Sore Fingers - Slender

This game, roughly 95% of the time

            Slender is a game version of The Slender Man Mythos, though by far it has the most in common with the series Marble Hornets. I'll note right away that I have barely played the game myself, my roommate has while I sit behind him scared. Now, I know a lot of people, my roommate not being one of them, who find this game boring. I was just talking to one the other day and he laughed about it. What. Okay, for the (to me surprisingly) many out there who have no idea what this game is, here. Slender Man is a creature made by the Something Awful forums. It was a thread in 2009 that spawned him, with a scary picture thread. Someone posted pictures of a tall, thin, faceless man standing in the background around children, with captions talking about how all the children in the pictures are missing, and the town's records have burned down in fires, and other scary stuff.

            Soon after, Troy Wagner and Joseph DeLage took the meme and made a series on YouTube about it called Marble Hornets. As I have mentioned before on the blog, it is incredibly well-made and I bought both seasons that have come out on DVD. In the game you play as an unnamed person, out in the woods at night with nothing but a flashlight. (Something tells me M from The Tutorial is laughing at this person.) As you walk through the woods you find odd notes taped to things, each with creepy drawings of the Slender Man. (Someone probably just took Alex's journal and ripped random pages out.) After you find the first one, however, Slender Man starts chasing you. If you turn around and can see him, the screen gets static-y. It will also get static-y when he gets close to you. If you look at him for too long, he gets you and you die. If you get all 8 pages you get a cool ending and unlock a new mode, from which you can get another mode. As a game, I have a lot of respect and fear for it. I can't wait, especially because it is apparently just a prologue.

           There's more to talk about with this gem, however. This game, and it's coverage by major LPers, large gaming sights, and now TOM from Toonami has brought a lot of people to our little fandom. You can tell who they are by asking about Marble Hornets. If you get a blank look, you're either talking to a new person or Slender Man himself in which case WHAT ARE YOU DOING TALKING RUN! Now, I could easily continue the topic by saying they're not 'true fans' or something equally ridiculous, but I see it as an opportunity to add some life into this slowly dying fandom. When I meet one of them, I just tell them, "Search for Introduction on YouTube, and click on the one by Marble Hornets. Have fun." The more people getting scared, the better. Laters.