2012 video game
2012 video game
Slender: The Eight Pages (originally titled Slender) is a first-person survival horror game based on the Slender Man, an infamous creepypasta (online horror story). It was developed by indie developer Mark J. Hadley with Unity, and released in June 2012 as a beta for Microsoft Windows and OS X by Parsec Productions.
In Slender: The Eight Pages, the player must collect eight pages scattered around a dark forest while avoiding the Slender Man, who pursues them throughout the game. It has simple graphics and gameplay limited to walking, running and using a flashlight. The Eight Pages was largely praised by critics for its effective horror and atmosphere despite its graphics, although several considered the gameplay repetitive.
The Eight Pages became popular through Let's Plays and inspired many fangames based on Slender Man. Parsec Productions and Blue Isle Studios released a sequel called Slender: The Arrival the following year. In July 2023, a second sequel titled S: The Lost Chapters was announced and is in development.[1]
Gameplay
Slender: The Eight Pages takes place in a dense forest during the middle of the night. The player's objective is to collect eight pages scattered throughout the forest. Throughout the game, they must avoid the Slender Man, a tall, faceless man who hunts down the player.[2]
The gameplay and graphics are very simple.[2]
Players can walk at a slow pace or run, but the latter impairs their vision and the player can run out of stamina. They are equipped with a flashlight with a limited battery. They can also zoom in their perspective.[2][3] There are no weapons or inventory in the game.[2]
Players are alerted to the Slender Man's presence by audio cues and visual distortions.
As the player collects pages, the fog in the forest grows thicker, and Slender Man appears closer to the player's character, though the character's sprinting speed slowly increases as well. Slender Man moves by teleporting, creeping around the player, but only from a certain distance. The player is equipped with only a flashlight to see through the dark (its battery life is limited and will eventually shut down permanently if left on for an extended period of time). The player's character has the ability to "jog", which will eventually tire out the player and make them wheeze if forced to go on for too long, causing slower walking as well. Slender Man will occasionally appear in the player's field of vision, accompanied by a loud piano slamming noise and/or static on the screen. This then allows the "sprinting" ability to become available to the player. "Sprinting" allows the player to move faster than "jogging" does, but will also decrease the maximum stamina available for "jogging" and "sprinting". A game over occurs when either the player has taken too long to find a note, the player stares at Slender Man for too long, or if Slender Man comes into contact with the player, which will forcefully turn them around and end the game. The game over screen shows Slender Man's face up close and blinking static pulses.
Even if the player's character successfully collects all the eight pages, the Slender Man will continue to chase them. Once all the pages are collected, the player is allowed to walk around for a couple of seconds in total silence until Slender Man finally appears behind them and ends the game, followed by the screen going black and playing the end credits. However, a slightly different ending occurs in a future update in which the static slowly fades out instead of abruptly stopping. A few moments later, the player awakens in the forest, now in the daytime, and can move around for a few seconds before the screen goes black and plays the end credits. New game modes are then unlocked. There is also a grace period in the very beginning of the game, during which Slender Man remains inactive for only a few minutes, or until the player collects the first page. However, the difficulty level increases the longer one goes without collecting any pages. The end of this grace period is indicated by a repetitive stomping sound echoing in the background. This sound is heard throughout the rest of the game and gradually gets quicker as more pages are collected, as well as several other layering sounds. These sounds include a low droning sound (pages 3–4), a loud wind (pages 5–6), and then a mysterious and unnerving beeping sound (page 7). Once all 8 pages are collected, the sounds abruptly fade into silence.[4]
Development and release
Slender: The Eight Pages was developed by Parsec Productions, the one-man studio of Mark "AgentParsec" J. Hadley. The game was released on June 26, 2012 as freeware.[4] Originally titled Slender, it became viral after the YouTuber Felix Kjellberg uploaded a Let's Play of the game, causing other influencers to play the game.[5] The official website crashed after too many people tried to download the game.[6]
Critical reception
Slender: The Eight Pages received a largely positive reception among game critics. Many reviewers said that the horror was effective despite its minimalist approach and crude graphics. They also praised the way the game built tension with atmosphere; IGN's Charles Onyett and Evan Killham of VentureBeat wrote that it elicited a sense of helplessness and vulnerability.[a] IndieWire named The Eight Pages as one of their Top 10 Indie Games of 2012.[14]
In contrast, Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson of TechRadar and Jim Norris of PC World considered the limited gameplay ultimately to its detriment. Wyciślik-Wilson did praise the suspenseful atmosphere, which she considered enhanced by the simple graphics and lighting. However, she criticized the "dull" gameplay and pacing, saying that it was repetitive and lacked variety: "Unfortunately [...] it's a bit boring". Both Wyciślik-Wilson and Norris felt that The Eight Pages lacked originality compared to other Slender Man fan creations.[2][3]
Legacy
The success of Slender: The Eight Pages led Parsec Productions to partner with Blue Isle Studios to create a sequel. The team behind Marble Hornets, a popular Slender Man web series, co-wrote the script. The highly anticipated Slender: The Arrival was released in March 2013. While critics praised the story and presentation, they also felt it was inferior to the original and overly relied on jump scares. The Arrival revealed the player character of The Eight Pages to be Kate, who reappears in the sequel.[6] In 2023, Blue Isle Studios announced another installment in the Eight Pages series titled "S: The Lost Chapters", with an unknown release date. It is set to feature new gameplay mechanics unforeseen in the previous games.
State of survival horror
The success of Resident Evil 4 (2005) caused AAA survival horror games to opt for mainstream appeal by following the conventions of shooter games. This approach was challenged by cheaper indie titles such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010), Five Nights at Freddy's (2014) and Slender: The Eight Pages which favored atmosphere over action and restricted player autonomy — often arming them with nothing more than a flashlight. They were credited with the revival of horror games.[4][15][16]
Impact
GamesRadar+ retrospectively described Slender: The Eight Pages as "a classic moment in horror gaming".[17] In 2015, Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead compared The Eight Pages' impact on horror games to what The Blair Witch Project (1999) did for horror films. He wrote that the game "reduced horror gaming to its purest essence, the delicious panic-inducing thrill of being pursued". While it may have been low-quality and lacked lasting popularity or replay value, it "nudged horror gaming onto a different path [like how The Blair Witch Project] also revived and refreshed the genre".[18] The Eight Pages inspired numerous Slender fangames,[18] including a co-op Half-Life 2 (2004) mod based on it.[b]
Many Slender Man games have been developed that expand on the lore and the character; most retain the page collecting element of The Eight Pages and The Arrival.[citation needed] These games include Slender Man's Shadow, 'Haunted Memories, Slender's Woods and Slender Rising. All released the same year as The Eight Pages. Various other installments include Slender: Anxiety, Slender Rising 2, Slender: The Gaze of Horror and the more recent Slender: Mirror World, released in 2022.
