Slender: The Arrival

Slender: The Arrival
Developer(s)	Blue Isle Studios Parsec Productions
Publisher(s)	Blue Isle Studios
Producer(s)	Eric Knudsen
Engine	Unity (original) Unreal Engine 5 (remastered)
Platform(s)	Windows OS X PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 Wii U Xbox 360 Xbox One Nintendo Switch Android iOS Remastered PlayStation 5 Xbox Series X/S
Release	Microsoft Windows, OS X WW: March 26, 2013 PlayStation 3 NA: September 23, 2014 EU: September 24, 2014 Xbox 360 WW: September 24, 2014 PlayStation 4 NA: March 24, 2015 EU: March 25, 2015 Xbox One WW: March 25, 2015 Wii U NA: October 22, 2015 EU: October 29, 2015 Nintendo Switch NA: June 20, 2019 EU: June 20, 2019 Mobile WW: October 13, 2021 Remastered WW: October 18, 2023 Virtual reality WW: Spring 2025
Genre(s)	Survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player

Slender: The Arrival is a 2013 first-person psychological survival horror video game developed by Blue Isle Studios and Parsec Productions. Based on the Slender Man creepypasta created by Eric Knudsen, who served as a producer, it is a fully realized, commercial version of Parsec's Slender: The Eight Pages (2012), and incorporates a remake of that game. It revolves around a young woman who ventures on the woods to unravel the mystery about her childhood best friend's disappearance.

The game was first released for Microsoft Windows and OS X on March 26, 2013, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in September 2014, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in March 2015, and Wii U in October 2015. A Nintendo Switch version was released in June 2019 while Android and iOS versions were released in October 2021. Slender: The Arrival received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with praise for its soundtrack, atmosphere, and jump scares. Criticism was directed at its length and repetitive gameplay.

A 10th anniversary remaster was released for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and for Microsoft Windows via Steam and the Epic Games Store on October 18, 2023. Virtual reality versions on Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S, Meta Quest Pro, PlayStation VR2, and Microsoft Windows are scheduled for Spring 2025. A sequel, S: The Lost Chapters, is scheduled for release in 2026.

Gameplay

Slender: The Arrival is a first-person survival horror that take place in abandoned areas such as a house, the woods, a defunct mine, etc., each with different objectives. Like its predecessor, The Eight Pages, the player is armed only with a flashlight. This limited defense forces a sense of helplessness, as the best way to survive is to run whenever in danger. The titular Slender Man's behavior changes slightly between levels.

In the first level, the Slender Man can be seen outside of the house through every window, once the player acquires the flashlight, and after going through the gate outside, he can be seen on the top of the hills. In the second level, the Slender Man most often teleports off-screen or just out of the player's sight, but is capable of appearing directly in front of them. His motion centers around following the player, but consists largely of jumping from place to place, increased as each of the eight pages are collected. In the third level, the Slender Man's behavior is less aggressively, though he is capable of teleporting directly in front of the player. In this level, the player is chased by a masked, hooded figure controlled by the Slender Man. The only way to subdue her is by focusing the flashlight on her face. The figure will also lunge at the player if in a close distance.

While looking at the Slender Man, the camera succumbs to electronic distortions such as static, blurring, color spots, and audio distortion, which obstructs the player's vision unless facing away, and far enough from him. The player cannot pause the game while this occurs, to prevent them taking a break due to being frightened. When caught, the game over screen will appear as a black static background with the Slender Man's faceless head, an overhead-lit, and a color-distorted hue.

New difficulty choices can be unlocked once completed the game, being 'easy', 'normal', and 'hardcore'. 'Easy' has infinite flashlight, a great deal of stamina, and the enemies are not very aggressive. 'Hardcore' has a limited flashlight, the stamina runs out quickly, and the enemies are more aggressive.

Plot

The player assumes the role of Lauren, who comes to help her childhood best friend Kate sell and move out of her childhood home in the fictional Oakside Park. The road to Kate's house is blocked by a fallen tree, forcing Lauren to leave her car and walk to the house as the sun sets. Upon arrival, Lauren discovers Kate's belongings disheveled. She also finds a flashlight and unlocks Kate's bedroom to see the walls filled with scratchings and messages about the Slender Man, a tall, faceless entity who can only be seen through video cameras. Lauren hears Kate's screams coming from outside and heads into the wooded park behind the house.

On her way, Lauren turns on several generators to light the path and finds a burnt farmhouse where she witness a deformed child-like figure who disappears when Lauren approaches him. She searches the park for clues as to Kate's whereabouts. but only finds eight scribbled drawings. As Lauren ventures deeper into the woods, she is attacked by the Slender Man, slips down an embankment and passes out. She regains consciousness in the morning, and continues her search for Kate, stumbling upon an abandoned coal mine.

Lauren attempts to power the mine's emergency lift by activating six generators, but her progress is hindered by the attack of a masked, hooded figure known as the "Chaser", who seems to have photophobia. Evading the combined attacks of both the Chaser and the Slender Man, Lauren powers and uses the lift to escape the mine. She continues up the mountainside towards a radio tower and reaches a storage outpost with a television and two tapes. The first one shows Kate hurriedly scribbling upon papers before learning that the Slender Man is trying to get inside her house. Kate closes every door and window, but the Slender Man appears in her bedroom and she jumps out of the window as the tape abruptly ends.

The second tape shows Kate's childhood friend Carl "CR" Ross investigating a farm where he collects evidence about Charles Matheson, whose son Charlie disappeared in a nearby beach after following a trail of toy trains that led him into the woods, where he was caught by the Slender Man. CR uses gas canisters to power a generator, and uses a key to unlock a gate to a chapel where he discovers that the Matheson family were responsible for accidentally summoning the Slender Man to Oakside Park. Charlie, revealed as the deformed figure Lauren found, pursues CR and eventually chases him away of the farm.

Lauren continues onward to the radio tower and finds another storage outpost with a box of files. She learns that sometime after Charlie's disappearance, Charles saw him in his proxified form before being attacked by the Slender Man. He waked up in a derelict hospital which he explores while facing many of the Slender Man's hallucinations. Charles eventually exits the hospital and finds a crying Charlie, but when he approaches his son, Charlie transforms again and attacks him. Charles finds himself back in the hospital and sees messages on the walls telling him that he can save Charlie by cleansing himself with fire and sets the hospital ablaze.

Upon leaving the outpost, Lauren finds herself emerging from a mine into a forest fire, where the Slender Man aggressively pursues her. Lauren gets inside the radio tower building and finds a key to unlock a door. Her flashlight's batteries die as she goes through the door, only to find a dead end corridor, containing CR's burnt corpse. She finds a camera with a recording of Kate's and CR's panicked screams. Suddenly, the corridor goes dark and Charlie runs towards Lauren, blacking her out.

Lauren wakes up in the burnt farmhouse's basement, with Charlie blocking the way out. After she finds two documents, Charlie disappears. Lauren hears Kate's crying upstairs and finds her, but Kate turns into the Chaser and attacks her. Lauren's camera turns back on temporarily to show her legs being dragged away by the Chaser to an unknown location as the camera dies.

An additional level is unlocked after the main story is completed and acts as a remake of The Eight Pages, with Kate as the protagonist. After finding all the pages, the Slender Man catches her and claims that he "has plans for her". A secret level is also unlockable, which takes place at Kate's house in the daytime. The goal is basically a hide-and-seek from the Slender Man.

Characters

• Lauren is the main protagonist and playable character. She comes to her childhood best friend Kate's house to help her sell it, only to find Kate missing. Lauren proceeds to relentlessly search for Kate against all odds and find any clues that might explain the true reason about her dissappearance.
• Kate is Lauren's childhood best friend. Her mother has recently died and she has decided to sell the house, prompting Lauren's visit to assist the selling. Prior to the game's events, Kate shared her visions about the Slender Man with her other childhood friend Carl "CR" Ross. The night before Lauren's arrival, Kate was attacked by the Slender Man in her house, but managed to escape. In order to stop the Slender Man's curse, CR arranges for himself and Kate to self-inmolate themselves, but she runs away to the mines. The Slender Man drives Kate insane and turns her into a hooded, masked figure known as the "Chaser".
• Carl "CR" Ross is Kate's childhood friend, with whom he shared her visions about the Slender Man. They used to play in the woods as children, but he stopped visiting after Kate's mother found out. Despite asking Kate to keep his existance a secret from Lauren, CR advised Kate to call her when her mother died. Years later, CR investigates the Mathesons' farm and learns that the Slender Man had stalked them for generations. His burned corpse is found by Lauren next to a camcorder.
• Charlie Matheson Jr. is a missing child whose posters can be found outside Kate's house. He was lured into the woods by the Slender Man before being captured and turned into a decaying zombie-like corpse that chases Lauren and CR. The farmland property Charlie's family own is revealed to be haunted by the Slender Man for generations.
• Slender Man is the main antagonist. He can only be seen through video cameras and facing him causes the camera to glitch, intensifying as Lauren gets closer. It is shown that his influence eventually drive his victims into insanity and they become into monstruous, violent versions of their former selves, like Kate and Charlie.
• Charles Matheson is Charlie's father, whose son was trapped by the Slender Man, then used to torment Charles for years until is death after his house is set ablaze.

Development

Slender: The Arrival was developed by Blue Isle Studios and Parsec Productions for Microsoft Windows and macOS. The developers were considering a release for the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3, and Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360. Blue Isle Studios worked with indie game publisher Midnight City to help develop the game for other platforms.

Left to right, Tim Sutton, Troy Wagner, Joseph DeLage

On December 1, 2012, Blue Isle Studios announced its partnership with the Marble Hornets team, a YouTube channel known for its horror videos which heavily featured Slender Man, and helped to shape the modern version of the character. Joseph DeLage, Tim Sutton, and Troy Wagner helped write the script for the initial release of the game.

On February 9, 2013, Slender: The Arrival was opened to the public for beta testing; those who pre-ordered the game were entitled to a free demo of the game. Pre-orders were $5 each, but once the game was released, it would be $10.

On October 1, 2021, Blue Isle announced that the game would be released for Android and iOS on the 13th of the same month, with the first chapter being available for free.

On July 27, 2023, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the game, Blue Isle announced a remastered version of the game made in Unreal Engine 5 which was released on October 18, of that year, including a redesign for the main antagonist, overhauled graphics, and a new story chapter. DLSS is also included.

In October 2023, Blue Isle Studios announced a Halloween-themed event for the game, where the player must collect 30 pumpkins to unlock a special costume for Slender Man. In addition, they announced a cross-platform mod kit allowing users to create their own mods and chapters, a multiplayer mode, and three downloadable content chapters.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	PC: 65/100 PS3: 48/100 X360: 61/100 PS4: 60/100 XONE: 59/100 NS: 55/100

Review scores

Publication	Score
GameSpot	8.5/10
GameTrailers	6.1/10
IGN	6.5/10
VideoGamer.com	4/10
CraveOnline	8/10
Digital Spy
GameFront	7.5/10
The Escapist

Slender: The Arrival received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Critics praised its soundtrack, tense atmosphere and scares, but also criticized its shorter-than-expected campaign length and repetitive gameplay.

In a positive review, The Escapist said, "you may have mixed feelings about its brevity and the repetitive mechanics, but it's certainly a well-built game that, above all, is scary to play" and gave the game a score of 4.5 stars out of 5. VVGtv gave the game a score of 8.8/10, praising the game's graphics, sound, gameplay (with the exception of a few elements) and mystery element, while criticising the short story, adding that "if you played The Eight Pages and are looking for the next scare to really get your adrenaline pumping and to get you to yell like you did when you first saw Slenderman right behind you, this game will not disappoint". GameSpot gave the game a score of 8.5/10, calling it "one of the most terrifying games in recent memory".

In a negative review, VideoGamer.com called The Arrival a "frustrating game, not just because it can be occasionally unfair but because these guys clearly have no idea how to promote fear. Running around playing kiss chase with a trans-dimensional being doesn't really cut it." and gave it a score of 4/10.

Sequel

Alongside the announcement of the remaster, a sequel titled S: Lost Chapters was announced on July 27, 2023. The game will utilize more mechanics as well as featuring more antagonists and locations, including ones from The Arrival. It is scheduled for release sometime in 2026.

External links

• Official website
• Slender: The Arrival at IMDb