Slender: The Arrival
Overview -
'Slender: The Arrival' is a continuation of the incredibly viral 'Slender: The Eight Pages', a 2012 PC title. Both games are horror and feature Slender Man, an urban legend created out of whole cloth on the internet several years ago. 'The Arrival' has been released on the Xbox 360 &PS3, after being available on PC for over a year.
Video Review
'The Arrival' is a small indie game created without a huge budget, and it looks the part. It hasn’t been given much of a facelift on the 360, and has a similar appearance to PC games from circa 2006. Colors are washed out, textures are bland, and the resolution is low. It’s just not a good-looking game, but is able to effectively scare nonetheless.
Audio Review
This game demonstrates that audio is much more important for generating dread than video. Most of the environments are pitch black, and the player character has only a weak flashlight for navigation. While wandering around the maps, the sound effects are relentless – footsteps, crunching noises, and taps do an effective job of disorienting and scaring the player, even when no enemies are around. The game was quite happy to let me scare myself. The scratchy distortion that plays whenever Slender is near is genius. It’s not overbearing or melodramatic, just creepy. For further creepiness, the music often resembles a heartbeat.
Final Thoughts
'Slender' has some issues, such as its incredibly short length and dated visuals, but there are few console games that can be this scary. Thankfully, its price point on the 360 is low, so this one is worth a try if you’re into horror games, want to kill a few hours, and need to scratch that Slender Man itch.
