Pools feels like a game that was specifically made for me and potentially nobody else. I’d never heard of it before today, but there it was at the top of my Steam recommendations. Pools. On sale for a few bucks off its $10 asking price. Never heard of it. Looked weird. For that price, I could make it happen. If I regretted the purchase, I’d just make fun of it for the eight people who still follow me on social media. Too bad I don’t regret it, baby! At all. I don’t want to make fun of Pools. In fact, I love it very, very much.
To its credit, the game’s Steam description is pretty upfront about everything - almost with a tone of 'I’m being honest about what this is. Please don’t complain later'. It’s a walking simulator inspired by The Backrooms - specifically the pool-related variations. There are no monsters. There are no jump scares. Just a lot of hallways and puddles and pools in increasingly uncomfortable spaces. Some are claustrophobic. Some are kenophobic. All are so creepy and fascinating. And that’s the whole game! But it’s honestly the creepiest game I’ve played all year. Did I say I love it? I did? Good! Because I love it.
Pools Is The Best Version Of The Backrooms
If you’re not familiar with The Backrooms and its endless incarnations, imagine getting lost in an infinite, near-abandoned mall. “Near-abandoned” because every so often - depending on the game/video/whatever - something appears in a room that makes it look recently used. Or hints at some sort of purpose. And sometimes there’s a monster that chases you through said endless hallways. There are stairs going nowhere, impossible angles, and one-way slides. Even when there are monsters, The Backrooms relies less on being afraid of what you’re running from and more being afraid that you’ll never be able to find your way back out. And also being killed by the thing you’re running from.
The thing is, I’ve always kind of disliked the monsters in different takes on The Backrooms. While jump scares are extremely effective on my child-like brain, they don’t instill me with dread the same way getting lost does. I’m far more afraid of being in a massive complex with no idea where I am than - I dunno - ghosts. If anything, an enemy appearing in a game tells me that I’m on the right path - I’m in the spot to trigger something and I’ve got a specific task at hand I’m supposed to accomplish: RUN. Enemies can turn a creepy walking simulator into a less fun, less well-made version of Amnesia. I’ve run from thousands of zombies and draculas and frankensteins and wolfmans. I’m tired of running, mama.
It's Relaxing, Being So Scared All Of The Time
To be fair, there is a game here. Pools is broken into a handful of chapters, each of which is a contained maze. Your goal, if you could call it that, is to explore the spaces until you find the end of those mazes. It’s a smart choice. Each maze is relatively small once you get through it, and the ever-increasing oddness gives it a type of “one more turn” vibe. Except, here it means literally one more turn around a corner to see if maybe that is a new area or an exit. Nope! Let’s keep moving and turn around another corner. Finishing a maze is satisfying and terrifying in equal measure. The moment you’re out of one creepy space, you’re in an even weirder one. You don’t want to keep going, even though you know there isn’t anything in the shadows.
I’m also trying to avoid ruining some of the surprises. While there aren’t any monsters per se, there are a lot of sections of the game that will spook you. Certain objects appear in unexpected places. Weird symbols and artwork litter the pools in, uh, Pools. Chairs - which you can sit in - are strewn about. Water slides - which you can ride down - wind through ceilings and walls. And, as with many The Backrooms-style projects, it’s made to look like it’s all on a VHS tape. When you fall a long way, you even drop the “camera” and have to wait for it to be picked back up while you have zero control. Good news: you can also jump into pits and drown yourself, but the VHS tape will just rewind and bring you back to where you were. It will not let you die.
But Pools is also oddly relaxing? There are moments when you enter a beautiful, well-lit area that almost feels normal. Occasionally, light, pleasant music will come from a loudspeaker and taper off when you leave the room. There’s a sense of place. Someone actually used this facility and recently. The fact that the floors, walls, and water are mostly clean only adds to the uncanniness of the whole thing. It’s so nice that you feel there is no way you could be alone. And when things do change, it makes it all the spookier.
Look, I know that Pools isn’t going to be every person’s cup of whatever. I’m sure the idea of a walking simulator with no enemies or audio logs or tangible story sounds awful to a lot of people. But between so many massive RPGs and endless weirdos online making every character in every game part of the Discourse™, I needed Pools. I needed a game about absolutely nothing that could get under my skin at my own pace. And if that doesn’t sell you, let me remind you that it’s only $10 and there’s a demo on Steam.
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