Franzconferencetables

Upcoming game Pools looks similar to other games based on “The Backrooms,” the creepypasta notion that you can noclip out of normal reality and into mazes of “liminal spaces” that resemble ’90s office buildings or unused meeting rooms at a Marriott. In this case, though, we’re trapped in a pocket dimension of pools.

“Poolrooms” aren’t an original addition to internet paranormal lore, and it bears mentioning that another, similar-looking game called Dreamcore is in development (which was pointed out to me after this article was originally published). Antti Järvinen, head of Pools developer Tensori, credits artists Jared Pike, Mortain Colors, and Matt Studios as inspiration for Pools, among others, as well as a game called Anemoiapolis by Andrew Quist.

Pools perhaps …

Since I first wrote about the demo for cosmic horror adventure game Desolatium all the way back in January 2022, I’ve been hired full time by PC Gamer, gotten Covid, adopted a dog, and traveled out of the country three times. You know what hasn’t changed? Desolatium still looks rad as hell. The Lovecraftian (literally set in the Cthulhu Mythos) point and click is finally available on Steam for a launch sale price of $13.

The thing that still most grips me about Desolatium is its presentation: you explore pre-rendered environments in first person, Myst-style, but rather than using 3D model work, the world is constructed out of real photography. That hyper-realism, combined with some gnarly gore and other supernatural effects, results in a really unique, surreal atmosphere that sets…