The Backrooms: Liminal Space

This may well be one of the if not The best Backroom game I've experienced. And I'm not telling this just because I had it for just under a buck; I would have been glad even for a fiver or a bit more! Genuine exploration, many exits, and something meaty enough that I finally got lost. Thanks! Will gladly await for tape 3, and if it's a paying DLC, then count me in nonetheless as long as the quality is maintained. (Did I tell you this one played smoothly despite my prehistoric GPU? Well, you'd better believe it. It's better optimized [and maybe lighter] than Backroom 2005, The Complex, Backrooms: found footage or LiminalCore.) Now I must say I fell out a bit of my backroom hype since Kane Parson killed his own genius explaining his last movie as a pretext to madness and his own ISR as a simple mirror of the shallow thoughts. This is not why I was here, and I close to left the backrooms forever after these interviews. But this title was still on my wishlist and boy am I glad I've done it. You see, I'm more of "the backrooms as an entity" kind of guy. I like my backroom to try and dissect memories in order to comprehend what are the wanderers, grow from iterating on them, and using its lure language of light & shadows, wonders & monsters, so that it bring the foreign object right where it can perceive it best. But if there is one thing I always beleived the Backroom couldn't understand right, it was "outside", something out of itself. This game seemingly address exactly this. From the fake windows confused between hopeful skies and screensavers, sparkled in as a question mark, to eventually a glorious ending in the poolrooms; it feels as if the ISR finally understood the meaning of "wanting to get out". For new players, take the left for the short experience, the right for the long way, but do realize that this is one of the few which really rewards you from getting lost by the middle. You'll be able to explore a while in each areas before they feel like home. There is much to see here, and this may genuinely be the only backroom I won't delete for a while. It gave me a desire to return to it. (Also saw a door to the partyrooms I haven't found a way to yet!) In the hope you'll have as much fun with it! (P-S: despite not being in the game settings, you can crouch by pressing the left ctrl; the dev had to tell me and now you know too.)

Let's get this out of the way: this is a walking simulator set in the Backrooms; there's no monsters or entities, and nothing that can kill you; you can't even fall off a ledge to your death. There only thing that could even remotely qualify as horror is at least one section I found where you're looking out a window and find a large unblinking eye staring back at you from the darkness, which is more goofy than spooky. Although the first time I found a room that played music I definitely jumped a little, was not expecting it. This game is all about finding a way out, it's you versus the environment, a labyrinth that can be fairly reliably gamed using the right-hand exit method (I'll explain below). It's not traditionally challenging, it's just a maze after all, and if you need a challenge or actual horror elements then this isn't the game for you; but if you want a Backrooms-themed escape-the-maze game with awesome atmosphere then this is [i]exactly[/i] the game for you. For a dollar and a dev committed to keeping the game a dollar regardless of how much content they add it's worth it just for that alone. But [i]wow[/i] I honestly was really impressed with the content as a whole. For starters the graphics look [i]incredible[/i], everything is picture-perfect, like a photograph come to life. The sound design needs a little work, the footsteps are basic and kind of annoying after a while, and remapping controls would be nice, as you progress further into the levels you have to crouch more often and my pinky does not like CTRL, so changing it would be helpful. Minor complaints aside, what I love most about this iteration of the Backrooms is just how [i]realistic[/i] it looks, not just graphics but the environment design in general; it's uncanny as all get out but each corridor and room could be a real place, at least until you turn the corner and there's 40 walls leading down a never ending stretch of hallway. But I like that, it's a lot more subtle than some games where they amp the craziness up to 11. In Liminal Space there's nuance here, at least until the later areas where the architecture gets a little bananas, but even then it never gets flat out eldritch as some games. I like that a lot, it gives me a sense of unease rather than most games that feel too "gamey". For the money, and the continued support by the dev(s), you really can't beat it. My only hope is the upcoming multiplayer game the dev is working on keeps the same nuanced subtle aesthetic. I am a little disappointed the upcoming game will feature entities, a walking simulator style puzzle game would be a lot of fun too, but I can understand the decision. Before I finish up the review allow me to explain the right hand exit method: the gist is you put your right hand (or left) on a wall and do not remove that hand, then following the wall to the exit. For most mazes this works really well, the only issue is it might take a while but you're less likely to end up lost. Floating walls that branch off into actual paths are a problem, and during Tape 2 you may run into an issue with floating walls that could circumvent this method, but overall finding your way out isn't challenging, method or not. Overall, the only question worth asking is if you got a dollar and want to roam around in a maze for an hour or two with nothing trying to kill you or scare you. If yes, buy it, if not, maybe buy it anyway to support a 12-year-old developer who made something really cool. In the immortal words of Senator Sheev Palpatine: "we will watch your career with great interest."

It's a decent representation of the original idea. I like that it stays closer to the core concept and that there are no traditional levels. That said, there's just... nothing. And not in the good way, not like it's some smart, mature, existential experience, or that the place is so vast you can't even comprehend it. It's literally empty in a way that feels hollow. This creates a mix of good and bad feelings, on one hand, it captures that eerie, isolating sensation you might have in real life if you were truly lost in such a place. On the other hand, it feels cheap, like the developer just wanted to make a quick tech demo. For 99 cents it's acceptable, you get what you pay for. But still, there's simply nothing: no end goal, no entities, barely any music, not even footsteps or ambient sounds. It doesn't need to be packed with stuff, but if it's going to be this empty, at least make me feel like the character is slowly losing their mind. Overall, it's not really good or bad, it's just in between. Better than the over the top slop with 200 different entities everywhere, but I really wish we'd get games that properly capture the original Backrooms lore, complete with the still lifes, liminal vibes, and atmosphere that made it special in the first place. 4/10

Starting off as a gamer who enjoys Backrooms games, this game does provide what I enjoy about the Backrooms: varying environments with some atmosphere, lots of interesting areas, and some decent lighting. There are no entities, which some do not enjoy, but there are 1 or 2 places that hint at something else being there, which does match the vibe of the original Backrooms post. While the sound effects and layout of the maps are not perfect- and glitches are present in the game- the developer made this game starting at least at age 12, and that actually is quite impressive. I know I do not know a lot about unreal engine, and know nothing about how I would make a game. So I must say that the developer deserves a lot of credit for trying to make, and for making this game. Plus they don't charge a lot for the game- only $1! I recommend it with a 7/10 rating. You will get at least an hour of enjoyment out of this game if you like to explore. Plus a 3rd tape is in the works so for $1 you will be getting much more content than many other Backrooms games that are honestly much worse than this one!

EU RECOMENDO MUITO ESSE JOGO

Lowkey Fire game to scratch that backrooms itch! Good Job :)

JUST EXPLOR

Very fun game, please add a multiplayer mode! Maybe even some entities!! 10/10

bll

还可以 但是有些场景太单一 缺怪 可以加上别的空间 比如学校 美术馆 室内花园 但12岁能做到这样也很棒了