Escape the Backrooms

Escape the Backrooms released in early access on 11 August 2022, on Steam. The game left early access on 23 October 2025.^[1] After the full release of the game, a separate release for Xbox and PlayStation would come out on 28 May 2026^[2]. ^[3]

Set in the Backrooms, a fictional liminal space location, up to four players can explore the 30+ unique levels in the game.^[4][5]

Players begin in the yellow-colored level 0 and explore to find exits of it and each subsequent level. Players can sprint and find items such as flashlights and food on most levels.^[6] Players can use the food items to manage sanity, a tracked stat that results in the death of the player if it drops to zero.^[7]

Players encounter entities throughout the game, most of which are a threat. The most common entities are "smilers," which are found in the dark, "skin stealers," which resemble the player, and "hounds," which are dog-like creatures with human faces. Most entities can be avoided or fought off.^[8]

The game received a largely positive reception from players, with it being praised for its amount of content, sound design and enjoyable multiplayer experience.^[10] It was described as one of the six best horror games that may have been missed by players in 2022 by Luiz H. C. of Bloody Disgusting.^[11] After the full Windows release, the game surpassed 30,000 concurrent players in under two days.^[12]

Mark Delaney of GameSpot rated the game a 6/10. He described the gameplay loop as "sparse," though enjoyed the appearance and experience of finding new levels.^[9]

However, many players have criticized the game as being too repetitive, having animations of poor quality and are frustrated by the lack of communication from the main developer, Fancy.