As if zombies and combative plants weren't enough, there's something far more nefarious and creepy hidden deep in the forests of PopCap's Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare.
Spend enough time reading "creepy pasta," and you'll inevitably encounter the first Internet mythos that slowly but surely launched into pop culture.
Slenderman is a quintessential example of the modern day urban legend. Whereas once upon a time, tales of the escaped mental patient with a hook for a hand were once shared around a campfire, similarly structured tales are now spread through the internet. Initially beginning as a thread dedicated to creating scary images through photo manipulation at Something Awful's forum in 2009, Slenderman spread like cancer to various other sites and publications, including Fangoria, Bungie, Kongregate, DeviantArt, Mythical Creatures Guide, and 4chan.
Slenderman is even the subject of psuedo documentarys, and short, independent films like "Marble Hornets," where it's known only as "The Operator." Videogames is the latest medium that the mythos has expanded to. Minecraft's endermen were perhaps the first example the lanky creep infiltrating video games, then the phenomenon blew up with Slender: The Eight Pages, which culminated in the first complete Slenderman game, Slender: The Arrival, slated to hit Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Slenderman's inclusion is definitely one of the creepier easter eggs for PopCap to have included. Players curious in tracking him down will want to start to their hunt on Garden Warfare's Zomboss Estate map.
At the back of the titular manor, face the left hand side of the forest, and look for the car trapped in a tree. Get to the edge of the forest as far as you can, and slowly strafe to the right of the car. While you're doing that, peek out through the gaps between the trees, and in a clearing not too far off, you should be able to spot a figure resembling the new school urban legend. Or, check out the video below if you're too scared to try it yourself.
Nice homage, eh? Adds a nice creepiness factor to an otherwise cutesy game...WHAT'S THAT BEHIND YOU?!?
