The Bathrooms Review

The Bathrooms puts players into the virtual shoes of an ordinary man on this way to work and out of nowhere he wakes up in a deserted high school swallowed by fog puzzled. And unfortunately, his trust Shiba dog is nowhere to be found. After a strange Halloween ritual, the school’s bathrooms have become a liminal space-like labyrinth. You’ll need to collect coins to buy your way out and also find a way to save your beloved dog.

The Bathrooms is a first person liminal space type of game where players will need to navigate a confusing maze in order to collect coins so they can unlock the exit. Although, it’s not as easy as you’d expect. Coins will not only buy your way out, but it also serves as your health meter to a certain expect.

And yes you’re not alone. In your search for coins and your dear puppy, you are hunted by an evil clown, referred to as the Custodian, wanting to take your money away. You’ll come across wells that you’ll trigger to generate money; it bounces everywhere and you need to run around and collect it.

While it is dark most of the time, you’ll find a flashlight and you’ll also come across switch to turn on the lights of the labyrinth. If the Custodian turns the lights off, it becomes even more tense as you try to figure where the footsteps are coming from.

It’s the clown coming for your money so you’ll need to to run to avoid being captured. Thankfully, you can hide in bathroom stalls scattered everywhere in the greyish labyrinth. Just don’t forget to lock the door as the Custodian can open the door. The clowns appearace are completely random; sometimes you can get caught twice within minutes, but other times, you’ll have time to get lost twice before he comes out.

The game looks great. Liminal games are somehow so soothing despite the tense ambiance and atmosphere. The labyrinth meshes seamlessly and you sometime don’t even notice you’ve changed area because you’re so tense from the eventual appearance of the Custodian. If you need to relax, you can bring a photo of your dog at any time. The soundtrack is pretty minimal and the atmosphere is top notch.

The biggest nuisance here, bathroom stalls aside, is that if you’re spotted by the Custodian and you see him, you’re automatically screwed. You can’t run away from him so it’s just a matter of seconds before you’re caught and get robbed of all of your money.

While I love most liminal space type games, The Bathrooms takes some risks by adding a proper chase element to the game and adds a layer of challenge, after being caught multiple times, it becomes incredibly annoying; especially when it takes over $50 000 to open the door. I commend the team for adding some variety to an otherwise streamlined genre, but be prepared to restart over and over and over.