Review — Slender: The Arrival (PS4)

Slender: The Arival

We Sit Down And Review Slender: The Arrival. The cult classic has made its way to the PS4 and Xbox One so lets see how it translated. Here’s our review on how they’ve done so far

The insanity of Slender: The Arrival has finally hit the next gen systems to overtake and put the fear into a whole new group of gamers on the PS4 and Xbox One. It’s been two years since PC gamers had the fright put on them and just under a year since PS3 and Xbox 360 players have experienced Slender: The Arrival. There have been new story elements added into the game for the next generation but is that what was needed to sell the game to a new audience? Does it still retain all of the Slender goodness and demand you dive back in? Here’s our review of Slender: The Arrival for the next gen systems.

Story

Lauren, you, are searching for your missing friend Kate who has been insanely obsessed with the mythology of Slender Man. That would be the faceless dapper dressed figure that stalks the woods, caves, and homes in the area of the game. Along your way you encounter all kinds of other creepy things and try to unravel the mystery that is Slender Man all while trying to find your friend. Oh, and not go mad and die from all of the haunts stalking the area around you. You know, because sometimes you just can’t cut your losses and leave your friends to sleep in the bed they made.

Hated

We all know that I love a good story with my gaming experience. From the descriptions of Slender: The Arrival I was hoping that there would be a well-rounded and truly creepy story mixed into the gameplay. I am sure that there is somewhere but in the case here it was mixed in via collectibles and documents hidden through the game. I shouldn’t be over halfway through the game and still wondering what is going on just because I want to play the game and not read a book. I know that Slender: The Arrival was made by a small team but there are so many things that could have been added or done to help define why I am going through what I am for a friend that I hardly care about as a player. One of the rules of horror is to make us care about the characters that are having the horrors happen to them and if this wasn’t a game I would be questioning why Lauren didn’t just get back into the car and go home. It feels like there was such a missed opportunity here in Slender: The Arrival to tell an amazing story because of this.

To build on this, there also seemed to be missing queues in Slender: The Arrival to help guide the player along the story and game. Particularly in the chapter of the story, this was a great way to tell part of the story but more on that later, I found myself stuck with no clue on where to go next. I blame this a bit on the object highlighting system not working properly more than anything as I ran around a level looking in every corner for how to progress when the obvious item just wasn’t lighting up for me to interact with. For those who have played Slender: The Arrival on other systems I am talking about the farm level and just progressing passed the barn. The chains never highlighted and allowed me to interact. This also ran rampant with other items that drove the flow of the game and it definitely held Slender: The Arrival back in my book.

The above could have just been a glitch in the code for Slender: The Arrival and not an issue with design though. Glitches seemed to happen more often than naught during my play and I am not talking about getting too close to Slender Man. At least outside of the one time I got too close to Slender Man and instead of dying I was whisked away to another level without completing a single item I would have normally had to before. None of them required a full shut down of the game but they happened quite a bit which also led to me not caring to dig deeper into the story but just move along to get past all of the glitches I was currently dealing with.

Loved

Now I mentioned above about a great storytelling aspect that could have been utilized more in Slender: The Arrival. This was the sections of the game where the current character I was controlling was watching videos of past events to help drive the story a bit. We see this all the time in video games but what was insanely cool to me in Slender: The Arrival was that you were the one playing the story and not just watching events. This was an amazing design element that I wish more titles would use instead of just an extended cut-scene. I’ve seen it in other titles before but for some reason it felt like Slender: The Arrival nailed the idea on the head and showed how it could work really well. I only wished there were more elements like this in the game as I loved it the whole time.

As it didn’t make it into the above section then you must assume that the fear, horror, and suspense made it into the loved section for Slender: The Arrival. It actually bothers me to know now that the original version of the game that was in the works before P.T. graced the PS4 used the same tactics so well that it made Slender: The Arrival truly a horror title. Never know what was around the corner or if anything was going to jump out always puts people on their edge and it was definitely here in Slender: The Arrival. Even the first level where I am pretty sure you can’t die during felt like there was something going to jump at any moment. This is how the horror element should always be in games like this. Not just jump scares but forcing the player to make things up that scare them that will never be in the game. Many a scream and jolt was had with Slender: The Arrival.

To build off of the above too, the level structure in Slender: The Arrival was also top notch. Even though on the outside they looked rather basic and plainly set up, it was this element mixed with the horror that made it work so well. A bunker with only a few tunnels that link together isn’t all that much. That is until you are running around with nothing but a flashlight and trying not to get jumped by nightmare and then the few tunnels become the Labyrinth of the Minotaur. This is not a knock on what the developers did here for Slender: The Arrival but a description of how they took something that would be basic in another franchise or genre and made it larger than life and feel more detailed than it really was. It is a trick of the mind and it was pulled of beautifully here in Slender: The Arrival.

Overall

At the end of the day, should you pick up Slender: The Arrival on the next gen systems? If you have already picked it up on the other platforms I would say you can probably feel good just playing through that version of Slender: The Arrival again. If you have yet to experience it off the PC then I can give this version the old stamp of approval for you to enjoy. Yes there are new story elements mixed in here but if you are not one of those gamers who like to sit down with a good book while the game idles in the background then the next gen version of Slender: The Arrival doesn’t add to what you already know. It is a great horror title none the less and has some amazing development choices and level designs that are worth experiencing. I just don’t think it is worth a double purchase for those who have it on the PS3 or Xbox 360.

I give Slender: The Arrival 16 tentacles on the hentai scale.

Slender: The Arrival was developed and published by Blue Isle Studios for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on September 23^rd 2014 with the Xbox One and PS4 version on March 24^th 2015. A PS4 copy of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes.