Gaming: Slender Man

I was warned once, not to buy games because it's virtual, not a physical thing but I tend to be rebellious sometimes. 

Thanks to the recent steam summer sale, I've spent a lot of money and no, I do not regret buying the games that I bought. 

Two of the games I bought (and finished) are Slender: The Arrival and Fran Bow. I still have a few (a lot actually but let me feel good please) games which I abandoned because it's too hard or too tense. For example, I bought dead space a year ago and finished playing the first chapter but I gave up. So, I, Taheera has brought disgrace to the humankind as I abandoned Dead Space in shame (will try to continue when I have the strength to go through it).

Anyways, let's talk about Slender: The Arrival.

In the stage selection, you will have to unlock nine stages/ chapters: Prologue, The Eight Pages, Into the Abyss, Flashback, Memories, Escape, Homestead, The Arrival, and Genesis. Oh, hold on, there's a secret chapter as well. So, ten? When I started playing, my guide was mostly Markiplier but some chapters were not in Markiplier's game play and I think it is because he was playing the old version (Even the video was uploaded years ago). I am playing (according to this one website) 2.0 version of it. Oh, and I was playing easy mode. (don't judge me)

Prologue, I didn't know who I was or maybe I didn't pay too much attention to it. Apparently, I was Lauren. I'm searching for Kate who was missing. When I started playing, I was supposed to explore and find Kate's house but it took me really long to search for the house (more than 10 minutes). Probably because I was clueless. When I finally found the house, I explored it (duh). Bear in mind, I am very new to these kind of game. Hence why I failed at playing dead space. I had watched a lot of game play for Slender man which was why I had such high expectation when I played it and because the game plays I watched showed so much fear in it, I thought it was really scary. Anyways, nothing much on the first chapter except I played the slides in the backyard and got an achievement for that (wohoo). Somewhere while I was exploring the house, I found a key to a room which was locked and heard screaming after that. Another mission, which was to investigate the scream. I went out from the backyard picking up pieces of clues (and literally abandoned some). Along the way, I had to start up generators and it led me to a missing child report-ish paper. It was Charlie, the missing child and boy, I hated Charlie with all my heart. The three generators did led me to a burnt house where there was a crying lady which I approached and after getting attacked, she was gone.

The Eight Pages, oh yes, the famous Eight Pages. I am proud to say that I managed to succeed within my second try. There weren't much story in this chapter, just the eight pages of clues left by Kate scattered in a sort-of forest. The challenge was more to avoiding Slender and it wasn't scary, honestly. It was more of nerve-wrecking because of how far you've collected the pages, it was like I was so close to getting the eighth page and Slender Man just had to harass me. 

Into The Abyss, I have to admit. This was one of the hardest chapter in this game. This chapter is almost similar to The Eight Pages but harder. Not only I had to avoid Slender Man, but I also had to avoid bumping into the CHASER. 

This JERK! As you can tell, I am very much angry towards this insolent monster. You might not think it is a big deal but wait till I finish this whole thing then, you will know how much I despise this kid. Oh, plot twist (or not), chaser is Charlie, I think but again, according to the website that I am reading, Chaser is a proxy of Kate (I am so confused right now)

Back to this chapter, luck was on my side, I succeeded in my first attempt! The mission was for me to activate six generators in some factory or mining place. The six generators will activate the lift for me to leave and save myself. The mining facility had a lot of rooms or dividers which made it harder to search for generators and mid-way chaser will start chasing and boy, that monster is possessed by a demon cheetah. Aren't ghosts supposed to be slow? As usual, you can't leave the main character, Slender Man was also there to harass. So, yeah. This chapter didn't add much progress to the story line but I did explore the whole place, getting more clues before entering the mining facility. 

Flashback, this chapter branched out to another two chapters: Homestead and Escape. In Flashback, I (or Lauren) found a place which had television and tapes, two tapes to be exact which will lead me to the two chapters. 

The first tape I ventured in got me to Homestead and this was the hardest chapter for me. In this chapter I was Carl Ross and I was investigating on Charlie's missing case. I got out from the car, directly in front of a house. I got one clue from the house and there was a barn, something like a barn next to it and more buildings behind the barn. I got stuck finding the way out of the barn and the house area, I didn't realized there was a lever close to the ceiling. Once I had an opening, I went through the barn to another building-ish and this time it was a huge building like a factory with barrels but it was dark in there that I needed to find gas for the generator. I went to explore, searching for gas and got into a basement. In the basement, there was a lady crying, hanging in between the narrow walls which I didn't approach. In the process of searching for the gas, Charlie (and yes, it is confirmed that chaser is Charlie) passed by me. 

After finding the gas from the basement, I explored a little bit and found a key! I went back to activate the generator, and found one clue (so much effort for one clue). The key I found was for the church. As I entered the church, the door closed behind me revealing Slender man. There were more clues in the church with pictures. I didn't know what was I supposed to do because both doors were locked. On the floor, there were parts of dolls, hands, arms, body and head. I picked it up and the door directly in front of me burst opened by Charlie. 

This is where "I knew you were trouble when you walked in" is relatable. I stood there, after messing with his toys, I assumed, frozen. He was crazy, going towards me and game over. I tried again, thinking of strategy to not die in the hands of Charlie. The second time, I actually got it, I was free from that cockroach but I saved the game from being mentally exhausted.  On the next day, when I continued playing, I was back as Carl Ross coming out from his car recording his investigation of Charlie's disappearance or in other words, I had to start all over, from the beginning of Homestead and this time I was out of luck. 

I played approximately seven times, trying to run and save myself from Charlie. Anyways, my strategy was after I have collected the toys, I will run to my left, to go on the podium and that was when Charlie barged in and yanked the door opened. Once he started running, searching for me, I will dashed towards the open door and close it before the could catch me (and he's really fast). From there, I will run straight, back towards the house, to the attic, finding more clues. Thankfully, I was able to start from here whenever I got 'game over'. Then, I will jump from the attic to the first floor and Charlie will make another dramatic appearance, smashing 'wood nailed to a door" opened even though he looked like he couldn't even lift a chair. I had to run again, away from charlie back out from the house and hide under a tree because apparently, Charlie can't see me even when I am an adult under a small tree. He will run past me (finally) and that is the end of homestead chapter. 

Escape, I'm still quite unsure of the whole plot but in this chapter, I was Kate, who seemed to be losing her mind. I was back in the house from Prologue and it was seen that Kate (or me, hehe) was scribbling madly on papers. The mission of this chapter was to close all the windows and doors. I forgot the number of doors and windows I was supposed to shut. Anyways, Kate was hiding from Slender man. After shutting all openings, I had to go back to my room (which was the locked room in Prologue) and was instructed to hide and obviously failed (and moved to the next stage). I think this chapter explains the story behind the screaming Lauren was supposed to investigate. After being confronted by Slender man because he found Kate whether she hides or not, I was back to flashback. 

The Arrival, this is where the arrival of confusion will arrive. After coming back to flashback, from flashbacks of different characters, I (back as Lauren) went around exploring, went through a cave and everything was on fire. I was running, trying to escape the fire and the control was hard because I was supposed to be in haze. Everything was blurry until I managed to get into another building, the radio tower. I was once again, locked by slender man as soon as I entered the radio tower. Then, I had to find a key to the locked room. It turns out that Kate (my friend) and Carl Ross were insane, driven by Slender Man and Lauren had to end it. 

I got into the locked room and they were writings on the wall, from Kate and it seemed that she will be the one killing Lauren. At the end of the room, there was a corpse, and it was Carl Ross since beside him was a camera. I played the recording. In the recording, Carl Ross was trying to make Kate kill herself together with him to end this whole thing but dang it, Kate! You just have to drag me into this. Anyways, I woke up (somehow not dead yet after the explosion in the locked room) in another place, a basement.

Charlie just had to reappear and he was at the end of the stairs, guarding it. Obviously, I had to go up the stairs. I explored the basements, finding more clues and a book. Poof, Charlie was gone (YAZ). I went up and I was at the burnt house in the prologue, where the crying lady was. The crying lady whom I believe is Kate. I tried to approach her and she changed to Charlie.

After that, I was seen being dragged (sort of) and the end. 

Then, I checked my chapter selection and apparently, I have not played another chapter, which is 

Memories, in this chapter. I wasn't Lauren anymore. I was Charlie, the boy who I thought was Chaser but I am not sure anymore. In Memories, I (Charlie) was playing at the beach and was following trails of sparkly keys or something I don't remember. Eventually, it led me away from my parents who were calling me back. When I was too far to go back, I was taken by Slender man. Hence, why I was reported missing. It is my own fault tho. Oh, in this chapter, which was actually the last chapter I played because I missed out the camouflaged teddy bear in the middle of the wood. So, I sort of skipped this one hehe. 

I do not recall playing the chapter Genesis but according to the reference, it explained more aboit Kate and how it started for her, the whole thing but I really don't remember playing this chapter. Did I leave this chapter out? 

So, I guess this is it. There's a secret level which I have not played (I've uninstalled the game already). Maybe, I'll give it another shot. When my hatred towards Charlie is not rising above my head. Overall, I do love this game but I would want more of explanation of the characters, more backstory. A lot of things were left hanging and I had to google for the plot, still very confused tho. 

Anyways, this is the website I kept on quoting. I read this for more closure and it cleared up many of my confusions. 

Thanks for reading. I hope you like my second attempt of writing this!