eleased back in the summer of 2012, my first introduction to the original Slender was fairly unappealing and misguided. A freely, downloadable first person survival horror on the PC, it was made all the less impactful as I was being fed instructions and had my shoulder surveyed by a colleague at the time.

Needless to say, when I finally did give it a fair shake by my lonesome, I was impressed with how much pressure was put on the player, in order to survive the egnimic and faceless figure known as the “Slender Man.” For a good/sadistic laugh, Youtube for “Creepy Watson” to check out one the main inspirations of the concept.

"With walls littered with scribblings of the Slender Man and Kate gone missing, Lauren must now embark into the darkness with a flashlight and a camcorder."

Fast forward to now, Parsec Productions (the original creator) and Blue Isle Studios team up to bring us the first commercial release in the series. Dubbed Slender: The Arrival, you’re once again thrust into a familiar setting.

The Arrival is split up into five chapters, the first acting as a prologue to help tie into the events later seen in what is a “remixed” version of the original, fittingly called The Eight Pages. Apart from the standard creepy forest, you’ll have more domestic and industrial areas to wade through, one of which is admittedly re-used for a later encounter.

While the basic premise of what made the original Slender such a cult phenomenon hasn’t changed all too much here, the introduction of a narrative to tie all the events together is welcome.

You play as a woman named Lauren, who visits her friend Kate and her house located somewhere out in the wilderness, only to find it completely ransacked. With walls littered with scribblings of the Slender Man and Kate gone missing, Lauren must now embark into the darkness with a flashlight and a camcorder (which for some reason is always on) in order to find her.

"There's a level of frustration that comes with nearly every encounter that will you have in this game."

Thankfully, the story does little in terms of detracting from the simplicity of how the rest of the game carries itself. Aside from some cutscenes, you’re never really taken away from the perspective of how the events are told or unfolded.

The Arrival is at its best when giving little indication to the player, having you crawl or sprint through surroundings, where paranoia can quickly creep into your brain when there’s seemingly nothing happening at all. Its the attention to the sound design, as well the distortion and anxiety that builds when faced against a incorpreal entity than can basically teleport right next to you if Mr. Man so desired.

The approach to actually progressing is almost arcade-like in nature. You’re given almost no way to counter-attack your foes (yes, plural), but the amount of time actually required to finish a Chapter is minuscule. That’s because there’s a level of frustration that comes with nearly every encounter that will you have in this game. Because you’re not going to instantly be able to find the required number of objects to trigger the next sequence of events, Chapters will likely cause multiple play-throughs.

Even given your ability to remember as much of the map possible, the real challenge comes in the form of evading the Slender Man. One wrong turn, and look too directly at his classy sense of style, its game over.

This somewhat random affair can easily be classified by some as unfair, and I wouldn’t necessarily disagree. There were definitely times I wished that I was able to collect that last item, just so I can see what happens next. And then poof, there’s Slendie! Did I feel tense and frightened? For many of the initial few times, sure. But was as I as enthusiastic to give the Chapter another go? Not really.

The Arrival is definitely not something I feel a lot of people can rush through, unless they’re looking to get some ridiculously time scores for bragging rights, or having to do it all again in the unlocked able extra that is Hardcore mode.

This game was reviewed on the MAC.

Have you been waiting for a proper horror experience that you foolishly hoped (like so many others, some of us included) Dead Space 3 and Resident Evil 6 would deliver? Well, Slender: The Arrival, which was looking pretty damn good as it is, has just started looking like an even better option now.

Developers Parsec Productions and Blue Isle Studios have released a 10 minute long beta gameplay footage of the upcoming survival horror game, showing everything they can within the space of 600 seconds and odd that would spook the hell out of you.

The video is above, you should really give it a try. Get a blanket.

Slender: The Arrival releases in March for the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live, PS3 via PSN and PC and Mac. Stay tuned for more information.

Till then, tell us what you thought of the video in the comments section below.

On top of that, you’ll also be able to pre-order the game which will grant immediate access to the upcoming beta test that will happen before the game’s release. After the pre-orders open, you can head straight to the developer’s
official site and purchase the game.

Developed by Parsec Productions and Blue Isle Studios, Slender: The Arrival picks up where the original left off and has you running through the woods, doing your best to not be spotted by the creepy urban legend creature Slender Man. The sequel will feature an improved storyline, more levels, much improved visuals and of course, a larger map to get lost and find yourself facing harrowing situations in.

Source: OnlySP

The developers have announced a launch on both PC and Mac, and promise more levels with better visuals and an encompassing storyline. We think that’s code for there being no escape though.

As of now, Slender: The Arrival has no official release date but there’s a good chance we’ll see it in early 2013. With Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Outlast and Until Dawn arriving, it could be the most memorable year for horror (and adventure) gaming yet.