Games

7 Games Where You Can Walk Through Liminal Spaces: The Exit 8, Pools, Escape the Backrooms and More

Published: 2026-09-28

Empty corridors and pools, endless yellow rooms. The world of liminal spaces and the Backrooms that spread across the internet has become somewhere you can actually walk, inside games. This article introduces seven representative games, including what kind of fear they offer and their language support, and ends with real places you can visit afterward that feel like them.

Why Liminal Space Games Keep Appearing

"Liminal spaces" and "the Backrooms" spread across the internet as images and videos from around 2020. Games turned this world, once something you looked at in photos of empty corridors and rooms, into something you could walk through. From around 2022, works by solo developers and small studios appeared one after another, and today they form a genre of their own.

In 2026, A24's film Backrooms, directed by Kane Parsons (Kane Pixels), opened in the United States on May 29 and in Japan on September 4, drawing fresh attention to the games as well.

The Exit 8 and Platform 8: Games Born From Japan's Underground Passages

The Exit 8 was made by the Japanese solo developer KOTAKE CREATE and released on Steam on November 29, 2023. Trapped in an endless underground passage, you aim for Exit 8 by one rule: if you spot an anomaly, turn back; if there is none, keep going. Its Steam page says it was inspired by Japanese underground passages, liminal spaces and the Backrooms. It has been ported to Switch, PS4 and PS5, Xbox, smartphones and Switch 2, and a live-action film was released in August 2025.

The sequel, Platform 8, came out on Steam on May 31, 2024, with Switch, PS4 and PS5 versions in November. This time you spot anomalies inside the cars of a train that never stops. Both take about 15 to 60 minutes to play and are fully playable in Japanese. The creator has explained that an anomaly in which the ceiling lights fall out of line was based on Kiyosumi-shirakawa Station in Tokyo.

Related spots on LIMap The Eerie Passage at Kiyosumi-shirakawa Station Tokyo Station Keiyo Line Connecting Passage

Pools: A Maze of Tiled Pools With No Enemies

Pools was developed by the Finnish studio Tensori and released for PC on April 26, 2024. You walk, swim and slide alone through a facility where tiled pools continue like a maze. There is no UI, no dialogue and no music, and its Steam page says there are no monsters or jump scares.

It was inspired by the Poolrooms, an offshoot of the Backrooms. It has since come to PC VR, the App Store, PS5 and PS VR2, and Nintendo Switch. For more, see our guide to Pools.

Escape the Backrooms: Escaping With Friends, Monsters Included

Escape the Backrooms is developed by Fancy Games and published by the British label Secret Mode. It began in Steam Early Access on August 11, 2022, and reached its full release on October 23, 2025. PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions followed in May 2026, and a Nintendo Switch 2 version in July.

Up to four players cooperate online, working through more than 30 "levels" to find a way out. Monsters called "entities" hunt the players and can even hear their voices, so the horror is clearly strong. The Steam version supports Japanese for its interface and subtitles.

Dreamcore: Wandering Five Liminal Places Without Fighting

Dreamcore was developed by Montraluz in Argentina and released on January 23, 2025, for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. You roam freely through maps based on liminal spaces, such as "Dreampools," a maze of pools, and "Eternal Suburbia," a suburb of near-identical houses. Free updates added maps over time, and all five were available by May 2026.

There is no combat, and the visuals have the texture of body-cam or VHS footage. The Steam version supports Japanese. It suits players who want the feeling of wandering through dreamlike places more than they want to be scared.

Two English-Only Games: Anemoiapolis and The Backrooms 1998

Anemoiapolis: Chapter 1 was made by Andrew Quist, a solo developer in Michigan, and released on Steam on March 3, 2023. You fall into a strange underground residential complex and try to escape through endless carpeted floors and lonely malls. The creator has said it tries to recreate the experience of being in an empty mall or a school at night. It is also named as one of the inspirations for Pools.

The Backrooms 1998 is a found-footage (VHS-style) survival horror game by Steelkrill Studio in Malta. It entered early access in May 2022, and its full release came out on February 20, 2025, together with console versions for PS5, Xbox, Switch and more. You play as a boy who fell into the Backrooms in 1998, and enemies that hear your footsteps and voice make it very scary. Both are available only in English on Steam.

Real Places You Can Walk After the Game

The atmosphere of the corridors and rooms in these games can also be found in real stations, underground passages and exhibition halls. On LIMap you can find the passage at Kiyosumi-shirakawa Station, said to be one of the models for The Exit 8, and the Keiyo Line passage that leads deep beneath Tokyo Station, as well as Chi-Ka-Ho, the 520-meter underground walkway linking Sapporo Station and Odori, and the Kanmon Tunnel pedestrian walkway, where you cross about 780 meters under the sea.

An exhibition hall between shows, with no people and no fixtures, is also known as a Backrooms-like space. Stations and passages are used by many people, though. When taking photos, take care not to capture passersby clearly, and do not block the way.

Related spots on LIMap Sunshine City Exhibition Hall A Sapporo Ekimae-dori Underground Walkway (Chi-Ka-Ho) Kanmon Tunnel Pedestrian Walkway

If You Find One, Put It on the Map

Sometimes you find a place in a real city that looks just like a corridor you walked in a game. The transfer passage you use every day may be someone else's Exit 8.

LIMap is a map for recording those places with photos and locations. If you find one, please add it.

FAQ

Are there liminal space games that are not scary?

Pools says on its Steam page that it has no monsters or jump scares. Dreamcore also has no combat and is about wandering and taking in the atmosphere. Both have dark places and a fear of getting lost, but nothing chases you.

Which ones can I play in Japanese?

The Exit 8 and Platform 8 are made in Japan and fully playable in Japanese. The Steam versions of Pools, Escape the Backrooms and Dreamcore also support Japanese. Anemoiapolis and The Backrooms 1998 are English-only on Steam.

Can I play any of them with friends?

Escape the Backrooms supports online co-op for up to four players. The other six are essentially single-player games.

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