Explore the Poolrooms as if it were lost media from 1998.
Modeled estimate, not a reported figure. How we estimate →
Media
About
Poolscape focuses on immersing players in the nostalgia of classic PSX gameplay through authentic ’90s-styled visuals and quirks rather than aiming for ultra-realism like most liminal space games on the market. Explore many unique Poolrooms levels, each offering its own atmospheric sound design and liminal experience, blending isolated, euphoric exploration with subtle horror elements that are heightened by the technical limitations of PS1-era hardware.
This game is intentionally slower-paced. You are not meant to rush through. Take your time with each environment to enjoy the sounds and ambience!
Poolscape includes EIGHT distinct levels. Some environments are unique to this game, and others will be familiar to anyone familiar with Poolrooms or Backrooms lore.
Level 1: Classic Poolrooms - Endlessly repeating tiles and fake skylights form the comforting yet uncanny liminal space you’d expect from a classic Poolrooms environment. This is a straightforward level that is designed to introduce players to this retro-styled Poolrooms experience!
Level 2: The Aquatic Megastructure - In this level, you’ll find yourself in a huge, brutalist facility that is impossibly vast. The large industrial walls are meant to evoke a feeling of megalophobia, as this is the largest and most expansive environment in all of Poolscape.
Level 3: Dreampools - The most euphoric environment in Poolscape. Bright colored pools, matte-colored tiles, and low-poly palm trees give players the feeling of wandering through a dream. Surely nothing is watching you… right?
Level 4: Dark Poolrooms - Drenched in almost total darkness, the Dark Poolrooms plunge players into the most tense and unnerving level seen in Poolscape. Claustrophobic hallways and thick black fog keep the anxiety constant.
Level 5: Nostalgia Springs - Inspired by the Neon Springs from the "Lost in the Hyperverse" YouTube series, this level features vaporwave, mall-like architecture drenched in neon lighting and 90s-themed aesthetics.
Level 6: Oceanscape - Heavily inspired by the ocean environment in "The Backrooms: Lost Tape," this level drops players into a calm, breezy ocean that includes strange sculptures, structures, and floating platforms. Everything here seems too perfect to be real.
Level 7: The Chlorine Complex - Deep within the Backrooms, you find yourself inside of a seemingly endless motel-like structure, which is comprised of shallow indoor pools. The air is musty and smells of chlorine. This level has three distinct sections, each with its own vibe and ambience.
Level 8: Promised Future - This is a Frutiger Aero/Y2K-themed level that will make you feel like you've entered a Windows desktop wallpaper. In a way, this level is a culmination of everything within Poolscape, pulling inspiration from each prior level while also introducing surprises of its own.
A central "hub" area that replaces a traditional main menu. This area includes waterslides that will take the player to each level!
An original soundtrack which will include many different ambient tracks to enhance the liminal atmosphere.
Accurate PSX-era graphics. This includes low-res textures, low-poly models, color dithering, pixelation, vertex snapping, distance culling, and distance fog.
There is an optional VHS filter that can be applied to the player by interacting with the VHS Tape in the Sky Pools, giving the game a Puppet Combo-inspired look!
Poolscape is an exploration-based walking simulator that is meant to let players relax, listen to some aquatic music, and wander this retro rendition of the Poolrooms. However, each level will have a unique ambience and set pieces to keep the gameplay fresh and bring replay value for multiple playthroughs!
Poolscape also features a Weirdcore-inspired entity. This entity will not harm the player, but it will keep a close eye on you throughout most levels.
Players will find notes within each level that will give Poolscape its own lore.
Some levels will include light platforming sections. These sections have a very forgiving respawn mechanic, so no worries if you happen to fall into an endless abyss!
Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English
Engagement
Reviews
Themes across 42 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
Reviews
Estética PSX noventera + espacios liminales = Obra de arte.
Poolscape is a medley of a few different takes on the idea of 'poolrooms'. You access each area via water slides from a hub, and return there after each trip. Some of the areas are pretty nice (Dreampools) and some are dull (Megastructure) so it's a mixed bag. Although Poolscape is better than many attempts at liminal spaces in games, largely thanks to having environments that are mostly pleasant to look at, it makes the same mistake that a lot of them make - it doesn't understand what makes a liminal space effective. The reason that liminal spaces are eerie isn't because they're huge and weird. A huge, weird space just feels gamey and artificial. That has its place in games, of course, but it's not eerie if that's all you're doing. What makes a liminal space eerie is that it's so very close to being like a real place, but a tiny bit off. That's why empty malls and the like feel unsettling - they're normal, mundane places that are usually teeming with people, but being deserted makes them feel 'off'. So it is with a good poolroom. The game Pools is, of course, the classic example. When you first start wandering around, it's basically just like a leisure centre. I went to loads of places like that as a kid. Pretty soon the total lack of people makes it feel a little odd. Then the fact that every time you turn a corner there are just more rooms and more pools. Then you see things that are very slightly out of place - a seat in a place that no one would choose to put a seat, for example. It feels like a real place. It's so similar to places I've actually been. But small things are not quite right. It's almost there but somehow just...not. *That's* what makes a liminal space work. You can certainly go weird, but you need to ramp up to it gradually. If you go straight to big, weird spaces that couldn't possibly exist then it just feels like a game level and there's no tension or discomfort. Poolscape has some decent environments to wander around and look at, as long as you understand that this is basically a ride - a passive stroll along a defined path, looking around you at the sights. But it is *not* tense, eerie, or disquieting. There are a couple of moments that hit that 'this reminds me of somewhere I've been, but why is that table in such an odd place?' note, but those moments are rare enough that I have to assume they're accidental. Poolscape, like so many of these games, thinks that white tiles and inflatable ducks were what made Pools effective. That aesthetic can be pleasant and nostalgic, and that nostalgia what carries this game, but it's not why Pools was so good. The almost-real eeriness and a slow build in tension were why Pools was good, and that's a much harder thing to pull off than just slapping water and tiles on some rooms. Especially when you don't even understand that that's what you're aiming for. Poolscape is 90 minutes of looking at environments, some pretty and some boring. I don't regret wandering through it but I also don't feel I would have missed out if I hadn't. It does a better job than most other Pools-y games that miss the mark, but it *does* still miss the mark.
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Trends
Concurrent players on Steam, sampled daily since tracking started.
Hours played at review time, across 42 reviews with recorded playtime.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Something that really bugged me is the fact that you can't tab out and still listen to the music. Why? Why make a home with music playing the entire OST on shuffle to chill if you can't tab out? It genuinely puzzles me. If your plan was to make people buy the OST separately, this is a really bad practice. (It's also not on YouTube, so no alternative) I know this issue may be engine dependent, since some engines default to music on tab out, and some don't. It kind of feels deliberate though, there's no gameplay besides walking around and listening to the music. So why not just let it play while tabbed out? I really liked the game, and it's very well put together. But it seriously bugged me that you can't just chill in it tabbed out. I know it may sound petty, but the game IS the music.
Excellent casual, liminal architectural ambient experience. Having a flashlight and more music could have helped.
This game is really cool and unique. I said unique cuz most of the backrooms games have ultimate or at least good graphics and this one has nice vhs style and its really worth playing. Levels are fun but could be little scarier but overall I think its solid 8/10
didn't realize the psx style could lend itself so well to the dream pools concept, but this game does an AMAZING job of blending the two aesthetics in a way that doesn't detract or diminsh one or the other. it's equal parts eery, unsettling, beautiful, and entrancing. i very much dig the direction this game goes in, and am really looking forward to the dev's upcoming cosmic horror game too. good stuff :D EDIT: i played their previous title, "GORE," and i'm a fan now. w games.
very good game enjoyed it alot if ya wanna see me play ur game heres my youtube Besties_ForLife 2022
Very calming, yet uncanny game. Only problem is game keeps crashing on last level (Green Slide).
this game lies to you from the get go. it makes you think that "oh cool, its going be a chill Backroomsisk type game with you exploring indoor pools with retro music!" Turns out, its literary just "The Backrooms" but with ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ pools! I wouldn't be this angry it didn't lie to me with it's trailer making me think it's going to more chill and less suspenseful. Otherwise, it was a really well made game, I just hate false advertising
Great liminal space game, I love the PS1 graphics and the atmosphere in this game. Levels are slightly too short and linear but that didn't really bother me because the levels were so varied and well-made. I didn't get feelings of being lost or disoriented, so Poolscape was very relaxing experience which still got me weirded out by the levels. The Aquatic Megastructure was absolutely my favourite level of the game!
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.
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