Games Like Within the Backrooms

Walking simulator. Explore, admire and listen. Uncanny. Relaxing. Unnerving. Eerie. Immersive. No monsters chasing you or jumping at your screen, but can feel oppressive at times by invoking fears of getting lost, the dark, tight spaces and liminal space architecture. Inspired by backrooms.

Why similar: Surreal 32.2%, Atmospheric 16.3%, Exploration 14.2%, Nonlinear 13.5%, Walking Simulator 8.3%

Why You'll Like It: This game is the definitive experience for fans of liminal spaces, focusing entirely on surreal, empty, and unsettling environments.

You are trapped in an endless underground passageway. Observe your surroundings carefully to reach "The Exit 8".

Why similar: Surreal 34.9%, Exploration 24.1%, Atmospheric 11.5%, Walking Simulator 10.4%, First-Person 8.2%

Why You'll Like It: It masterfully uses the concept of an endless, repeating liminal space to create a tense and surreal puzzle-exploration experience.

Experience backrooms like never before. Dreamcore is the ultimate psychological exploration game, set in the largest liminal world ever made. No guides, no path—only intuition. Will you keep your bearings in a world designed to make you lose them?

Why similar: Surreal 31.3%, Nonlinear 19.3%, Exploration 14.4%, Atmospheric 10.7%, Walking Simulator 6.4%

Why You'll Like It: Focuses on the 'dreamcore' aesthetic, emphasizing exploration of surreal, liminal, and nostalgic 3D spaces.

Smuggle contraband VHS tapes across the border. Discover the remnants of illicit industry. Prepare for an assassination. This is Paratopic, an atmospheric retro-3D horror adventure through a cursed fever dream.

Why similar: Surreal 39.1%, Retro 20.4%, Atmospheric 11.9%, Stylized 11%, Adventure 7.6%

Why You'll Like It: This title captures the same low-poly, retro-surreal aesthetic and disjointed narrative style found in Within the Backrooms.

Meet colorful characters, discover mysterious secrets, and reassemble the fractured remains of an ethereal crystal as you explore a series of abstract worlds based on dreams, nightmares, and the places in between.

Why similar: Surreal 27.9%, Retro 14.6%, 1990's 11.8%, Exploration 11.5%, Atmospheric 9.8%

Why You'll Like It: This game leans heavily into the dreamlike, surreal, and retro exploration aspects that define the Backrooms genre.

Experience the liminal world of the backrooms through a VHS camera, immersing into a mysterious story and wandering the dream-like structures... Might there be something following you?

Why similar: 1990's 19.7%, Exploration 18.1%, Open World 16.9%, Atmospheric 10.7%, First-Person 7%

Why You'll Like It: It effectively recreates the 'found footage' aesthetic, making the exploration of its environments feel authentic and grounded.

A horror game about claustrophobia. During a storm your service dog is forced down a broken sewer drain. You find the nearest sewer entrance and run in after it. Along the way you will meet others that are also stricken by abnormal or psychological fear.

Why similar: Surreal 25.9%, Retro 18.9%, Atmospheric 15.2%, Soundtrack 14.8% ★, Stylized 9.8%

Why You'll Like It: A deeply psychological and surreal horror game that uses retro-inspired visuals to evoke a sense of claustrophobia and dread.

Placed in a world without change, you must create fate by watering an ancient plant. Determine a future and live with it.

Why similar: Surreal 26.2%, Retro 20.8%, Adventure 13.1%, Atmospheric 11.8%, Open World 9.8%

Why You'll Like It: A short, atmospheric, and deeply surreal adventure that shares the retro, low-poly aesthetic and mysterious tone.

Explore and admire while navigate through eerie, surreal environments inspired by the Backrooms lore. Explore this uncanny world lost in time and get lost in the otherworldly architecture in a world where reality bends and your sanity is tested.

Why similar: Surreal 29.7%, Exploration 18.6%, Atmospheric 17.5%, Nonlinear 13.1%, Adventure 10.2%

Why You'll Like It: A dedicated walking simulator that captures the quiet, unsettling beauty of empty, transitional spaces.

Inside the Backrooms is a horror multiplayer game mixed with different mechanics that will make you spend an intense night with friends. Explore, think, interact, but be careful, it is rumored that there are several entities wishing to find you...

Why similar: Exploration 31.3%, Atmospheric 24.3%, Adventure 19.3%, First-Person 11.2%, 3D 7.3%

Why You'll Like It: One of the most comprehensive Backrooms experiences on Steam, blending cooperative survival with iconic liminal environments.

A classic survival horror experience set in a dystopian future where humanity has uncovered a dark secret. Unravel a cosmic mystery, escape terrifying creatures, and scavenge an off-world government facility as Elster, a technician Replika searching for her lost dreams.

Why similar: Atmospheric 65.4%, Adventure 22.6%, Puzzle 7.9%, Singleplayer 4.1%

Why You'll Like It: While more structured, its retro-tech aesthetic, surreal lore, and oppressive atmosphere align perfectly with the vibe of the seed game.

Perception is reality. In this mind-bending first-person puzzler, you escape a surreal dream world through solving impossible puzzles using the ambiguity of depth and perspective.

Why similar: Surreal 50.6%, Exploration 14.5%, Stylized 12.9%, Adventure 8.3%, First-Person 8.1%

Why You'll Like It: It explores the surreal nature of perception and space, offering a mind-bending experience that feels like a dreamscape.

An indie psychological horror experience about surviving infinity. Navigate an endless expanse of rooms, ascend through various levels, gather items and artifacts, avoid going insane, evade corrupted entities, and see just how deep the realm known as The Backrooms goes.

Why similar: Surreal 29.1%, Stylized 20.5%, Adventure 14.8%, Nonlinear 10.1%, Walking Simulator 9.9%

Why You'll Like It: Uses procedural generation to create an endless, retro-styled adventure that captures the unpredictable nature of the Backrooms.

wandering into the uncanny concept of liminality, captured in DV tape format you explore what seems to be another dimension, lost in an endless space that looks human-made but isn't.

Why similar: Atmospheric 34.3%, Walking Simulator 19.3%, Exploration 17.9%, First-Person 14.8%, Adventure 7.1%

Why You'll Like It: An indie walking simulator that prioritizes atmospheric, psychological, and surreal storytelling over traditional gameplay.

You work in the cinema as an usher and accidentally fell into the Backrooms, now being trapped, needing to unravel the mysteries of the yellow rooms in order to get out of this place, but be careful, there are entities that will be in your way.

Why similar: Lore-Rich 32.8%, Surreal 30.7%, Exploration 15.6%, Atmospheric 13.4%, First-Person 4.7%

Why You'll Like It: A survival-horror take on the Backrooms that emphasizes the dark, claustrophobic nature of the setting.

The Backrooms: 1998 is a first-person found footage psychological horror survival game where it tells the story of a young teen after accidentally falling into the depths of The Backrooms in 1998. Roam freely, mark, explore and try unravel the story - however you are not alone. Don't scream.

Why similar: Adventure 35.3%, Atmospheric 31.8%, Walking Simulator 17.5%, 3D 8.9%, Puzzle 6.4%

Why You'll Like It: It leans into the 1990s aesthetic and found-footage style to create a visceral and nostalgic horror experience.

You woke up and found yourself in an anomalous endless place from which it is not so easy to get out. Carefully observe your surroundings to find a way out of this place.

Why similar: Adventure 27.7%, Stylized 21.3%, Atmospheric 14.9%, Walking Simulator 13.1%, First-Person 7.4%

Why You'll Like It: Combines walking simulator mechanics with puzzle-solving in a surreal, immersive environment that rewards careful observation.

Dive into a realistic experience of the Backrooms, without jumpscares, getting lost in impossible spaces and feeling like something is watching you. The uncertainty of not knowing where you're going will make you want to quit… Will you be able to make it to the end?

Why similar: Nostalgia 25.3% ★, Nonlinear 20.5%, Atmospheric 15.1%, Exploration 12.2%, Walking Simulator 8%

Why You'll Like It: A realistic and atmospheric psychological horror game that focuses on the unsettling nature of hotel-like liminal spaces.

The Backrooms: Found Footage is a survival horror game with rogue-lite elements, where you explore 600 million miles of randomly generated office space, contend with entities, collect unique and useful lore- all while attempting to maintain your sanity as you try to escape.

Why similar: Surreal 28.4%, Lore-Rich 26.2%, Nonlinear 16.5%, Exploration 14.1%, Walking Simulator 5.9%

Why You'll Like It: Focuses on the exploration and lore-rich aspects of the Backrooms, offering a dungeon-crawler feel within the familiar setting.

Chapter-based Backrooms experience. Embark on a chilling journey through the unknown. Visuals based on early 2000's camcorders.

Why similar: Exploration 32.1%, Walking Simulator 13.8%, Atmospheric 13.6%, 1990's 12.3%, First-Person 10.6%

Why You'll Like It: An immersive-sim approach to the Backrooms that allows for more freedom in exploring its strange, 3D geometry.

You are trapped on a train that runs forever. Keep an eye out for anomalies and find a way out.

Why similar: Exploration 23.9%, Surreal 22.5%, Adventure 15.6%, Walking Simulator 12.7%, First-Person 8.1%

Why You'll Like It: A spiritual successor to The Exit 8 that continues the trend of liminal, anomaly-based exploration in a confined, repetitive setting.

Liminal City is a psychological horror and exploration game based on found footage, set in Backrooms Level 11. Walk through the streets of Level 11, filled with soulless buildings, dynamically moving to different levels and searching for a way out. Once you fall in here will you be able to get out?

Why similar: Exploration 21.1%, Surreal 18.1%, Atmospheric 17.6%, 1990's 12.6%, Adventure 10%

Why You'll Like It: Explores the concept of urban liminality through a realistic yet unsettling walking simulator experience.

Game inspired by SETI. Take the role of a scientist to find an extraterrestrial signal .Control massive Radio Antennas by using interactive control in your Observatory. Detect , download and decode unknown or story telling signals. Manage and Maintain an electrical system to improve your systems and make it more efficient.

Why similar: Indie 42.6%, Atmospheric 41.3%, First-Person 14%, Singleplayer 2.2%

Why You'll Like It: Provides a similar sense of isolation and atmospheric exploration as you monitor strange signals in a lonely, retro-tech environment.

The Elision Effect is a short surreal puzzle game. The last person finds themselves in an empty office. The place seems off, like it shouldn’t exist. Not knowing what made everyone abandon these liminal spaces, they look for an exit.

Why similar: Surreal 29.4%, Retro 15.9%, Atmospheric 12%, Exploration 11.2%, Stylized 11%

Why You'll Like It: A short, surreal, and atmospheric puzzle experience that feels like a fever dream of exploration.

Spend one last afternoon exploring your childhood neighborhood before the world ends at 6:38 PM.

Why similar: Nostalgia 32% ★, Surreal 16%, 1990's 9.7%, Open World 9.1%, Retro 9%

Why You'll Like It: Uses pixel-graphics to evoke a sense of nostalgia and quiet, surreal exploration in a short, atmospheric package.

Backrooms: Exploration is a single-player horror game, which takes place in 2020. Two friends have lost their jobs due to COVID-19, but they still have to bring food to the table. After a failed heist, one of them ends up in the Backrooms. Now your only mission is to survive.

Why similar: Adventure 22.8%, Multiple Endings 18.5%, Atmospheric 16.7%, First-Person 14.4%, Exploration 13.2%

Why You'll Like It: A straightforward, story-rich exploration game that captures the first-person perspective of navigating the Backrooms.

Are you ready to survive in this hostile world? Discover who you are and how you ended up in this dimension. But don't worry, you can rely on warm company that will make your experience much more 'pleasant.' Oh, and good luck, you'll need it.

Why similar: Adventure 34.6%, Exploration 34.1%, 3D 10%, First-Person 9.8%, Puzzle 5.3%

Why You'll Like It: Adds a layer of puzzle-solving and adventure to the exploration of the Backrooms, encouraging deeper interaction with the world.

Explore a unique and connected world. Understand its fragile balance, uncover its deepest questions, and find more than just the answers.

Why similar: Surreal 17.1%, Open World 14.4%, Stylized 12.5%, Exploration 11.8%, Nonlinear 9.1%

Why You'll Like It: While more puzzle-focused, its surreal, first-person exploration and colorful, abstract environments share a similar vibe.

In the Backrooms: Exit from Supermarket, you find yourself trapped in a labyrinth of endless, flickering aisles. Unearth dark secrets behind every shelf while evading lurking apparitions and supernatural terrors. Can you survive the haunted corridors and escape before the nightmare consumes?

Why similar: Atmospheric 32.6%, Exploration 20.4%, Adventure 17%, Walking Simulator 12%, First-Person 11.9%

Why You'll Like It: Focuses on the dark, atmospheric, and psychological aspects of being trapped in a familiar yet wrong environment.

Welcome to Liminal Lane. A short, single player, first person, atmospheric walking simulator. A nostalgic, surreal experience exploring Liminal Spaces. Uncover the secrets of Liminal Lane and escape the Lucid Dreams and Haunting Nightmares.

Why similar: 1990's 22.4%, Exploration 17.3%, Stylized 16.1%, Atmospheric 11.1%, Adventure 10.6%

Why You'll Like It: A casual, puzzle-oriented walking simulator that focuses on the quiet, surreal nature of liminal paths.

Backrooms: Found Footage is a single-player horror game where you are the main character trying to survive the Backrooms. Curiosity wins and you decide to explore this weird place that you got trapped in. What could go wrong?

Why similar: 1990's 20.7%, Exploration 19.6%, Adventure 15.6%, Atmospheric 11.5%, Open World 9.8%

Explore the Poolrooms as if it were lost media from 1998.

Why similar: Surreal 25.2%, Nostalgia 18.3% ★, 1990's 16.5%, Exploration 10.1%, Atmospheric 7.4%

When a routine expedition into The Complex goes horribly wrong, you're left alone and lost, wandering the seemingly infinite maze of hallways, otherwise known as the Backrooms. Might there be something following you?

Why similar: Exploration 31.3%, 1990's 23%, Adventure 12.5%, Atmospheric 10.9%, First-Person 6.7%

Backrooms - 2005 is a chapter-based Backrooms exploration game.

Why similar: 1990's 22.3%, Exploration 18.7%, Adventure 17.4%, Open World 14.6%, Atmospheric 10.8%

An unsettling rogue-lite survival horror adventure. Iconic levels reshape around you. Classic and original entities lurk as greater beings bid for your favor. Collect relics and strange items. Grow stronger. Survive, escape, or claim more uncertain fates. Fall in. Get lost. Go beyond The Backrooms.

Why similar: Surreal 30.2%, Open World 15.5%, Exploration 14.1%, Multiple Endings 12.1%, Atmospheric 11.4%

Explore a looping corridor filled with anomalies. Walk through the fluorescent-lit backrooms environment, examine your surroundings, and spot subtle changes in reality.

Why similar: Surreal 41.7%, Exploration 19.6%, Atmospheric 14.4%, Walking Simulator 8.5%, First-Person 6.7%

Snap your own homemade liminal space photos using a mysterious SLR camera as you explore a variety of empty, strange, and familiar spaces.

Why similar: Exploration 25.2%, Retro 22.3%, Atmospheric 20%, Walking Simulator 9%, Adventure 8.7%

Subliminal is a psychological horror game inspired by the urban legend of The Backrooms. Bleeding edge lighting and rendering, handcrafted open-ended levels, light and perspective-based puzzles, nostalgic spaces, unfamiliar faces, and a rotting feeling that something is not quite right.

Why similar: Surreal 34%, Multiple Endings 18.2%, Exploration 14.5%, Atmospheric 14.3%, Adventure 8%

Experience Will's complicated story, find a way out of the nightmare of liminal spaces by solving challenging puzzles and avoiding dangerous entities — all this awaits you in "Shifting To The Backrooms".

Why similar: Surreal 36.4%, Exploration 20.8%, Atmospheric 12.7%, Walking Simulator 8.3%, First-Person 8.2%

An atmospheric exploration game set in a Dark Fantasy world. Explore the ruins of an ancient civilisation and uncover it's forgotten past through a short nonlinear story with timeless retro graphics.

Why similar: Exploration 14.9%, Lore-Rich 14.7%, Adventure 13.1%, Stylized 10.3%, Retro 8.5%

You have found yourself in a space that reminds you of nothing, and everything. A space of rooms, that are both comfortingly familiar, yet strangely unknown. A space of quiet and loneliness. You have found the BACK*SPACE. You aren't sure if you are alone. You aren't sure if you want to leave.

Why similar: Surreal 25.8%, Exploration 21.9%, Nonlinear 13.2%, Atmospheric 11.4%, Walking Simulator 11.2%

You find yourself in a strange world with no idea how you got there. As you explore more, the world gets increasingly convoluted and unstable. You are now in... The Backrooms.

Why similar: Multiple Endings 21.3%, Exploration 19.9%, Atmospheric 12.3%, Surreal 10.9%, Walking Simulator 8.1%

The Backroom - Lost and Found is a story rich adventure game with some horror elements. Why is there an orphaned room hidden away in the depths of a strange liminal space? Is it "the backrooms" or something else? CYOA? SCP? Weirdcore? No clipping? And what's with the cute paintings?

Why similar: Exploration 34.4%, Atmospheric 25.5%, Adventure 15.2%, First-Person 12.2%, Indie 5.9%

backrooms horror game

Why similar: 1990's 30.8%, Exploration 24.5%, Adventure 16.4%, Walking Simulator 11.5%, First-Person 8.1%

Find your way out of BABBDI. A short, first person exploration experience.

Why similar: Surreal 32.9%, Exploration 18.7%, Atmospheric 16.3%, Open World 14.2%, Walking Simulator 6.3%

Dive into the mysteries of the Backrooms with a solo-developed survival game. Explore eerie hallways, uncover secrets alone or in multiplayer (up to 6 players), and take on unique challenges.

Why similar: Nonlinear 38.4%, Atmospheric 25.3%, Adventure 13.5%, First-Person 12.3%, 3D 8.7%

You are the exploration team from company Async, you arrive to reported anomaly place and searching for anomalies, but what would you find? Prepare yourself for a gripping and heart-pounding adventure in EXPEDITION TO THE BACKROOMS, where every step could be your last.

Why similar: Exploration 43.6%, Walking Simulator 21.6%, First-Person 14.2%, Adventure 13.4%, Puzzle 5.2%

DREAM LOGIC is a story driven first-person atmospheric horror game which takes place in liminal spaces. Explore various nostalgic, dreamlike, uncanny environments. But don't feel too safe, there's a sneaky creature watching your every move.

Why similar: Exploration 22.3%, Atmospheric 21%, 1990's 17.2%, Adventure 13.5%, Walking Simulator 8.1%

Walking simulator. Explore cozy liminal spaces that feel unsettlingly familiar and spark your imagination, like a dream you’ve been in before.

Why similar: Surreal 27.8%, Exploration 19.1%, Nonlinear 17.3%, Atmospheric 8.5%, Walking Simulator 8.2%

You are trapped in a strange dream from which there is no waking. It is stitched from Chinese nostalgia, childhood echoes, and liminal spaces—where sense and nonsense blend freely. All you can do is keep exploring, until you must choose: return to restless reality, or stay in the dream forever?

Why similar: Surreal 31.7%, Exploration 13.6%, Retro 12.3%, Atmospheric 11.7%, Multiple Endings 9.4%

You have found a camera with a footage in it. For some reason you can't rewind the video, and as soon as you try winding it forward you find yourself in the Backrooms. Figure out whats in the footage and try to ESCAPE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE!

Why similar: Atmospheric 37%, Exploration 36.5%, Walking Simulator 14.1%, First-Person 10.7%, Casual 1.6%

Explore 20+ handcrafted levels filled with puzzles, secrets, and hidden lore. Collect, trade, and upgrade your tools as you uncover the story behind a realistic world full of danger and discovery.

Why similar: Multiple Endings 27.7%, Exploration 26.3%, Adventure 15.6%, First-Person 11.1%, 3D 7.8%

Noclipped is a Survival Horror Adventure game located in the Backrooms. Explore infinite levels, collect resources, fight or flee from dangerous beings and survive in the harsh environments of the Backrooms.

Why similar: Open World 29.5%, Exploration 24.6%, Adventure 12%, Atmospheric 10.9%, First-Person 8.7%

Backrooms Doors - This is an atmospheric first-person horror game. Explore spaces that can't exist in the real world and find your way out before the entities find you.

Why similar: Surreal 27.1%, Atmospheric 21.1%, Adventure 16.2%, First-Person 13.7%, 3D 11.2%

Backrooms: What's Next is a Co-op horror game up to 4 players, where you and your friends will explore the game, try to pass the game level using your mind, wit, remembering the places where you were

Why similar: Exploration 32.5%, Atmospheric 17.5%, Adventure 12.6%, Walking Simulator 12.3%, First-Person 9.9%

Explore, Listen and Observe. LIMINAL WATERS is a liminal space exploration game. Discover a large facility with diverse rooms and themes and be enchanted by the radiant beauty of Unreal Engine 5.6. Relaxation, anxiety, confusion or familiarity? The mysterious Poolrooms are waiting for you.

Why similar: Surreal 47.9%, Atmospheric 16.2%, Adventure 12.5%, Walking Simulator 11%, Exploration 8.5%

Step into an uncanny building trapped in endless loops. Use the elevator, uncover unsettling anomalies, and evade the Entity lurking behind you. Liminal Exit is an immersive game inspired by liminal spaces and Exit 8. Explore 3 liminal space floors and track anomalies to escape, but watch your back!

Why similar: Surreal 28.8%, Nonlinear 19.1%, Multiple Endings 16.2%, Atmospheric 9.9%, Walking Simulator 7.5%

Explore the mysterious Hotel Norwood in this surreal first-person adventure. Curious characters, forgotten secrets, and head-nodding music await your arrival.

Why similar: Surreal 31.9%, Nonlinear 16.5%, Exploration 13.7%, Atmospheric 10.1%, Adventure 6.8%

What is inside the Red Fridge? Collection of six episodes of psychological analog horror. Tour through liminal spaces filled with surreal events and uncanny strangers. Inspired by retro horrors of the PSX era.

Why similar: Surreal 21.4%, Retro 14.9%, 1990's 14.7%, Stylized 9.5%, Exploration 9.4%

A short horror experience rendered with a real-time VHS filter (grain, scan lines). Freely explore the spaces of a strange yellow maze. Independently created by a 12-year-old developer using UE5, it immerses you in a purely liminal space atmosphere.

Why similar: 1990's 29.6%, Stylized 20.6%, Adventure 13.5%, Retro 10.7%, Atmospheric 8.2%