Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “There is nothing to fear except fear itself.”

After playing “Slender: The Arrival” I finally understand what he meant.

“Slender: The Arrival” is an indie horror game that leaves the player with only a light and their wits to guide them through dark, scary forests similar to the play style of “Amnesia: Dark Descent.” Players have to solve puzzles and avoid Slender Man pursuing them in order to survive. Originally, there was a free game released called “Slender: The Eight Pages.” The newest Slender is a revised version of the past game with updated graphics, controls and five chapters.

The game starts out with the main character, who has just been in a car accident, searching for help with a video camera in his hand. Night falls and he finally finds a home in the woods, but no one is home. There are only some lights working in the house, and the character must find a flashlight to explore the darker parts of the house. The video camera begins to make odd static noises and the color changes.

There are pieces of paper scattered throughout a child’s room. The scraps of paper depict a faceless man with warnings like “Don’t look at him” and “RUN.” The player ignores these cautions, and goes off into the woods at night searching for an escape. The character is completely unaware they are being followed.

The Slender Man is depicted as being almost human, except for being abnormally tall and thin. He wears a dark suit and red tie, and his face is completely bare. The creature is extremely passive-aggressive; he stalks and follows others until they become trapped, and then he attacks. He seems to teleport to other areas with ease, instantly appearing in front of people. The Slender Man has tentacle-like appendages that sprout from his back, and when he grabs someone they both disappear.

In the game, a player must be smart about how the move and act quickly, knowing precisely when to use their flashlight. Finding eight pages in the woods is not so easy, especially at night. Every step you take you fear what is waiting for you just beyond the darkness. I also forgot to mention, the more pages you get the more aggressive Slender Man becomes. There is another person that chases after your character known as Proxy. Proxy will chase you at some points in the game.

The game focuses on the Slender Man, is a myth about a fictional supernatural creature. The Slender Man was created by Victor Surge on the Something Awful forums in 2009. He was created during a contest where he had to manipulate photos and insert paranormal entities. Several reproductions of the Slender Man have been made into stories, art and even a few online videos. The most well-known online Slender Man series, “Marble Hornets,” may even be made into a movie. Joseph DeLage, Troy Wagner and Tim Sutton, the writers of “Marble Hornets,” also helped with the development of “The Arrival.”

While “Slender: The Arrival” is by all means the most suspenseful, hair-raising, goosebump-giving game currently available, it doesn’t add anything new to the genre. It’s very similar to the original game, except for the additional background storyline you get as you get closer to the end. Gameplay is not a major focus. The suspense will keep you playing over and over until you free yourself from the grasp of the Slender Man. The game is available for purchase at SlenderArrival.com for $10, or you can find the original game online for free.