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(Image credit: Anonymous 4chan user)
In case you’re unfamiliar with what the Backrooms are, here’s the rundown. In 2019, an image was posted to 4chan displaying an eerie set of rooms devoid of natural light—capturing people’s imaginations so vividly that it spawned its own lore.
It’s considered a liminal space, which is loosely defined as an area that’s notquitesurreal, but getting close. It’s the manmade equivalent of the uncanny valley, a building or a space crafted from normal parts, but arranged in an abnormal and unsettling way. Hallways that lead to nowhere, rooms serving no natural purpose, brutalist interiors with flickering lights or, in some cases,swimming pools. There’s no exact criteria for what comprises a liminal space—you know one when you see one. Also, maybe there’s a spooky little monster that’ll jump you and steal all your bones.
That last bit has been the origin of a lot of indie horror games including (deep breath)Escape the Backrooms,Inside theBackrooms,Backrooms Rec,The Backrooms 1998, and many more derivatives that don’t quite mirror the Backrooms, though quoteth its vibe.
There’s even an SCP-stylewiki pagedocumenting heaps of levels, ranging from accursed farmsteads to aroller rink spanning hundreds of miles. References have also made their way into other games—in Remnant 2, for example,you need to access the Backroomsto unlock a secret archetype.
The Backrooms Photo Origins - YouTubeWatch On
The Backrooms Photo Origins - YouTube
The Backrooms Photo Origins - YouTube
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Fortunately, the Internet Archive is a thing—and it just so happened to have a version of the page from 2003. In an extremely fitting twist of fate,every single picture on the pageexceptfor the Backrooms is broken.
The page has (or had, rather) before and after pictures of the store’s renewal. Below the images, the site reads: “Above is the original view of the East (Oval) room. Notice no windows are visible? You can not see in the pictures the extent of water damage, but it was there requiring all of this material to come out.”
“The owners were really cool too, they pretty much instantly helped out and provided information about the photo,” Leon tells Koebler.
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