title Faceless (previously known as Slender: Source) being the most well-known of the bunch. It might seem unusual if one of those games were to end up on Steam while The Eight Pages did not, and that's exactly where Slender: The Arrival comes in.
Toronto-based indie developer Blue Isle Studios, which previously worked on StarCraft II total-conversion mod Subsistence, recently announced on its blog that it is working with Slender developer Mark Hadley on what it calls the "official re-imagining" of the original Slender. The post describes the game as including "the same terrifying gameplay, while adding a complete gaming experience that the fans have been asking for." That isn't awfully specific, but we do know among the additions are better graphics, more content and levels, and a new storyline.
It doesn't sound as if this will be another free release; The Arrival is said to be a "commercial release" on PC. That doesn't mean you're likely to ever see it show up in stores, but perhaps a release on Steam could be in the works. I would fully be in support of that, as I'd love to see the game brought to as large an audience as possible, and there is no denying that being on Steam can be a major in boon to getting exposure. And while some may frown upon having to suddenly spend money to play what was previously a free game, I'm happy to fork over money for a more complete game, especially if it means doing so allows Hadley to more fully realize his vision.
An official website for the game has been launched. On it you'll find the first two screenshots included in this blog, both of which appear to be a marked improvement over the visuals in The Eight Pages. In both of them you're able to better see things not directly illuminated by your flashlight, something that I'm hoping changes by the time the game is released. A lot of what makes Slender scary is how little you can see at any time; the narrow cone of a flashlight can only shine light on so much, and that's what makes those tense moments when your screen starts becoming distorted (indicating the Slender Man's presence) so terrifying: he might be just to the left or right of what your flashlight is shining on, or maybe he's right behind you.
That said, Hadley was able to accomplish a lot with very rudimentary visuals (by 2012 standards, at least), and so I'm willing to remain hopeful that The Arrival will only enhance the horror of Slender, not diminish it. It would be a real shame if the product that stands a much better chance of getting into the hands of more people were not able to fully capture the magic of what made its predecessor so special.
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