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The Backrooms 1998 - Found Footage Backrooms Survival Horror Game [SCARY GAMES]
A grainy found-footage plunge into the Backrooms - liminal, lonely corridors where something hunts you and every hum of the lights sets your teeth on edge.
Liminal space games and the Backrooms
Empty hallways, humming lights, carpet that goes on too long. These are games about places that feel wrong precisely because nobody is in them. Some are Backrooms games outright, the rest just share the feeling.
The catalog in 3D
The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. They work from the whole catalog, not just this list.
Mycelium: The Silent Contract (2026)
A tense, atmospheric trek through a surreal forest under the weight of an ominous corporate directive.
Players say: Players praise the spooky, atmospheric forest and the addictive loop of gathering mushrooms while avoiding monsters. Maps and monster placement are procedural, so each run feels distinct, but some report the game became unplayable after a hardware update.
ODDCORE (2026)
A fast-paced FPS with a retro aesthetic and an eerie, liminal atmosphere.
Players say: Players praise the frantic countdown-to-purge mechanic that keeps every run urgent, and the dreamlike liminal spaces are a big draw. Many compare it to Ultrakill for its fast movement and high run variety. Some players find the weapons lack impact and sound design, and a few note movement feels sluggish. With Early Access, players expect more content.
Ad Nauseam - The Wrong Side
A choice-heavy visual novel thriller where an amnesiac unravels real and mental horrors inside an endless, liminal hospital.
Parts of the Elephant (2024)
A quiet, melancholic wander through a liminal hotel where you observe fleeting lives and can either connect or wallow in dark humor.
Players say: Players praise this short, replayable visual novel for its well-written branching stories and surreal atmosphere. They compare it favorably to Disco Elysium and enjoy piecing together the narrative across multiple playthroughs, though a few find it overly enigmatic or the ending anti-climactic with loose threads.
Elevator Hitch
A surreal 2.5D escape-room visual novel trapping two coworkers in an eerily normal 70s office elevator between liminal floors.
Liminal Gallery
A short experimental walking-sim puzzler where you turn pictures into reality while exploring an unsettling gallery.
she danced in the wind like a holographic dream before the world died
A short poetic interactive fiction about the last flower on a dying earth, dreamy and mournfully beautiful.
Rage Quit (2025)
a frantic, cathartic smash-everything spree in a creepy, hollow office that feels both unsettling and liberating
project_Structure_01 (2026)
A quiet, contemplative first-person walk through surreal, minimalist spaces focusing on atmosphere and mood.
Players say: Players praise the brutalist megastructure atmosphere and moody lighting, calling it a worthy entry in the genre alongside NaissanceE. The ducks are a divisive element, some find them charming, others say they break the immersion. Light platforming with generous respawns is present, but the game is mainly about exploring and getting lost in the geometry.
Blood Facsimile (2026)
A tense, surreal first-person shooter where you explore liminal, unsettling environments and piece together a dark narrative through NPC interactions while fighting for escape.
Players say: Players compare it to Cruelty Squad and Deus Ex, praising its psychedelic style, music, and exploration-focused level design. Most note it is early access and incomplete but already very playable, with gunfights that are challenging but fair.
Seraphim Slum (2024)
A slow, intimate visual novel about manipulating and corrupting three angelic inhabitants through love and lies, with a heavy, melancholic atmosphere and a focus on psychological horror in relationships.
Players say: Players praise the biblical horror and doomed yuri romance, calling the atmosphere eerie and the writing haunting. The game uses crashes and glitches as intentional story mechanics, but some players find the plot too abstract and the bugs frustrating when skipping text. Long-time fans are eager for the developer's upcoming sequel, Edenfall.
Title_Pending (2022)
Explores a unfinished video game as a playtester, mixing eerie liminality with wry developer commentary and a slow, narrative-driven pace.
Players say: Players often compare it to The Stanley Parable but find flaws in how the game handles choices, saying many paths end in dead ends instead of new content. Some find the constant narrator monologues and slow scrolling text frustrating, with a few saying the game is too restrictive about letting you miss anything.
Anemoiapolis: Chapter 1
A short, unsettling first-person crawl through hauntingly familiar liminal spaces, designed to unsettle rather than jump-scare.
Everybody Loves Eddie (2026)
A slow-burn psychological horror visual novel where a cozy domestic life slowly unravels into unsettling confusion and dread.
EEK3 2020 Virtual Show Floor
A low-poly retro exploration of a suddenly-appeared monolith glowing with eerie lights and faint shrieks.
The Shuddering
A dreamlike, surreal visual novel about drowning memories and an inviting, unsettling song calling you from an aquatic abyss.
The Elision Effect (2024)
A short, lonely walk through a liminal office space where the humming fluorescents and faint corporate jazz make every locked room feel emptier.
Players say: Players praise this as a brief, atmospheric puzzle game set in liminal office spaces with a retro 90s art style, easily completed in under an hour. A unique mechanic and discomforting but not overwhelming eerie tone are highlights, though the short length may catch some off guard.
Hypnagogia 催眠術
A retro PS1-style dream exploration through surreal liminal worlds, collecting crystals to wake from sleep paralysis nightmares.
Within the Backrooms (2023)
A slow-paced, atmospheric exploration that feels like wandering through eerily familiar, empty spaces with a light touch of puzzle-solving.
Players say: Players praise the PS1-era aesthetic and atmospheric liminal spaces, but some find it lacking in tension or horror. A few note the absence of Chinese language support.
This list is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. You can also browse the whole catalog, or look around it in 3D and ask the Catbot there.