Regular horror has never really been an interesting genre to me, especially the new age stuff which relies on jump scares or body horror in order to get a reaction from the audience. However I have something of an interest in horror that has its genesis in the Internet, the creepypastas and other things which often don’t have their roots set in any kind of history or reality, instead relying on all sorts of weird and wonderful inspiration to incite tension and fear. Backrooms, the founding fiction behind the liminal space aesthetic movement that powers a lot of internet horror today, has something that’s always been on my periphery but not something I actively engaged in. That’s changed now due to a session of Backrooms: Escape Together with my regular crew.
You are a team of researchers who are sent to explore the liminal labyrinth known only as the Backrooms. It was a simple mission: descend downwards into the depths below, document what you see and return to report your results. The labyrinth had other plans however, causing the elevator to malfunction and trapping you in its confines. There’s only 2 objectives left for you and the team: escape and survive. To do that you’ll need to navigate the endless depths of each level, find an exit, and try to avoid the creatures that call this place their home. Can you make it through all 7 levels, or is that only just the beginning of the horrors that you’ll endure?
The liminal space aesthetic is strong in Backrooms, using all the tools of the Unreal 5 engine to create environments that are both highly realistic and completely surreal. All of the more real world environments have this barren cleanliness to them that evokes that weird feeling you get whenever you find yourself in one of those spaces. For me it’s like a weird kind of nostalgia, as if you’ve been to that place before but couldn’t really put a finger on when or where it was you were there. That’s then mixed in with a desire to both be there, for the fun of exploration, and also to not be due to the potential dangers that could lurk around any corner. Sound design on the other hand is somewhat minimal, as is the UI, but both of those are playing second chair to the game’s outstanding visuals.
At the start of every level you’ll be given a number of objectives that you need to complete. Some of these are prescriptive, like starting generators, whilst others are more…guidelines to not getting killed. Each of the levels includes some form of puzzles that you’ll need to solve, usually in the form of finding clues in your environment so you can unlock a door to move onwards. All of this is done with the help of your (in)competent team mates which, if you’re playing true to lore, you’ll be doing over local comms which only reach so far. The experience then is equal parts challenge and shenanigans, as you try to solve the puzzles whilst also (un)wittingly pushing others to their, or your, untimely demise.
The first level does a great job of introducing you to the general vibe of the game and how the basics of everything works. To be sure there’s a bunch of things it doesn’t mention how to do though like: using your inventory, what the various meters in there mean, how to emote or how your party should coordinate to meet the objectives of the level. That is certainly part of the fun though as you’ll gradually work all these things out over the course of the game, mostly by accidentally doing something or by one of you actually taking the time to, you know, read some instructions somewhere.
The later levels then are more of a test of your team’s communication skills and problem solving capabilities as the mechanics are much more interesting and complex. You’ll also be pushed towards splitting up, something which takes on a whole other level of horror when someone goes out of comms range and then fails to turn up again at the agreed point. Then you begin the process of figuring out just what they were up to and what you need to know in order to get through to the next level.
As with these types of games the meta-narrative is the more interesting one than the story the game is trying to tell. Whilst I’m sure there’s many out there that enjoy Backrooms’ adherence to the lore (something which they loudly proclaim on their Steam page) that’s not the thing that we were talking about for days after our session together with it. No it was how one team member single handedly got us through the blind monster section, or how we were all looking for exit signs on the ground (hint: that’s not where they usually are right?). That’s what makes these games truly interesting and without a good crew of mates to play with they’re not going to be anywhere near as fun.
Backrooms: Escape Together is a great single-session co-op game that’s best enjoyed with your regular crew. The liminal horror setting is a great backdrop for you and your mates to see how you all fair under pressure: celebrating both successes and failures in hopefully equal measure. The relatively simple, straightforward gameplay ensures that the meta-narrative that you’ll generate is the star of the show, the game simply being there to give you a framework for the kinds of banter we all enjoy when it good company. Apparently there’s a couple more levels in the making for this one so I’m quite keen to give this another round when they’re finally released.
Rating: 8.25/10
Backrooms: Escape Together is available on PC right now for $11.79. Total playtime was 1.8 hours with 50% of the achievements unlocked.
