History WebOriginal / TheBackrooms

%%* DeconstructedTrope: The premise is based on the video game concept of "noclipping" (or leaving the boundaries of a level), and examines what would happen if someone RealLife "noclipped" out of reality. The results are [[CosmicHorrorStory horrifying]].

%%* InstakillMook: Most Entities are a combination of a Type 1 example and an InvincibleVillain. All you can do is either (A) [[RunOrDie run and pray you give them the slip]], (B) [[StealthRun hide and pray they move on without noticing you]], (C) [[BeastInTheMaze pray you get back to a safe place before you encounter them]], or (D) pray they kill you quickly and painlessly. [[Series/DoctorWho Seriously, there's an outrageous amount of]] ''[[LuckBasedMission praying]]'' involved in any long life lived in The Backrooms. And the Entities that are ''confirmed'' killable are such damage sponges that battle is still inadvisable due to the utter drain on [[ResourcesManagementGameplay preciously scarce resources]].

* InstakillMook: Most Entities are a combination of a Type 1 example and an InvincibleVillain. All you can do is either (A) [[RunOrDie run and pray you give them the slip]], (B) [[StealthRun hide and pray they move on without noticing you]], (C) [[BeastInTheMaze pray you get back to a safe place before you encounter them]], or (D) pray they kill you quickly and painlessly. [[Series/DoctorWho Seriously, there's an outrageous amount of]] ''[[LuckBasedMission praying]]'' involved in any long life lived in The Backrooms. And the Entities that are ''confirmed'' killable are such damage sponges that battle is still inadvisable due to the utter drain on [[ResourcesManagementGameplay preciously scarce resources]].

** Most other Entities combine this with InvincibleVillain in that all you can do is either (A) [[RunOrDie run and pray you give them the slip]], (B) [[StealthRun hide and pray they move on without noticing you]], (C) [[BeastInTheMaze pray you get back to a safe place before you encounter them]], or (D) pray you die quickly and painlessly.

* NothingIsScarier: The main appear of the concept is the helplessness of feeling a nebulous danger around the corner in an unfamiliar and confusing place, but always losing sight of it. Of particular note is Level 6, a maze of dark halls that will drive you insane in a mere 48 hours unless you escape; yet, it's completely devoid of monsters...

* TrappedInAnotherWorld: There is no known way to escape the Backrooms. Theories abound, some Levels claim to have exits to the real world, or "The Frontrooms" as they like to call it, but nothing is substantiated and even then it's practically impossible. [[BrokenBase Some people]] prefer to [[StatusQuoIsGod leave it at that]], while [[FanDumb other people]] say even that much ruins the {{Cosmic Horror|Story}} of the Backrooms and prefer escape to be literally impossible.

* SceneryDissonance: Just because a level looks pleasant enough, doesn't mean you're safe. Level 37 has pleasant and relaxing surroundings with its pools of water and bath tiles, but the Hydrolitis Plague lurks in the dark areas for very painful and frequently deadly infection to the unwary.

* SceneryDissonance: Just because a level looks pleasant enough, doesn't mean you're safe. The Lobby, which is very well lit if drab and maddeningly boring, can be easy to get lost in, with the risk of running out of supplies.

* DaylightHorror: Especially prevalent with Level 0: The Lobby, which is very well lit but not with a lighting color that is necessarily comforting. The incessant loud buzzing of the fluorescent lights adds an extra level of potential discomfort along with the neglected yellowing of the corridors. An additional element of tension comes from the light making you supposedly easier to spot by any entities roaming this maze. However, some canons state that you have no hope of ever seeing another living being as if each person's experience is its own instance, making it possible to GoMadFromTheIsolation in this case and have sensory hallucinations.

* BreatherLevel: The Fandom wiki version of Level 37, also known as the Poolrooms. Here, there are no entities, only miles of artificial canals, pools and other water features in an environment reminiscent of an indoor water park, complete with varying levels of lights, a colour-changing sky visible through windows, and tiled walls and floors. However, travellers must note that the water in Level 37 is not chlorinated, and the darker areas of the level have stagnant water which the bacteria responsible for the highly dangerous Hydrolitis Plague have colonised.

The Backrooms is an [[MemeticMutation internet meme]], {{Creepypasta}} and quasi-AlternateRealityGame based upon the eponymous EldritchLocation, an infinite series of rooms decorated in mono-yellow wallpaper and moist carpet, lit by fluorescent lights, supposedly accessed when one "noclips"[[note]]A videogame CheatCode in which the player passes through otherwise inpenetrable objects, such as walls or the floor[[/note]] out of reality. Currently, a [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-backrooms KnowYourMeme article]] exists documenting the phenomenon and two [[https://www.reddit.com/r/backrooms/ separate]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/TheBackrooms/ subreddits]] as well as [[https://backrooms.fandom.com/wiki/Backrooms_Wiki three]] [[http://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/ different]] [[http://liminal-archives.wikidot.com/ wikis]][[note]]Liminal Archives doesn't exclusively deal with the Backrooms and will delve into other things at times.[[/note]] have been made to expand upon the lore.

The Backrooms is an [[MemeticMutation internet meme]], {{Creepypasta}} and quasi-AlternateRealityGame based upon the eponymous EldritchLocation, an infinite series of rooms decorated in mono-yellow wallpaper and moist carpet, lit by fluorescent lights, supposedly accessed when one "noclips" out of reality. Currently, a [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-backrooms KnowYourMeme article]] exists documenting the phenomenon and two [[https://www.reddit.com/r/backrooms/ separate]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/TheBackrooms/ subreddits]] as well as [[https://backrooms.fandom.com/wiki/Backrooms_Wiki three]] [[http://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/ different]] [[http://liminal-archives.wikidot.com/ wikis]][[note]]Liminal Archives doesn't exclusively deal with the Backrooms and will delve into other things at times.[[/note]] have been made to expand upon the lore.

The creepypasta was created in 2019 by an anonymous user on Website/FourChan, when posting the aforementioned quote in response to a slightly tilted photo of an empty yellow-colored hallway in a discussion about unsettling images. The concept of one suddenly getting stranded alone in an abandoned maze beyond reality and the eerieness of the image — depicting a familiar environment like an office, but without any people or furniture — led many internet users in the following years to delve into the story and expand the original premise in social media, such as adding antagonistic supernatural entities and different landscapes trapped travelers could face, sometimes called "levels". the latter often similarly plays with the juxtaposition of nostalgic, recognizable and oft-crowded places depicted as abandoned, claustrophobic, surreal and dream-like instead.

* EvenTheSubtitlerIsStumped: Played for horror but also downplayed with the electronic voice on the radio. Sometimes, the computerized voice of the Overseer will reiterate with the voice garbled, but still understandable. The subtitles reflect this with special characters partially obscuring the regular English letters, as if to create an other-worldly experience in both the subtitles and audio.

The Backrooms is an [[MemeticMutation internet meme]], {{Creepypasta}} and quasi-AlternateRealityGame based upon the eponymous EldritchLocation, an infinite series of rooms decorated in mono-yellow wallpaper and moist carpet, lit by fluorescent lights, supposedly accessed when one "noclips" out of reality. Currently, a [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-backrooms KnowYourMeme article]] exists documenting the phenomenon and a [[https://www.reddit.com/r/TheBackrooms/ subreddit]] and [[https://backrooms.fandom.com/wiki/Backrooms_Wiki three]] [[http://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/ different]] [[http://liminal-archives.wikidot.com/ wikis]][[note]]Liminal Archives doesn't exclusively deal with the Backrooms and will delve into other things at times.[[/note]] have been made to expand upon the lore.

The creepypasta was created in 2019 by an anonymous user on Website/FourChan, when posting the aforementioned quote in response to a slightly tilted photo of an empty yellow-colored hallway in a discussion about unsettling images. The concept of one suddenly getting stranded alone in an abandoned maze beyond reality and the eerieness of the image — depicting a familiar environment like an office, but without any people or furniture — led many internet users in the following years to delve into the story and expand the original premise in social media, such as adding antagonistic supernatural entities and different landscapes trapped travellers could face, sometimes called "levels". the latter often similarly plays with the juxtaposition of nostalgic, recognizable and oft-crowded places depicted as abandoned, claustrophobic, surreal and dream-like instead.

** Level 4Four of [=Th3 Sh4dy Gr3y=] to Level 11, as many refer to it as "Level 11 but dark." Much like Level 11, Level 4Four is a large city with a similar design, and often have buildings that glitch and defy the laws of physics (like floating, appearing upside down, or clipping into each other). However, Level 11 is a colorful city where it is an EndlessDaytime, and is safe due to a general lack of entities. The entities that do appear (mainly Facelings and Hounds) are under "The Level 11 Effect" and therefore are passive and [[TruceZone will not attack wanderers]]. Level 4Four is under the same DeliberatelyMonochrome palette as the rest of [=Th3 Sh4dy Gr3y=], and it is AlwaysNight. Entities are everywhere on this level and they are always hostile. Skyscrapers are locked, but can easily be broken into. This is not recommended as they are filled with entities like Smilers and Skin Stealers. The streets are filled with Facelings who will mug wanderers out of their belongings, and The Mangled, who are always roaming the streets looking for someone to stomp on. If that wasn't bad enough, the level hosts severe weather conditions such as extreme temperatures or natural disasters. Level 4Four is Level 11 if it were just as dangerous as some of the other worst levels in the backrooms rather than the safe haven it currently is.

** The Frowners are to the Smilers what Partypoopers were to the Partygoers. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin As their name implies]], [[PerpetualFrowner they have a constant frown on their face]], but are genuinely friendly to wanderers. They also are not afraid of the light compared to their smiling counterparts, revealing themselves to be humanoid creatures standing at 6-10 feet with long sharp horns protruding from their head and long claws. While they are normally docile, they will get aggressive when Smilers are around, who are their natural enemy, [[BewareTheNiceOnes and will also sacrifice you to the Smilers if you attack them]]. Much like the Fun War, Smilers and Frowners got into their own war called the Glowing Face War. [[TheBadGuyWins The Smilers unfortunately won]] and [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs took over the Frowners' home level]]. Thankfully, the Frowners didn't go extinct like the Partypoopers did, but they're still endangered. They eventually got themselves a new level, where they'd help backrooms wanderers seeking refuge. The Frowners are slowly but surely repopulating. What helps is that they can [[HeelFaceBrainwashing convert Smilers into more Frowners]] by gouging out their eyes with their claws.

* ThePromisedLand: It's said that there exists a level where Wanderers can live in peace within a 300 floor building with 1000 different compartments. These rooms all have all sorts of luxuries and amenities that make it feel like the [[EarnYourHappyEnding perfect paradise after braving through all the tough levels of the backrooms]]. Any entities found in the level are friendly and there's even an exit to not only the level, but the backrooms as a whole! Sounds like paradise, but unfortunately, it is hard to reach.

** Inverted in a sense with Level "Fun =)." It is advertised as an incredibly fun place to visit; Partygoers make a great effort to lure wanderers through portals into this level with suspiciously optimistic advertisements. The Partygoers even edit the wiki pages to make the level feel more inviting. However, this level is one of the worst traps to enter in the backrooms as it's heavily populated by Partygoers and has birthday party rooms which conceal deadly ambushes. If you end up warping here, you'd better stay concealed, avoid wandering into the party rooms, and find a warp zone to get out asap as being detected will lead to a most unpleasant demise.

* TheVirus: Several [[EldritchAbomination entities]] in the backrooms are infectious, such as the [[SlasherSmile Smilers]] and [[MonsterClown Partygoers]].

%% Please hold off on any new examples for Into The Backrooms for a few days, as this page is currently in the process of [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=7gdn5j6npephxl2pj8pwouss a split]]. %%

Another notable video -- predating the Kane Pixels series (October 26, 2019) -- is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWkvc9yN4Ts Into The Backrooms]] by [=YouTube=] user Evan Royalty. It also has its own separate continuity from the general Backrooms lore and tells the story of [=LAPD=] Police Officer James Richmond responding to a welfare check request from a Timothy Park whose wife Claire Park has gone missing. Rich discovers an open door at the Park residence and requests backup, a Knox answering the call. Long-story-short, Rich falls through a glitch into Level 0 and suffers great emotional trauma from his experience of being isolated and hunted by an entity. The video was developed through modifications to ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV''.

** Skin-Givers kill victims they encounter by placing extra layers of skin on them until they pass out from heat exhaustion, to which they then tear off the new layers of skin and eat the victim’s flesh.

** Tiletraps will attack “losers” of the Tile Game, to which they inject them with enzymes which paralyse them but keep them conscious, to which more Tiletraps will swarm and burrow through the victim, they will also try their best to keep their victim alive throughout the process.

** The Hydrolitis Plague’s symptoms include discoloration of skin, high fevers, internal bleeding and [[BodyHorror necrosis]], eventually resulting in death.

** Level REDACTED, also known as “The Downroons”, is practically another set of Backrooms, with various locations known as “Sub-Levels”. The Level can be only accessed by quantum tunneling in The Void, and the moment you enter, you will be doomed to wander the level for the rest of your life.
** Being the singed 8-bit integer limit, Level 256, also known as “Demoscene”, is an abandoned technological demonstration and exhibition center. The level contains terminals which display static, video games, or recordings of the viewer. There is also a “sky”, which in the 4th and final document, isn’t actually a sky. It can be accessed by being unlucky enough to no-clip through Level 4, and similarly to The Blackout, there is no known exit. This means that you are doomed to wander Level 256 until death.
** The Stop Sign is a BrutalBonusLevel that consists of a simple infinite field. What makes this unique, however, is that there is an entity resembling a single stop sign, which functions as the main gimmick of the level. When the stop sign gets you, it will suck your soul out, and add it to the M.E.G. database. If you run away for it for long enough, it will freeze you in time, and cut your head in half. Since there is no known exit, you will inevitably die a few moments after entering The Stop Sign, and it’s also unknown how to enter. It is also a case of BlatantLies due to the article being vandalized by a wanderer named Gary’s dead friends to make the Level seem safe.

--> '''Dawn:''' So… let me see if I got this right. You are some sort of being far beyond my comprehension, of immense power, and you're using it to have chats over tea?

* FateWorseThanDeath: Those who consume Liquid Pain will fall victim to one of these, starting off with a minor swelling or fever on their left leg, then following onto a sudden pain stab to the stomach, a mild 10 hour long headache, pus leaking from the legs and head, small fractures to the skull and violent swelling of the head, internal bleeding from the legs with muscles breaking and scratching open, and ending with the explosion of stomach and eyeballs, organs busting open and the victim no longer being able to use their limbs. They’re kept alive and conscious through all of this, by the way, and somehow survive afterwards.

* KingMook: The Party Hosts are this to the Partygoers, even if the former doesn’t look much like the latter.

** Especially as originally dscribed, the entire Backrooms can be interpreted as minus world(s) for the whole of reality.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: An incredibly dangerous item in the Backrooms which gives people [[FateWorseThanDeath Fates Worse than Death]] if they drink it is named Liquid Pain, doesn’t seem too pleasant of a name.

** The joke level "The Room" is a room whose only entrance and exit is a door labeled "EXIT TO REALITY (NOT A JOKE)" that only leads to an empty 100m by 100m room with indestructable walls and floor (and possibly ceiling). If anyone is actually dumb enough to enter it, it will automatically close and lock behind them, leaving them trapped to starve to death unless they happen to be lucky enough to have someone else open it for them from the outside.

** Level 106’s description briefly mentions a scene in the movie “The Adventures of Mark Twain”.

** The discovery log for Level 94, which is in it’s own page, briefly mentions the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas in this line: “This place is messed up, like visual effect wise. It's like I'm in "The Nightmare Before Christmas" down here. The entire place is like a Puppet Stop-Motion movie, set in the 50's, milk vans and all!”

--> '''Rich:''' POLICE DEPARTMENT! ANYBODY IN HERE?!

* AllTheWorldIsAStage: Level 38 is an amalgamation of all levels from numbers 0 to 37, having all of their effects. Some documented include the darkness of Level 6, the intense mould of Level 28, the decay in the outer sections of Level 33, the inability to be photographed of Level 12, the pipes of Level 2, the great Wi-Fi of Level 3, the gravitational effects of Level 7, the high number of floors of Level 13, the reminiscence of childhood experiences of Level 18, the non-Euclidean layout of Level 26, the tainted food of Level 36, the Level 11 effect, the [[SchmuckBait quote-on-quote “paradise”]] of Level 14, the complete structural shifts of Level 16, the distorted mountains and settlements of Level 29, the fake landscape of Level 30, the skeletons of Level 32 and the colour changing sky of Level 37.

* AllTheWorldIsASTage: Level 38 is an amalgamation of all levels from numbers 0 to 37, having all of their effects. Some documented include the darkness of Level 6, the intense mould of Level 28, the decay in the outer sections of Level 33, the inability to be photographed of Level 12, the pipes of Level 2, the great Wi-Fi of Level 3, the gravitational effects of Level 7, the high number of floors of Level 13, the reminiscence of childhood experiences of Level 18, the non-Euclidean layout of Level 26, the tainted food of Level 36, the Level 11 effect, the [[SchmuckBait quote-on-quote “paradise”]] of Level 14, the complete structural shifts of Level 16, the distorted mountains and settlements of Level 29, the fake landscape of Level 30, the skeletons of Level 32 and the colour changing sky of Level 37.

* AllYourPowersCombined: Level 38 is an amalgamation of all levels from numbers 0 to 37, having all of their effects. Some documented include the darkness of Level 6, the intense mould of Level 28, the decay in the outer sections of Level 33, the inability to be photographed of Level 12, the pipes of Level 2, the great Wi-Fi of Level 3, the gravitational effects of Level 7, the high number of floors of Level 13, the reminiscence of childhood experiences of Level 18, the non-Euclidean layout of Level 26, the tainted food of Level 36, the Level 11 effect, the [[SchmuckBait quote-on-quote “paradise”]] of Level 14, the complete structural shifts of Level 16, the distorted mountains and settlements of Level 29, the fake landscape of Level 30, the skeletons of Level 32 and the colour changing sky of Level 37.

On January 7th, 2022, interest in the Backrooms lore was bolstered when a Website/YouTube user named Kane "Pixels" Parsons released a viral [[FoundFootageFilms found footage]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4dGpz6cnHo short]] about a camera operator who finds themself trapped in Level 0, unknowingly stalked by wire-like entities who eventually decide to give chase. The video was given a [[DeliberateVHSQuality VHS filter]] to [[ObscuredSpecialEffects disguise the CGI nature of the project]], and many viewers were impressed with the lifelike camera movements that made the video feel real. The video was later followed by others which turned it into a full AnalogHorror series, which is mostly disconnected from the previous Backrooms-themed wikis. The page dedicated to this series can be found [[WebVideo/KanePixelsTheBackrooms HERE]].

* CatsAreSuperior: Berry is a cat who has an entire following and can seemingly give visions of reality

->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…

The creepypasta was created in 2019 by an anonymous user on Website/FourChan, when posting the aforementioned quote in response to a slightly tilted photo of an empty yellow-colored hallway in a discussion about unsettling images. The concept of one suddenly getting stranded alone in an abandoned maze beyond reality and the eerieness of the image — depicting a familiar environment like an office, but without any people or furniture — led many internet users in the following years to delve into the story and expand the original premise in social media, such as adding antagonistic supernatural entities and different landscapes trapped travellers could face, sometimes called "levels"; the latter often similarly plays with the juxtaposition of nostalgic, recognizable and often crowded places depicted as abandoned, claustrophobic, surreal and dream-like instead.

->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

The Backrooms is an [[MemeticMutation internet meme]], {{Creepypasta}} and quasi-AlternateRealityGame based upon the eponymous EldritchLocation, an infinite series of rooms decorated in mono-yellow wallpaper and moist carpet, lit by fluorescent lights, supposedly accessed when one "noclips" out of reality. Currently, a [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-backrooms KnowYourMeme article]] exists documenting the phenomenon and a [[https://www.reddit.com/r/TheBackrooms/ subreddit]] and [[https://backrooms.fandom.com/wiki/Backrooms_Wiki three]] [[http://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/ different]] [[http://liminal-archives.wikidot.com/ wikis]][[labelnote:Note]]Liminal Archives doesn't exclusively deal with the Backrooms and will delve into other things at times.[[/labelnote]] have been made to expand upon the lore.

[[folder: The Backrooms In General]]

* {{Expy}}: Level 5 is a haunted HellHotel with long endless walkways and gaudy interior design not unlike [[TheShining the Overlook]].