Slide in the Woods

About Slide in the Woods

Slide in the Woods is a small horror game for Windows by Jonny's Games, released on itch.io in October 2021. Its page says little more than that it is a short horror game, and that restraint is part of how it works: you are dropped into a dark wood at night and left to find out for yourself why a slide is standing there.

You play in first person, with a torch that lights a small circle of wood chips and not much else. Through the trees is a playground frame with a ladder and a long red tube slide, the kind of thing that belongs in a park and not in the middle of the forest. Getting closer to it and going down it is what the game is about.

Its look is the low-poly, slightly wobbling 3D of a PlayStation game, made with the HPSX render pipeline and a pack of PSX-style trees, and its sounds include a set of death whistles. The fear comes from the dark around the light, from the quiet and from what the slide leads to, not from fights or puzzles.

Players rate it 4.5 of 5 on itch.io from some 1,400 ratings, and it suits anyone who wants a single strong idea played out in a few minutes, or a quick first taste of PSX-style horror. Play with headphones and the lights off.

How to play Slide in the Woods

1. Download the Windows build from the itch.io page; the price is yours to name, and it can be free.
2. Unzip it and start the game.
3. Walk through the dark woods with your torch and find the slide.
4. Climb up and go down it to see where it leads.

Tips

• Play with headphones: much of the mood is in the sound.
• It lasts a few minutes, so play it in one sitting with the lights off.
• Take your time looking around before you climb in.

Questions