The sky is dark with scattered stars. The only sound is your ragged breath and the crunch of leaves beneath your feet. Your flashlight flickers. Finally, you reach a large, twisted tree with a piece of paper nailed to it. Scrawled in pencil are the words, “Don't look … or it takes you.” You hear a boom and a gasp escapes your lips as you spin around.A tall man with long arms and no face stares at you.

“Slender: The Eight Pages,” previously known as “Slender,” is a horror game for Windows and Mac developed by Parsec Productions. It sets you in a forest with the objective to collect eight pieces of paper (or pages). There is no way to escape and it seems completely peaceful – until you pick up the first page. Then, you are stalked by the teleporting ­monstrosity known as Slender Man, and looking at him will cause you to lose “sanity.” As you collect more pages, Slender Man's chase becomes more relentless.

While “Slender: The Eight Pages” may sound like a joke, it is actually a horror masterpiece. The fact that it is low-budget makes it even better because it ditches the huge, slimy monsters and bloody psychopaths and instead lets the player fill in the blanks. Anyone who has ever had a nightmare will agree that your imagination can be the scariest thing on earth. It's unknown what Slender Man will do to you once you lose, who (or what, rather) he is, and why he's stalking you. This is why “Slender” is so effective: it ­focuses on the pure terror of the human imagination.

“Slender” may be scary, but in the end is still a game. Collecting all eight pages is difficult, but if you can get past the fear factor and strategize, it is possible. After getting all eight pages, you unlock Marble Hornets Mode, based on a web ­series, and the much less scary Daytime Mode.

Once you complete the game, though, the gameplay will get repetitive fast. The graphics in any mode aren't fantastic, but they fit the ­setting. Slender Man himself actually looks a little silly in screen shots, but the game builds up for his arrival, it doesn't matter. If you're brave, “Slender: The Eight Pages” can definitely be fun.

Overall, this game has its ups and downs, but its creativity and fear factor will win over horror fans and gamers alike. It's free to download and play. Just don't turn around.