Echoes of The Backrooms is a 2024 indie psycho-horror game developed by the one-man-army gaming studio, DarkSide Studio. The studio is run solely by one person, Alexandros Koulas, A.K.A. Alexandros Darky. In this article, we will find out if its initial effort manages to deliver a game that is worth the psycho-horror community’s (and not only) attention. It is available exclusively through Steam for PC, for less than 10 USD, and supports only keyboard input. I will try to keep this article as spoiler-free as possible on what matters. Let’s deep dive into the horror of the backrooms handcrafted by Alexandros Koulas.
About DarkSight Studio
DarkSight Studio is a Greek gaming studio founded in 2023 by its only owner and developer, Alexandros Koulas, A.K.A. Alexandros Darky. It is a one-man-army studio. Alexandros is a talented art developer with a passion for horror, especially psycho-horror. As you might guess, he is a Silent Hill fan. His notable work is a remake of Silent Hills P.T. hosted on his YouTube channel, and it is one of my favorite remakes as well. Echoes of The Backrooms is his initial effort at the gaming segment and seems promising.
It was a more than a year project, and it was developed and directed by Alex himself. For an indie game with such visual levels and aesthetics, it puts shame on much larger and well-regarded studios. All these by only one person with love for what he does and in something more than a year. In my notebook is an impressive achievement on its own. But does this mean that the E.O.T.B. is worth your time and valuable money? Well, this article is written for this purpose, and I will offer you my personal, humble, and objective opinion, as always. Just keep reading, my fellow backroomers.
About the Backrooms
If you’re not careful and you noclip out of reality in the wrong areas, you’ll end up in the Backrooms, where it’s nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in
God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby because it sure as hell has heard you
— Anonymous, 4chan (May 13, 2019)
The above quote might be the best intro for the Backrooms myth. The Backrooms mythology was a famous creepypasta among 4chan and Reddit users from 2019. At their core, the Backrooms are fictional locations where large extra-dimensional rooms can be accessed only by being able to clip out of reality. Later additions include levels and hostile entities that reign supreme and lurk, waiting for their next victim. If we accidentally ignite the wrong place and space, it might be you or me.
Even if we manage to avoid getting involved with these hostile entities, the paranoia of the Backrooms alone is enough to devour us in an eternal battle between shadows and monotonous fluorescence until our permanent mental and physical breakdown. This is how we will become an eternal part of the Backrooms. There is no exit; there is no salvation. Of course, we don’t have to worry because the Backrooms are only fictional. But do they? Do they?
Echoes of The Backrooms
Tested on two different systems:
- A Core i7 8086K, GTX1070Ti, 32 GB DDR4 RAM build
- A Core i7 13700K, RTX4070Ti, 64 GB DDR5 RAM build
- Both updated to the latest Windows 11 version and GPU drivers
The game was released on August 24, 2024, and received one minor update on September 6, following a major update on August 31. This is more than welcome because it shows that the game is well-supported and the developer believes in his creation. This is a plus on my notebook. I decided to run the game on both of my essential PCs to check how it performs both on an older and on a more recent, powerful system. While the performance was adequate on my older build, and the game was more than playful, I still felt something was missing. On older or similar specced systems, the game will be on the spot, and performance-wise, it would keep up to the task. Some minors might occur occasionally, but nothing major to shadow the whole picture. Even less-powered systems would be treated nicely.
But as I stated, I felt that something was missing. The game is built upon the latest visual achievements, and a more recent, powerful build would offer the best result. So, I completed my mission on my latest build to enjoy the almost 9GB game. And I was rewarded, as expected. Some bugs and performance issues were improved with the latest Alex’s updates and hopefully will continue to be improved. Just be patient; you can contact the developer through his official Discord Server to report any bugs or improvements you think might be beneficial. I have to note that I played the game on the higher available settings and didn’t notice any major bugs, but sometimes performance and optimization might have been better. There’s nothing major to complain about, though. Not even the “Level 37 Poolrooms” bug that many users reported had occur to me.
But are any games that don’t suffer from bugs, even by large studios? The game consists of 4 primary levels (Level 0 – Level 37 Poolrooms – Level 5 The Hotel – Level ???) and utilizes the latest visual technologies, Dolby Atmos, built upon Unreal Engine 5.3. The visual result is eye-catching, especially considering that just one person ran the whole project. Some people have talent and love what they’re doing, I guess. The game is not bloated, so it will take 2–5 hours, depending on whether you are the explorer type, to be completed. It should be considered a bit short for today’s standards, but on the bright side, it is not boring. I find many games too bloated and dull without a significant reason.
Echoes of The Backrooms might be short, but it is not one of them. It manages to capture the thrill and the atmosphere of the Backrooms. And that is what it should do, and it does it well. From the intro, you will feel at home. Almost, at least. You can’t call a home a place like the Backrooms. Except if you feel this way? Who am I to judge, though?
You should note that you might notice mediocre graphics the first time you run the game. That’s because EOTB keeps track of your current framerate based on the HIGH settings. The solution is to launch the in-game “EXECUTE OPTIMIZER” and type HIGH or EPIC on its interface. That applies only if you own a power horse. It is what it is, unfortunately. Also, if you are stuck at a level, you can skip it with the OPTIMIZER tool by typing OPEN_LEVEL_(Number). The (Number):
- 1 is the Laboratory
- 2 is the Level Zero
- 3 is Level Poolrooms
- 4 is Level Poolrooms Part Two
- 5 is Liminal Hotel
- 6 is Liminal Hotel V2
- 7 is Liminal Desert
- 8 is Liminal Loop
These known bugs might occur (in my case, they didn’t) and hopefully will be fixed in later updates. It should be fixed for the game’s overall reputation. No one likes to pay for a product that can’t deliver the optimal result. At least, in the EOTB case, they are rare and easy to solve. It is what it is, though. Moreover, note this number: 149,5. It will be handy, just in case.
And now is the appropriate time to refer to the game’s scenario. It is the Backrooms. Full stop. Well, no, just messing around. You are “burdened” with following the story of Oliver, a mechanic who was unfortunate enough to no-clip out of reality and become part of the Backrooms nightmare. We follow him on his desperate race against time and a terrorizing entity trying to exit the unknown nightmare that is tasked with surviving. His future is uncertain. Will he survive? Will he be able to exit the Backrooms? Or he will be a part of them? Well, it is in your own hands to find out. Or your keyboard if you prefer.
Oliver will go through shadows and bones, shifting with rainbows and sun on his dark adventure. May God mercy his soul. It was supposed to be just another boring day at his job. What went so wrong? I guess nothing was wrong; he just ran out of luck in the worst possible way. Poor Oliver. The game realistically captures the drama and the atmosphere of the Backrooms, making us part of them. Some references to other “fathers” of psycho-horror games (like the chained door. Guess what.) are welcome additions.
The acting is on the spot without making an Oscar-nominated difference, and the game supports various languages (subtitles), including Greek and Russian. The subtitles are machine-translated, so it might not be the best out there, but I believe it is adequate to make you part of the story. The music sounds like it was written by an unknown entity that lurks in the Backrooms and the sound effects are making their way to your soul in a quite disturbing way—the way of the Backrooms. Jovani Silveira, who is responsible for the music of the game, makes me believe that he visited the BR, somehow survived, and returned to write the score. This has always been a challenging task, and Mr. Silveira managed to deliver it in the best possible way. The music and the game are part of the same echo. A strong card of the EOTB.
While playing, you will come across the infamous Mikrosoft Windaws XP (copyright reasons), but by the time we talk about bugs, Alex should refer to Windaws Millenium, the one and only leader of the bug race. Just to know. The worst part was waiting for me later on in the game. As the owner of a 13700K, what I fear most is BSODs. And that’s what I came across when I shouldn’t. I felt like Oliver in his nightmare until I understood it was just part of the game. That was the most frightening part of the game. Owners of the 13th and 14th Gen Intel processors should have been warned. You don’t play with these things. But it was just part of the game. I could use a break back then, and this review might never have been released because of this.
Anyway, is Echoes of The Backrooms a game worth your buck after all these? Should you invest your valuable time in it? Let’s proceed to the verdict to find out.
Verdict
Echoes of The Backrooms is a well-built Indie game worth your attention. It is not bug-free (yet), or the best of its kind, but still manages to keep up with its task. To make you part of the game and its atmosphere. It won’t be a life-changing or AAA title, but I don’t believe this is its core purpose either. It does one job, and it does it well. Eye-catching visuals, clever puzzles and riddles, and an interesting story that even well-regarded studios are put to shame. And that is not the whole story. The game is undeniably more than decent, but some might overlook the most essential part: It was developed by only one person, and it was his initial effort. For less than 10 USD, you will assist a talented and promising studio to deliver the best that it can in the future.
In these challenging times when companies mostly try to steal our hard-earned money, indie studios deliver little gems that need our help and support to continue. Echoes of The Backrooms is one of these. We have to support more studios and efforts like these actively. In a way, we are also responsible. Considering this fact, I believe you should spend your extra bucks on an indie gem with something to tell especially if you are a fan of psycho-horror games or a fan of the Backrooms mythology. As for me, I have to leave for now for another dull day at work. But wait, what? WHAT?
