Backrooms: Partygoers Review

Backrooms: Partygoers tells the story of a nameless scientist tasked to find anomalies inside the horrifying alternate dimension known as The Backrooms; a maze-like liminal space where you are tracked by a giant monstrosity.

Backrooms: Partygoers is a first person survival horror game where players walk around a liminal maze looking for anomalies scattered throughout the area all the while finding the bloody remains of your fellow scientists whom are failed before you.

As a simple scientist, you cannot defend yourself. Meaning the only thing you can do when coming near the giant monster is to run away. Thankfully, you’ll find lockers scattered throughout the map where you can hide. While the monster can see you enter lockers; he’ll wait for a few seconds and then move on so you can leave and resume your search.

Our courageous little protagonist also has an Anomaly scanner that will beep when you’ll be close to an Anomaly. Be careful though as the creature will hear the noise and hone in on you if you don’t skedaddle immediately or put away the scanner. There’s also squeaky ducks lying around the floor and bottomless pits so you need to watch your steps.

To aid in your survival, you’ll need to explore the map in order to find water bottles that refills your health and batteries for your flashlight. Additionally, when walking around corners, you can take a quick peak to make sure you won’t end up nose to nose with certain death.

The game’s liminal design shows that less is more. The more you walk around the maze, the creepier it becomes as it doesn’t change drastically. The ease in which you can get lost and go around in circles adds to the tension of the liminal room and overall atmosphere. The game doesn’t have a soundtrack per se. The game relies heavily on ambient noises; which overlaps with a light whistling like score.

While the premise is quite unnerving and terrifying, the lack of gameplay mechanics is a bit of a nuisance. All you can do is walk/run (I use that term loosely) and hide into lockers. You cannot defend yourself when you’re in the vicinity of the monster.

Backrooms: Partygoers is one of the best horror games in recent memory. The developer showed what’s possible with a less is more mentality. Walking around the liminal space is quite unnerving; the game has one of the most chilling atmosphere. However, you cannot defend yourself. Your survival depends heavily on hiding in lockers. That being said, Backrooms: Partygoers is a must play gaming experience whether it be for seasoned gamers or those looking to dabble in the genre. Don’t miss it.