Well, I played Slender today.....WHY DID I DO THAT!?

[Daverson]

Slenderman... more like... Slendafoot! Am I right? ... it's... it's a Homestar Runner reference? Anyone... No one? Gah.. nevermind....

It's been said before, it's a jump scare. There's better free horror games [http://www.scpcbgame.com/], and there's a hell of a lot better horror games [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/62/Amnesia-The-Dark-Descent-Cover-Art.png] out there. The only reason it's so popular is because Slenderman's a meme. It's the lolcat of gaming.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Im starting to wonder if i've lost my soul or something :/ All these "good" horror games (slender, amnesia etc) Just raise a meh from me. Sure jump scares get you every time but you cant really help that. Nothing that stays with you after you turn the game off.

Could be because things ultimately do get classed as 'horror', therefore you prepare yourself to be 'horrified'.

Pour example, I got a friend to play Amnesia, and it didn't have any effect on him because, in his words, "You told me it was scary, so I was actively preparing myself for scares"

It's a strange one.

 

[NecroNinja]

I think it's great, but for strange reasons. As a game, it is terrible. There is ultimately no point to it, the page collection is a seemingly arbitrary task, that is incredibly hard to complete, and it's trivial, especially under the circumstances. But the game does have atmosphere, and I assume that's why people play it. So yes, you need to accept that the design is not up to the standard of regular games. Once you do that, the fun begins.

Whilst the game may not be the greatest thing in terms of what you have to do, it is one of the best in terms of what it makes you feel. This game has buckets of atmosphere. As long as you allow yourself to enjoy it (those going in thinking how terrible and pointless it is will not allow themselves to be immersed) it is an incredibly tense game. I would even argue that the big jump scare when you lose is not the main 'event'. The jump scare is not the point.The real fear comes from the time you spend searching, and not knowing. Even if we know of the Slenderman, what he looks like and what he does; we still don't know when he will come, or where from. I mean, how many people slowly approached the small, white-walled building with a ridiculous amount of trepidation in case he lurked around a corner, or alternatively ran through in a crazed panic?

This simply designed game manages to create an atmosphere that AAA titles have tried and failed to. And even if it is only effective the first time you play it, it was still an enjoyable experience that we paid nothing for. I can't really fault it based on that.

 

[TayVans]

I played at first at 2 in the morning which in retrospect wasn't the best idea. I found a building in the center and thought "HA, HE'LL BE TOO TALL TO GET IN." So I sat in there for at least 10 minutes. When I finally left he was right there, and he was met with a stupid noise from me soiling myself. I know it's just a jumpscare, but dear god, it freaked me out more than it probably should have.

There are a few things missing from the game I guess, it could go anywhere. Not really sure if it needs a point because it's meant to scare people, with what it is, following the "story" of sorts makes it worse...

I'd say look up SCP Containment Breach, I love SCP pastas and although the game is pretty clunky looking and is not at all finished it still managed to freak me out, as well as other people I know who have played it. For a horror game (along with Slender) it does it's job, despite being pretty barren and the two's simplicity (especially with Slender).

Either way I'm not picking either of them up until I'm given a machine gun.

 

[roushutsu]

It's creepy the first time you play it. After that, not so much. I have seen some mods for it that are pretty entertaining though, like the $20 mode and having a shotgun on hand.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

I don't want to play that game for that exact same reason. I live out in the country. Right now it's 5pm and pitch black forests outside. My dog needs to be walked every day around this time so basically come winter time every day I walk through a dark scary forest. I don't want to play a game about walking through a dark scary forest which is haunted by an elderich horror. It's bad enough as it is thank you.

 

[daveman247]

Could be because things ultimately do get classed as 'horror', therefore you prepare yourself to be 'horrified'.

True, by the time i got round to it, it had been pretty hyped up. :/

Then again, as i was playing through either silent hill/ siren games/ project zero i was prepared to be scared. And they still creeped me out

So i guess the answer is: Japan (at least for me).

 

[IamLEAM1983]

"Slender" is actually sort of a prototype. "Slender: The Eight Pages" will contain more gameplay elements, from what I know. I'm looking forward to it, for one, as it seems like they've decided to stick to Marble Hornets' canon and avoid the more convoluted aspects of the other popular Slendervlogs.

It reminds me of a certain SCP game of which I've forgotten the number where you can only down stairs indefinitely. Somewhere about a hundred storeys down, odd noises start to pepper the surrounding darkness. A little deeper still, and some sort of ghostly figure lunges at you. If it touches you, the game ends.

 

[Nouw]

My first time playing was the scariest and from then on it was rather boring. My immersion was killed when I saw how terribly modeled the Slenderman was, not nearly slender or tall enough. It's rather petty but I suppose I know the monster too well.

If your "immersion" was killed by that, you were never immersed.

You have a fair point. I think I worded it wrong. It's like watching a horror movie where you don't have a proper grasp on the monster and being scared as a result. When the monster is revealed, it is no longer scary. Maybe it looks silly or perhaps the film-makers never could have created the horror you made yourself. What would you call that?

 

[Jedamethis]

My first time playing was the scariest and from then on it was rather boring. My immersion was killed when I saw how terribly modeled the Slenderman was, not nearly slender or tall enough. It's rather petty but I suppose I know the monster too well.

Yeah. Noticing the tentacles are actually quite small and that he looks like plastic, something from a game. Ruined it.

 

[Ois]

Don't worry about it, even Bane had trouble with it.

http://youtu.be/WOXCdSMaNeE

 

[Captain Billy]

I enjoy the concept, and I appreciate the way that the main source of the horror in the game is not something in front of you, but the thought that something could be right behind you. That said, and I imagine this has already been brought up several times, but it feels more like a short, snacky aside than an actual game. There's no real sense of purpose in the game, other than "try not to die," and while that's certainly enough to qualify it as mindless entertainment, I think it's capable of more.

 

[dimensional]

I didnt get it I have only played it once round a friends when we were drinking and watching films and playing other games around midnight he said you should play this game and he turned out all the lights and put slender on so I just walked around found some notes then some dood appeared close to me I walked past him and I died I just thought this is supposed to be scary are you kidding me frustrating I can see but scary no.

Then again I remember the tension I felt when playing Project zero/Fatal frame (1) the very first time and how I couldnt take it and never got past the first few rooms but about a year ago I tried again and suffice to say I did not find it scary at all there was just no tension anymore so I think I must have become desensitized over the years, If I had played Slender back when I was a child I am sure it would scare me more as it was it didnt even make me jump.

 

[Brainwreck]

Hardly a good horror game. I understand minimalist design, but this is just too cheap to be scary.

Then again, after my first encounter with a chimera in Call of Pripyat (at night, with just the flashlight... it went exactly as one would expect), I think jumpscares just lost their edge for me.

 

[Saviordd1]

Scared me twice, didn't care afterwards.

Honestly it just annoys me that something as creepy as the slenderman mythos got boiled down to a "BOO" game.

 

[hazabaza1]

Because you wanted to try a shitty game?
Seriously, if you're not trying to coerce yourself into being scared it's not scary. And there's no real motivation to make yourself be scared, no backstory unless you read the Slender-mythos, no characters, no nothing. Just boring dark and paper.

 

[Xdeser2]

Its not scary in any way really

And believe me, Im a pussy when it comes to horror

Seriously, all that happens is that your screen gradually goes to static when you see him. Whoop-de-freakin-doo. Add a facecam and some fake screams and you'll get 30k easy Subs on youtube

 

[Kal-Adam]

I consider Slender as less of a game, and more a a pants shitting simulator...

 

[bossfight1]

I'm too chicken-shit to play Slender... and I can play through Amnesia just fine...

Though I AM looking forward to Slender: The Arrival.