Poolscape
Explore the Poolrooms as if it were lost media from 1998.
Poolscape focuses on immersing players in the nostalgia of classic PSX gameplay through authentic ’90s-styled visuals and quirks rather than aiming for ultra-realism like most liminal space games on the market. Explore many unique Poolrooms levels, each offering its own atmospheric sound design and liminal experience, blending isolated, euphoric exploration with subtle horror elements that are heightened by the technical limitations of PS1-era hardware.
This game is intentionally slower-paced. You are not meant to rush through. Take your time with each environment to enjoy the sounds and ambience!
Poolscape includes EIGHT distinct levels. Some environments are unique to this game, and others will be familiar to anyone familiar with Poolrooms or Backrooms lore.
Level 1: Classic Poolrooms - Endlessly repeating tiles and fake skylights form the comforting yet uncanny liminal space you’d expect from a classic Poolrooms environment. This is a straightforward level that is designed to introduce players to this retro-styled Poolrooms experience!
Level 2: The Aquatic Megastructure - In this level, you’ll find yourself in a huge, brutalist facility that is impossibly vast. The large industrial walls are meant to evoke a feeling of megalophobia, as this is the largest and most expansive environment in all of Poolscape.
Level 3: Dreampools - The most euphoric environment in Poolscape. Bright colored pools, matte-colored tiles, and low-poly palm trees give players the feeling of wandering through a dream. Surely nothing is watching you… right?
Level 4: Dark Poolrooms - Drenched in almost total darkness, the Dark Poolrooms plunge players into the most tense and unnerving level seen in Poolscape. Claustrophobic hallways and thick black fog keep the anxiety constant.
Level 5: Nostalgia Springs - Inspired by the Neon Springs from the "Lost in the Hyperverse" YouTube series, this level features vaporwave, mall-like architecture drenched in neon lighting and 90s-themed aesthetics.
Level 6: Oceanscape - Heavily inspired by the ocean environment in "The Backrooms: Lost Tape," this level drops players into a calm, breezy ocean that includes strange sculptures, structures, and floating platforms. Everything here seems too perfect to be real.
Level 7: The Chlorine Complex - Deep within the Backrooms, you find yourself inside of a seemingly endless motel-like structure, which is comprised of shallow indoor pools. The air is musty and smells of chlorine. This level has three distinct sections, each with its own vibe and ambience.
Level 8: Promised Future - This is a Frutiger Aero/Y2K-themed level that will make you feel like you've entered a Windows desktop wallpaper. In a way, this level is a culmination of everything within Poolscape, pulling inspiration from each prior level while also introducing surprises of its own.
A central "hub" area that replaces a traditional main menu. This area includes waterslides that will take the player to each level!
An original soundtrack which will include many different ambient tracks to enhance the liminal atmosphere.
Accurate PSX-era graphics. This includes low-res textures, low-poly models, color dithering, pixelation, vertex snapping, distance culling, and distance fog.
There is an optional VHS filter that can be applied to the player by interacting with the VHS Tape in the Sky Pools, giving the game a Puppet Combo-inspired look!
Poolscape is an exploration-based walking simulator that is meant to let players relax, listen to some aquatic music, and wander this retro rendition of the Poolrooms. However, each level will have a unique ambience and set pieces to keep the gameplay fresh and bring replay value for multiple playthroughs!
Poolscape also features a Weirdcore-inspired entity. This entity will not harm the player, but it will keep a close eye on you throughout most levels.
Players will find notes within each level that will give Poolscape its own lore.
Some levels will include light platforming sections. These sections have a very forgiving respawn mechanic, so no worries if you happen to fall into an endless abyss!
