Escape the Backrooms

Escape the Backrooms is a cooperative horror video game developed by Fancy Games and Blackbird Interactive and published by Secret Mode. It was officially released on 23 October 2025, for Windows, after an early access version released on 11 August 2022. The game will be released on PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series in 2026.

Escape the Backrooms released in early access on August 11 August 2022, on Steam. The game left early access on 23 October 2025.^[1] After the full release of the game, a separate release for Xbox and PlayStation was planned for 2026.^[2]

Set in The Backrooms, a fictional liminal space location, up to four players can explore the various levels in the game.^[3] Over thirty unique levels are playable in the game.^[4]

Players begin in the yellow-colored level 0 and explore to find exits of it and each subsequent level. Players can sprint and find items such as flashlights and food on most levels.^[5] Players can use the food items to manage sanity, a tracked stat that results in the death of the player if it drops to zero.^[6]

Players encounter entities throughout the game, most of which are a threat. The most common entities are "smilers," which are found in the dark, "skin stealers," which resemble the player, and "hounds," which are dog-like creatures with human faces. Most entities can be avoided or fought off.^[7]

Eighteen months after the early access release, the game had received over 44,000 reviews with roughly 90% of them being positive.^[9] It was described as one of the six best horror games that may have been missed by players in 2022 by Luiz H. C. of Bloody Disgusting.^[10] After the full Windows release, the game surpassed 30,000 concurrent players in under two days.^[11]

Mark Delaney of GameSpot rated the game a 6/10. He described the gameplay loop as "sparse," though enjoyed the appearance and experience of finding new levels.^[8]