Backrooms Demo

Great job, especially for your first game!

too hard

Wow. Just Wow.

Where do I even begin with this masterpiece of a game,

I shall walk through my highlights in chronological order, but dear viewer please beware that this post contains spoilers for this game, it is a plot SO powerful, that you best avoid if you have not experienced its sheer glory yourself.

Firstly, the settings menu, wow, such detail, every instance of the game is editable for your preference, deeply innovative, I was shocked and frighteningly excited, I immediately called my parents to tell them about the wonders upon my monitor. To say this game is artistic, is an understatement, even the settings menu had hidden meaning between the pixels. The use of "poland" was a detailed touch, informing the player of the destination of the backrooms, however it is also a powerful ironic message, because the backrooms are an escape. An escape from where? Poland, a worse hell than the nightmares of the noclip realm. The music, a 3 second loop, indicating the protagonists dwindling mental state, repeating the same actions over and over, possibly inspired from the mind shattering scene from the hit game Far Cry 3.

Next, I hovered over the quit button, the settings alone was enough adrenaline for one day, but I found it would not press! The horror had begun and I was offered no easy safety, to escape I must endure the nightmare beyond. This is indicative of the horrors endured by the protagonist, he cannot quit the backrooms, so why should I! The detailed imagery once again in full vigour. I could really feel the protagonist within me.

So, with fear in my eyes and my mouse firmly clenched, I pressed "play". The first thing I noticed, the DPI, it was so high, this is a clear representation of the protagonists fear, quickly whipping round corners to check for monsters, my wrist hurt as so did his whole body, from turning and twisting on the run. I came upon the red arrows, a sharp, perfect arrow, contrasting with the deeply detailed environment, an indication of the protagonist not belonging in this world. The wallpaper, turns at 90 degree angles indicating his fall to insanity. The audio reminded me of my visit to German WW2 bunkers, it was clear some kind of militaristic evil was at play here.

Then I came upon my first enemy, a small anime-like woman. A reference to Japanese pop culture, it blasted my ears with a sound effect so terrifying I had to take a 30min break to re-adjust myself. Pressing forward, I found a screwdriver, guarded by a tall figure with some kind of red object on his arm, but he disappeared! Leaving but a sign reading "RUN"!!! So I ran, all the way to a vent, and made my escape. Crawling through, the FOV on my camera jittered as I gazed upon the exit, behind, a hamster.

This may sound confusing to you now, but, I had a sudden realisation.

The FOV shake, simply the character losing their physical body, they had died, but to who? The Hamster? But the Hamster is on the game icon, it's how the game was started and how it ended, meaning the protagonist must have killed themself! The Japanese/Axis power references, the man with a red arm... arm-band. The German bunker, the feeling of running from the past, the use of Poland, it all came together. You play as Hitler. In his bunker, the days before his death, preparing to commit suicide, failing to escape his corrupting mental state. And so. The greatest game of our generation ended, with a swift Alt-F4 to desktop. And wow. This is the sort of thing I will think over and over for years. Thank you Developers, you truly are masters in your field. All my prayers to you.