Escape the Backrooms

Escape the Backrooms released in early access on August 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 was planned for 2026.^[2]

Set in The Backrooms, a fictional liminal space location, up to four players can explore the various levels in the game.^[3] Over thirty unique levels are playable in the game.^[4]

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.^[5] 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.^[6]

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.^[7]

Eighteen months after the early access release, the game had received over 44,000 reviews with roughly 90% of them being positive.^[9] 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.^[10] After the full Windows release, the game surpassed 30,000 concurrent players in under two days.^[11]

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.^[8]