My Backrooms Gaming Shortlist

Permalink

Follow me via:

---

Text-to-speech support required

So, you went to the theater and you saw the legendary Backrooms film from the mind of Kane Parsons and A24, and you can’t get it out of your head. The claustrophobic feelings, the pulsing silence as the walls close in around you, and the way even regular people within the Complex themselves become something of an “entity” all on their own. You want more, and you want to experience it yourself!

Well, good news, buddy.

This is my shortlist of games that will absolutely blast the crap out of your pants, and immerse you in that world to perfection, short of actually falling into “the hallways” for real, which, for all intents and purposes, can never happen.

Right?

The Complex Expedition

This is a game that I literally cannot finish. It’s too scary. You put on your headphones, the lights are out, and oh my god. In fact, I challenge you to buy this game, and do exactly that, and see how long you last until you just exit the game.

Check out TCE on Steam.

As you begin your trek into the Complex, you start as one of the yellow hazmat suit-wearing scientists, and, very quickly, you’re thrust into the labyrinth all by yourself, and out of contact with the rest of your team.

But something else is in there with you.

I can make it about twenty minutes before I save, quit, and try again another time.

POOLS

This one is actually my all-time fave, but it’s number two on my list, because, while it is Backrooms-themed, it’s not technically specifically Backrooms.

Based on the Pool Rooms level — what the community also calls “sublimity” or “the pool rooms” — this entire game is not much more than a walking simulator, which is fine! There are no monsters, there’s nothing chasing you. But even so, with nothing in pursuit, the silence becomes the enemy.

You simply have to experience it for yourself.

Check out POOLS on Steam.

This specific game I have actually finished, and the most terrifying part isn’t the unknown corners you have to cross, or the murky water, but the massive gaping chasms that go down forever into seemingly nothing at all.

My running theory on the story behind the character in this game is that you play as an abuse victim who visualizes their trauma within this specific splice of the Complex, and while that might not make sense now, it will once you complete the game.

SUBLIMINAL

In this gamified version of the Backrooms, we’re following more of a puzzle-based story, but it’s number three on my list entirely because this is the most Wiki-based Backrooms game you’ll probably find.

I can’t say that I’m the biggest fan of the Wiki, because I find Kane’s work much more unsettling and terrifying — it does have its merits, at times.

Check out SUBLIMINAL on Steam.

I haven’t really played this all that much yet, but it shares the same things in common with the other two: It looks amazing, and it’s incredibly immersive.

And that’s it! I know there are actually many Backrooms games, but, in my opinion, these are the only ones you need.

You don’t need Escape the Backrooms or The Classrooms — the latter isn’t multiplayer, but even solo it doesn’t hit like these three — or any number of strange co-op versions of the liminal labyrinth. Do yourself a favor, and experience it the way it’s supposed to be experienced.

Alone.