Slender: A true successor of “jump scare” galore

Slender does jump scares the right way

It’s a no-brainer to say that Slender is filled with jump scares. And to be honest, jump scares are really easy to use in horror games. It’s just how it’s executed in the game–if it’s good or not. Now how does Slender do it right? 

First off, the sound

This is insanely crucial to horror games, even in regular games. When you first start off the game, there’s no music. You just hear the footsteps of the fat chick you’re playing. Don’t blame me, she runs as fast as I can fast walk.

Anyways, the sound effects. Once you get the first page, the ambiance kicks in. It sounds like a strong heart beat, and it’s loud. But it fits perfectly in the situation. A dark, sketchy forest with a well placed Volvo. I can’t stop looking at that beautiful piece of vehicl- GOING OFF TOPIC!

So even though the ambiance just keeps repeating, it’s a steady pace where the game puts you in this “nervous zone,” I call it. It gets you tense and you are immediately immersed into the game. What’s even better? Once you get the 2nd or 3rd page, this loud “BOONG!!” starts to kick in.

Now at this point, in my perspective, I couldn’t take it, I wanted to quit. I wanted to continue into the game because I was so scared, but I wanted to get those pages. Even though the music repeats itself, it seems to keep you on the edge. 

The Character, Slendy over here, is a basic good-looking monster with a suit

Before I got into the Slender games, I was stumped on why a man in a dress suit can be so scary? If you ask me, he just looks like a angry tax collector following you around the whole time. JOKES! I GOT EM! But anyway, the antagonist plays a major role in the game. Otherwise, what else will try to scare you; the Volvo? Oh no, anything but the Volvo! THOSE RIMS! *ahem*.

The thing with Slenderman is that he’s just a basic model in this game, that’s it. No moving animations, nothing. Again, the sound plays an important part too. Because the more pages you get, the closer he gets to you. And even if you turn a little bit to the right, he could be behind a tree. But when you see him again, a startling sound just comes out of nowhere. So you’re not just surprised by his random appearance, you are surprised  by the sound effect it plays when you see him close to you. 

Can’t hate on that Volvo!

So how does it all wrap up to be a genius jump scare galore? 

Well, we covered the sound, the character, and the environment (a little bit). We do see these in other scary jump scare games. But here’s the catch. 

Slender MAKES you to scare yourself. You can choose to stay still, and you’ll eventually get jump scared by Slendy. You choose to turn around and get scared by his presence, and you choose to pick up the pages to increase the difficulty.

With other jump scare games, there’s always sequences. You walk down a corridor, and all of the sudden, a scary girl appears for a quick second and goes away! Now that’s not fair. Those are what I call, “scripted” jump scares. You are basically forced to go down that corridor and face that jump scare. You are forced to go into a bathroom and find the man in the shower “dead”. Then he gets up and offers you a hug. 

Hopefully, you will understand what I am getting at. Slender may be filled with jump scares, but it’s well thought out and simple. 

So here’s to another Slender game. Because the development team obviously ain’t fixing what isn’t broken.