Backrooms vs Exit 8: Two Endless Spaces That Work in Opposite Ways

Where Each One Came From

The Backrooms is an internet urban legend that grew out of a single photograph posted to 4chan in 2019. It has no author; it spread as collaborative fiction with contributors adding lore. Kane Parsons brought it to video on YouTube in 2022, and A24 released a film adaptation in 2026.

Exit 8 is a short game by KOTAKE CREATE, a solo Japanese developer. It launched on Steam on November 29, 2023, then spread to Nintendo Switch and other platforms, passing one million combined Steam and Switch sales by August 2024. A live-action film followed in 2025.

One is authorless collective creation; the other is a designed work with a clear author. That difference in origin becomes a difference in the quality of the fear.

What They Share Is the Nature of the Space

They look alike for a good reason: the spatial conditions are identical. No people. Everything looks the same. The place exists only to be passed through. No exit is visible.

Those are the textbook conditions for a liminal space. An underground passage and a yellow office room have exactly that much in common.

The Decisive Difference: Whether There Are Rules

Exit 8 has explicit rules. Spot an anomaly and turn back; see none and continue. What the player does is observe and judge, and correct judgments advance the exit number. The space has a solution. The fear comes from the tension of possibly missing something.

The Backrooms has no rules. There is no correct way to behave, and no guarantee an exit exists at all. The fear comes not from tension but from meaninglessness itself.

Put differently: Exit 8 is a space that tests your attention, and the Backrooms is a space where attention does not help. One leaves you with accomplishment, the other with discomfort. That is a difference in design intent, not in quality.

A Japanese Underpass and a Western Office Interior

The choice of setting is telling too. Exit 8 uses an underground passage — for people in Japan, an utterly everyday space. Signage, posters, fluorescent lights, tiled walls: scenery you walk through daily.

The Backrooms' yellow room is the back side of an American office or retail building. Both picked the most thoroughly familiar meaningless space available in their own culture. To maximise unease, you first need total familiarity.

Both Atmospheres Exist in Real Japan

People have long tried to identify the station Exit 8 was based on, but the more interesting exercise may be finding places that share its atmosphere. It is not one specific station; plenty of places meet the conditions.

LIMap maps underground and connecting passages like these with their actual locations.

Related spots on LIMap 清澄白河駅の不気味な通路（8番出口のモデル地） 東京駅 京葉線・武蔵野線連絡通路（渋すぎる入口）