8 Terrifying Video Game Moments That Are Laughably Outdated Now

4. Everything About Slender Man

slender man
Blue Isle Studios

Back in the early days of the 2010s, Slender was one of the big games that helped reignite the horror genre. Becoming a YouTube phenomenon, the short indie game took the streaming world by storm, with everyone wanting to know why so many popular personalities were getting so caught up in the Slender buzz.

You can see why everyone was so terrified at the time, too. Taking off before horror walking simulators saturated the market, Slender took advantage of its simplicity to create a horror experience that could be picked up by anyone, whether they were a gamer or not.

Detached from its original context though, Slender is painfully basic. Heavily relying on creepy noises and the fear of the unknown, the game is a one-trick pony when it comes to scares, with the actual design of the Slender Man himself completely falling flat when the character is in full view.

In hindsight the title was little more than a YouTube screamer, and today proves to be even less effective than some of those.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.