![]() It has been so successful, it even has its own Steam page. Downfall is one of its first projects, and has been met with heavy support from the Slay the Spire development team and community. ![]() Table 9 is a small game studio that has primarily specialized in small projects but is soon to release its own original game, Tales & Tactics. Slay the Spire Downfall, also known as Downfall, is a fan-made mod to Slay the Spire by Table 9 Studio. A solid four out of five Cthulhus for its sheer design alone. ![]() In saying that, the game is just enjoyable alone if you have the guts for it. The game is a simple rort best enjoyed with friends (my first playthroughs were on the back of my school bus between ten attention-seeking teenagers) to see how they squirm and scream and lose their senses at a painfully simplistic and shallow game. Not only does the game become nigh-impossible by the time the sixth page is collected, but if the eighth is collected, the Slenderman will catch you with his tendrils, your ears will bleed with speaker-breaking static, and the screen itself will glitch out as you stare at the faceless face of Slender… leaving you ready to do it all over again because you have never been that scared in your whole life. The real fun in the game isn’t in the winning, it’s in the losing. A piece of creepy-pasta, internet quasi-folklore that inspired a real-life near-murder and a spawn of other film and gaming merchandise, the titular character revels in his position of abject terror as relentless pursuer bringing the fear of a collective conciousness to the game. Yet in all its praise, the most must go to the man himself Slenderman. These simple tricks, when used together and in discipline, showcase the lengths to which minimal resources can go. This joined with the strength of the games aural environment, built with realistic footsteps, breathing, crickets chirping, and later the inclusion of wind and drones to further indicate the presence of the Slenderman make for a dynamic and engaging environment sure to stay with the player forever. Featuring barely any story, and a confusing and disorienting map, the player is forced to piece together the nonsense of their situation if they are to have any hope of surviving, thereby forcing them to engage in the game’s horror. Whilst simultaneously disguising the detail-less assets of the world by way of torchlight, the game focuses the player’s characters viewpoint into a central and obstructed frame that heightens the tension of the unknown around them. No other game does so much with so little. Game overs are swift, brought on by the ever-increasing presence of the Slenderman whose gaze is to be avoided, but the simplicity of controls (walking, jogging, turning the flashlight on and guiding it, picking up pages) and simplicity of objective and antagonist means that the game can be played and understood by anyone of any skill level at any time. ![]() But, it is for all these reasons that the game stands out for its replayability, accessability, and importance in pop culture history. Clearly the passion project of one individual, the graphics (even for 2012 on a PC) are haphazard and minimalist, the map relatively small, and the atmosphere is put together with trickery founded by a lack of resources. ![]() You follow one objective and have one antagonising force the Slenderman. Slender: The Eight Pages is an incredibly simple game. A thunderous drone, the increase in wind. You do so, trekking aimlessly through forest, through farms, through pointless tiled rooms, past abandoned trucks, past strange monoliths until you find a strange note. You are told nothing more than to ‘Collect the 8 pages’. ![]()
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