Back in the early 2000s, a rather strange story spread across the internet called Slender Man. With a business suit, alien-like body and devoid of a face, Slender Man scared the living hell out of many readers and began a worldwide phenomenon that lead to movies, short stories and, of course, games. In 2013, Slender: The Arrival acted as a sequel to a small indie game called Slender: The Eight Pages and was met with some rather high praise from many horror fans. It has been six years since the original’s release, but many consoles have gotten a port of it and the Nintendo Switch is now the latest console to see the horror that is Slender Man. Does this six-year-old game hold up or has time made Slender Man just a bit less daunting? You can find out if you scroll on down and continue to read our full review of Slender: The Arrival for the Nintendo Switch!

Slender: The Arrival has players taking control of Lauren as she outruns the evil Slender Man and his accomplice, The Chaser. Players will need to explore various locations to find clues to locate Lauren’s missing friend and must escape the Slender Man’s grasp. With no weapons besides your flashlight, you will need to move constantly and avoid being cornered. Playing through the game once is simple enough, but after successful completion, players can enjoy Hard Core mode where their light has batteries and Slender Man/The Chaser are more hell bent on getting you.

Lauren begins to worry about her childhood friend Kate after a slew of strange letters arrives from her. With no way to reach her, Lauren travels to Kate’s home in search of answers to what is happening with her dear friend. However, Lauren quickly learns that Kate has gotten herself involved with an evil force that now has its sights on Lauren. Lauren will need to muster up all of her courage and wit to escape this horror that seems to be following her every step. Can Lauren survive the being known simply as Slender Man?

Akin to many horror games, Slender: The Arrival is a rather easy game to play. Taking place in first person, players must navigate different locations to accomplish various tasks. With only their flashlight and camera, players can’t fight against Slender Man or The Chaser and must run/hide from these baddies. Unlike the original Slender: The Eight Pages, Slender: The Arrival features numerous levels with tasks like finding multiple generations or reaching specific locations on a map. If you think the Nintendo Switch port of Slender: The Arrival is going to add anything new, we have some bad news for you…it doesn’t. That’s why we’ll assume you’ve never played Slender: The Arrival as we continue talking about it but for those that have, you might feel a sense of déjà vu if you continue on.

Slender: The Arrival succeeds in several areas even if you have played the original versions. Due to its creepy atmosphere, nice use of the Joy Con’s vibration features and just lack of weapons/tools to fight back with, Slender: The Arrival tends to instill fear in you from the very first few minutes of play. Slender Man still is the tall, lanky and creepy being it’s always been and you’ll still get some nice jump scares when he appears behind you randomly. The Chaser also does a great job of being creepy as it visibly runs at you full sprint and trying to catch you unaware. Those that are new to Slender: The Arrival will truly feel a sense of fear for quite some time while playing. The problems arise though for those that have played Slender: The Arrival on any of the dozen consoles it’s been on.

Immediately, the first glaring issue of Slender: The Arrival is the visuals. In 2013, Slender: The Arrival was a spooky looking game with some truly solid visuals. In 2019, those same visuals look old…and we mean old. Trees and patches of land look blocky and tend to barely move and buildings/rooms tend to look like games from 2013. Survival horror games like Layers of Fear 2 and Remothered: Tormented Feathers look incredible and do the same amount as Slender: The Arrival—in terms of gameplay—which make you realize how old and simple Slender: The Arrival is. Even in docked mode, Slender: The Arrival looks bad and it’s a shame that neither portable mode or docked has an advantage over each other.

The last glaring issue of Slender: The Arrival is the fact that it doesn’t add anything new on the Switch. If you played the PS4 version of Slender: The Arrival or the Xbox One version, then you’ve played the Switch version. While it seems Blue Isle Studios seems to realize this—seeing as how Slender: The Arrival only costs $9.99—it won’t help convince many to replay this title for the third or tenth time. Slender: The Arrival being portable is cool, but that won’t be what sells it for you. Slender: The Arrival on the Switch will only appeal to those that have somehow still avoided playing or seeing let’s plays of it.

Slender: The Arrival was a scary and heart pounding horror game when it was released back in 2013, but in 2019, when we’ve seen more “complex” horror games, Slender: The Arrival feels a bit outdated. While the scares still exist and running from both Slender Man and his strange demon friend can be heart attack inducing, the fears die out quickly for veterans of the series and don’t live up to the horror we’ve come to expect from this current generation. Slender: The Arrival looks and plays as if from two generations ago and that is a shame indeed. Even with a low price of only $9.99, Slender: The Arrival is only going to be worthwhile to those who have somehow avoided playing or seeing videos on this six-year-old title. That’s why we can’t recommend Slender: The Arrival to everyone but if you truly need some quick scares and/or have been longing for the nostalgia brought on by the creepy being in a suit, then Slender: The Arrival won’t hurt your wallet and can be good for a few hours at best.

Slender: The Arrival isn’t a bad horror game and the gaming industry owes it for a lot of ideas we still use in current games. That being said, Slender: The Arrival on the Nintendo Switch feels…unneeded. We have been seeing a lot of older titles get ported to the Switch over the last year but Slender: The Arrival has been ported so many times that it’s rare to hear someone hasn’t played it or has seen someone else play it on YouTube or Twitch. If you really don’t belong to those mentioned groups, then we recommend playing Slender: The Arrival as it’s a solid horror game with plenty of jump scares and eerie exploration themes. Plus, for only $9.99, you’re getting a solid horror adventure that feels quite worth the price. Are you anxious to relive the nightmare that is Slender: The Arrival? Comment below if you’ll be picking up this port and be sure to keep stuck to our hive here at Honey’s Anime for even more game reviews!