Slender mod, Faceless, blocked on Greenlight

The Slender: Source mod, now known as "Faceless," has been having some trouble getting onto Steam despite heavy support from voters. "We've been the No. 1 game since the service launched and have yet to be Greenlit due to copyright issues with Slender Man, which is a free-to-use entity, and we've even gotten permission from the creator Victor Surge," designer, Justin Ross, told Joystiq .

Ross also pointed that similar games have already made it through the greenlight process. "We were happy finding out that we were the most popular game on the service," Ross said. "However, we feel a little bit screwed over as we have attained the highest rank, and yet some really arguable games have gotten in. Especially The Intruder , which is essentially the same premise of our game and from what I've heard uses the Slender Man mythos as well."

In a follow-up post on the Faceless Greenlight blog programmer Tom Clay insists that the mod hasn't been banned from Greenlight altogether, it's just being held up until its creators "have proven that we have the permission from Victor Surge's option holder."

"Faceless is not being canceled, or halted. We're continuing to develop the game, and we will finish it. Come hell or high water."

Release was scheduled for December, but that's been pushed back "to an unknown date." Judging from the brief trailers Ethereal have put out so far it could be the most accomplished take on the Slender format yet. It'll face competition from the likes of Slender: The Arrival , a high fidelity take on Slender: The Eight Pages which is due "in the coming months."

If Faceless never gets the Steam go-ahead, it'll still be released on ModDB. Head to the Faceless page to see more screenshots and videos, like the latest trailer, which I've plonked right here:

Tom Senior

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.