Slender: The Arrival came out

[HHammond]

Did a search but no one seems to have mentioned it but on Tuesday Slender: The Arrival came out. I've only played the opening up to the point where the beta was and it's pretty damn terrifying. I've been a fan of Slender Man since at some point in season 2 of Marble Hornets and I'm not the kind of person who's easily scared but there's something about that faceless figure in a suit that absolutely terrifies me to my core. I don't really understand it.

So, thoughts on the game? I liked what I played although I'm not sure if it's just me but when I was playing the beta I found it oddly less scary with the updated graphics than the original version. I think it's because everything just sorta feels more real and less uncanny like it did in the original.

 

[Newtonyd]

Good stuff, I'll have to buy it. I feel compelled to reward horror games that have at least some idea of how to be horror instead of 'run and gun survival horror'.

 

[Mikejames]

I was fairly indifferent to the original game after the first startle. Does it try to mix things up a bit?

 

[HHammond]

I was fairly indifferent to the original game after the first startle. Does it try to mix things up a bit?

A little, so far, but I've only played the first 20 minutes or so. I'm pretty sure it goes onto other things as the game continues. I'll let you know when I get the courage to play some more...

 

[TheFunPolice]

Yes! I finally got back to my gaming computer and I'm installing it now I'll update my thoughts on it once I play through a little and finally crawl out from under the table...I'm quite easily scared, and the original game scared the living shit out of me, so I'm really excited

 

[HHammond]

Played a little further. I'm gonna put this as spoilers because although it's not actual spoilers, some people may want to go in blind and not know what to expect at each stage:

Spoiler

It starts with a short prologue where you wander around a house for a little while which then leads into "the eight pages" from the beta which I have never actually completed until today. It's a little easier than the original game but still, has some pants soiling moments. After this you find yourself in a large industrial complex where you're in a similar situation, but instead of picking up pages you're turning on some generators to power up an elevator but there is something else that is different {more proper spoilers}:

Spoiler

You're being stalked by someone else, and if you're familiar with Marble Hornets you'll recognise his as Masky! I let him catch me just to see what would happen and you get knocked about a little bit before continuing on your way except now you're being stalked by the Slender Man himself once again. I'm not sure if you can even escape Masky because he runs very fast but as I said, I didn't even try to so I'm unsure.

Not gonna play anymore today as I'm about to go out and I don't want to be terrified walking around town. Probably try a little more tomorrow!

 

[Elijin]

Does it actually have some gameplay in it this time around?

 

[MajorTomServo]

The whole Slenderman thing is kinda dead to me now. It used to be cool, but then too many people started to learn about it. Now the fedora table in the dining hall won't shut up about it. I liked it better when it was underground. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm meeting my band at Starbucks. *puts on plastic glasses*

It's not like I only like stuff that's not popular, but scary stuff in particular loses its edge when everyone knows about it. I mean, what sounds more scary, a movie about some mysterious ancient spirit or a movie about Frankenstein? (or Frankenstein's monster, if you want to be a smug a-hole about it.)

 

[shrekfan246]

Does it actually have some gameplay in it this time around?

What, pray tell, do you define as 'gameplay' then? Because using whatever definition you appear to be exhibiting right now, Amnesia: The Dark Descent would have no gameplay either, except for a tiny amount of simple puzzle solving. Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario 64 would have almost no gameplay, and depending on how you played neither would Deus Ex or Dishonored.

If it were something like Final Fantasy XIII, where your only impact on the player avatar was shuffling them from one cut-scene to the next, then I would be able to vaguely see your point. But, on the most technical level, even that is still gameplay. You can argue that it may not be compelling gameplay, but it's gameplay all the same. The game only moves forward via the actions the player takes, and in Slender there's a high amount of exploration required in the process of taking said actions.

OT: I'm not surprised it had little-to-no publicity. One of the fellows on the staff here did do a livestream of the Beta, but other than that Saul Slendermann always seemed like just another internet meme, and as with most memes the popularity dies down eventually.

Haven't played it myself, don't know if I will either. The Beta did look significantly better than the original freeware release though.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Dude, thanks for the heads up. I pre-ordered it to get access to the beta, but the release e-mail (which came two days ago) got buried under all the spam and mailing lists in my Yahoo account, which I use mainly to sign up for crap that I know is going to spam me these days. I'm downloading the full game now.

I just hope the writing makes up for the way Slenderman himself is so much less dangerous than in the original. Being able to run straight through him kind of killed the terror for me, it made it just about impossible to lose.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Played Slender on a recommendation oh and I had to play it at midnight in a darkened room on my own apparently. Anyway I tried it like they said and was thoroughly underwhelmed I can honestly say the only feeling I felt was frustration oh look heres slender man or whatever he is to ruin my game again ooo so spooky.

Yeah the atmosphere never did it for me back in the day I found fatal frame (1st one) loaded with atmosphere and quite scary these days it does nothing for me except incite annoyance at the bad controls. Maybe its just me being desensitized to it but yeah I didnt find anything scary or engaging about Slender maybe I will look at the new one but if its just wander around some forest trying to find a few places until some badly rendered white thing decides to show up and reset your progress count me out.

 

[Mikejames]

The whole Slenderman thing is kinda dead to me now. It used to be cool, but then too many people started to learn about it. Now the fedora table in the dining hall won't shut up about it. I liked it better when it was underground. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm meeting my band at Starbucks. *puts on plastic glasses*

It's not like I only like stuff that's not popular, but scary stuff in particular loses its edge when everyone knows about it. I mean, what sounds more scary, a movie about some mysterious ancient spirit or a movie about Frankenstein? (or Frankenstein's monster, if you want to be a smug a-hole about it.)

Heheh, mainstream jokes aside, I could see how some of the appeal in something like Marble Hornets would be in how it used to be a bit of a cult classic. I don't think that popularity has to a make a horror story less scary, but too much omnipresence of it may make it feel watered down for some people.

Yeah the atmosphere never did it for me back in the day I found fatal frame (1st one) loaded with atmosphere and quite scary these days it does nothing for me except incite annoyance at the bad controls. Maybe its just me being desensitized to it but yeah I didnt find anything scary or engaging about Slender maybe I will look at the new one but if its just wander around some forest trying to find a few places until some badly rendered white thing decides to show up and reset your progress count me out.

Personally, I was a pansy playing Fatal Frame, so I'm a bit surprised Slender didn't do much for me. I think it's just the notion that there was nothing to expect outside of him popping up behind you with TV static.

That said, I may not mind giving The Arrival a chance if it could entail more than The 8 Pages.

 

[Newtonyd]

Looks pretty interesting so far, though I haven't gotten very far in the campaign yet. There's areas without Slenderman that build tension and spooky factor, as well as actual story behind the game, before dumping you into escape & search missions.

*Spoilers*

The first level was pretty similar to the 8 Pages, though the graphics are obviously much improved. There's a cameraesque interface, but you can always get rid of it by toggling it off. Slender man's AI seems a bit more balanced around showing up in places rather than simply following you around everywhere.

The second level has you looking for generators to start up before you can take an elevator to escape an abandoned mine. The twist is that, in addition to Slender man, you're also being chased around by a masked fuck who will jump on you and beat the shit out of you, like the hunter from Left 4 Dead. Turns out you have to blind him by focusing your flashlight to make him stand still for long enough to escape.

I guess I'll see where it goes, I'm definitely enjoying it.