The Backrooms boom has created subgenres within subgenres. Some are endless hallways, empty and unnerving. Others are multidimensional prisons for twisted monsters. Everyone and their dog has tried their hand at making one of these cosmic-horror corridors, and to varying success. Here are the handful of standouts that each capture the concept’s eerie, yellow-tinted dread in uniquely interesting ways.
The Fun Favourite – “Escape the Backrooms”
The clear favorite is Escape the Backrooms, the most accessible multiplayer take on the mythos. Its got a respectable ten-hour campaign, steady updates, iconic levels and a tone that swings between terrifying and unexpectedly funny when played with friends. It’s less about pure strangeness, more about co-op chaos and a guided tour of fan-favorite levels.
No Jump Scares, Just Vibes – “The Complex: Found Footage” & “Expedition”
For players chasing the “lost VHS tape” uncanny atmosphere, try The Complex: Found Footage and its follow-up The Complex: Expedition. Both games focus on the aesthetic. It’s all analog horror minimalism, offering slow-burn walking-sim experiences built around oppressive architecture, low-fi vibes and beautifully crafted liminal environments. These remain the go-to recommendation for anyone who wants the Backrooms without jump-scare theatrics (not to mention, the first one is free!).
The Purist Pick – “Transliminal”
A recurring dark-horse pick is Transliminal, repeatedly championed in the thread as the most “authentic” to the original mythos. Its procedural generation, nonlinear exploration and emerging narrative give it a level of unpredictability that players say actually feels like being lost between realities.
Console-Friendly Surrealism: “Dreamcore”
Console players have a fresher option in Dreamcore, which recently hit PS5 and Xbox. With a CRT/VHS visual mode and an emphasis on surreal poolrooms, it’s become one of the few polished Backrooms-adjacent titles available outside PC storefronts. More episodes are planned, with new entries arriving roughly every six months.
Mobile & Roblox – Where the Genre Thrives
On mobile, fans point toward The Depths of the Backrooms, one of the few phone-first adaptations that tries to capture the verticality and wandering dread of the concept.
Meanwhile on Roblox, it’s a bustling community of Backrooms games. Favorites like Apeirophobia and The Backrooms: Redacted Survival continue to thrive. The latter boasts over 100 levels, cutscenes, lore and a surprising amount of replay value for a platform often dismissed as lightweight.
Experimental Outlier – “MyHouse.wad”
For something more left-field, players still cite MyHouse.wad, a DOOM WAD turned existential labyrinth, as one of the most Backrooms-like experiences ever created. It’s not canonical, but its sense of disorientation and looping domestic spaces makes it a spiritual cousin to the genre.
So what’s the verdict?
“The best Backrooms game” depends on which version of the mythos you want to inhabit: the VHS-horror purist route of The Complex, the unpredictable dream logic of Transliminal, the co-op funhouse of Escape the Backrooms, or the surrealism of Dreamcore. We’ll certainly see even more contenders pop up now that there’s an A24 movie in the making, maybe even a AAA studio will tackle the mythos.