Join The Club
If you're anything like me, you probably came out of A24's Backrooms film thinking to yourself: 'Scary movie, but I could've survived it'. Well, you can put that to the test, in theory. While I don't recommend running around any derelict office buildings, there are hundreds of backrooms games and others like it for you to check out.
The only problem is, however, that there are hundreds of games; it can be pretty difficult to sort through the masses to find the diamond in the rough. So to try and help jump start your search here are the five games I think you should check out if you enjoyed the vibes Backrooms film.
Escape the Backrooms
This is the most obvious choice for any backrooms enjoyers. Escape the Backrooms one of, if not the, most popular backrooms games around, and for good reason. With over 30 levels to explore and multiple entities to try and survive, it captures the now-iconic vibes.
But the best way to experience this game is with friends. It does shift the vibe ever so slightly, from eerie to chaos, but it's worth it. I've spent hours running around all the different levels with my friends, as we try and ultimately fail to escape whatever thing is chasing us. It's tricky to keep track of where you're going and where you've been when you have three other people screaming in your ears.
The maps are unfortunately not procedurally generated so you could memorise your way through each one, but that would probably take you way too long. So if you're just looking for a fun and scary experience to have with friends, this is your best shot.
Inside the Backrooms
This was my go-to a few years ago, and while I haven't gone back lately, as there were a couple of annoying bugs here and there, it's still an excellent interpretation of the backrooms.
This is another multiplayer experience and it's great fun in the same way Escape the Backrooms is. You also have to balance a bunch of bloodthirsty entities and all your friends running in different directions like headless chickens, getting lost, and screaming their hearts out. Now, that wouldn't be too bad if it weren't for the fact that you're trying to solve the many puzzles inside these backrooms while all of that chaos is going on.
Inside the Backrooms still manages to nail the unsettling and confusing atmosphere that the film explores. And playing it makes me realise that while I probably could've survived the film (because I'd never step foot in the backrooms in the first place), I'd probably be screwed as soon as I turned the first corner, because apparently I have the sense of direction of a fruit fly.
Pools
If you don't want to be bogged down by your friends and just want to enjoy the vibes of a backrooms-inspired game for its atmosphere, then you should play Pools.
There are no puzzles to solve here, no music, or nasty entities to jump at you and scare you half to death. This is a simple game about wandering around odd and eerie levels, and discovering what this labyrinth has to offer.
It's a walking simulator, simple-as, but one which appreciates the necessary atmosphere that's so integral to the backrooms, and acknowledges that this isn't something you need to understand or explain or even escape. The true horror of the backrooms is simply that it's inexplicable yet it exists.
Portal
This is a bit of a weird one, but other than being just an outstanding game in general, Kane Parsons, the director of the Backrooms film, has previously spoken about just how much inspiration he took from the Portal games.
"It's not yellow, it's very gray, and blue, and kind of bleak," Parsons explains. "And by the second game it's rotting and it's totally falling apart. But it's vast in a lot of ways, it feels like an eternal indoors that goes on in all directions, that is just absurd in its scope. So I think it's actually very similar to the Backrooms on that front."
The more I think about it the more I agree about how many similarities there are between Portal and the backrooms—especially Parsons' take on the creepypasta—what with the ominous megacorp Async Research Insitute mirroring that of Portal's Aperture Science. Plus both games are fantastic, so I'd be remiss if I didn't promote a replay at any opportunity.
SCP: Secret Laboratory
This is something of a personal indulgence, but if you love the concept of the backrooms and the world of Parsons' web series then I'm sure the SCP Foundation would be of interest to you.
While these are both part of separate universes they share similar themes of inexplicable otherworldly horrors and other than a fantastic shared archive of stories SCP also has a ton of great games.
My favourite of which is SCP: Secret Laboratory (although Confinement is also great). Secret Lab is an online multiplayer in which players get a randomly assigned role within a secure underground facility which has had a sudden containment breach and try to survive everyone trying to kill each other. Trust me, it's way harder than it seems to be.
