Backrooms, Liminal Spaces, And The Subliminal Menace Of Loneliness in Indie Horror Games
Backrooms, Liminal Spaces, And The Subliminal Menace Of Loneliness in Indie Horror Games
Backrooms, Liminal Spaces, And The Subliminal Menace Of Loneliness in Indie Horror Games
By Nathalie Lawhead
February 5, 2024
Summary
This is about the horror of liminal spaces, and the intrinsic surrealism of our digital world That beautiful awful loneliness of existing in the electric void of shared virtual fantasies that video games are.
Despite the incredible depth of detail AAA games today have, I think the older lack of detail, the hidden things, what remains unsaid is why horror in games remains such a unique experience.
I wrote about that here: Exploring the beautiful world of indie horror games.
The loneliness of Tomb Raider's Tibetan Foothills was awful Or even the dread of having to go into Tomb Raider 2's Yeti Cages is something that will always highlight how terrifyingly lonely crawling through video game spaces can be.
There's a unique menace to this overwhelming feeling of loneliness found in these games.
Games like Dreamcore build on the backrooms concept as a video game.
"If you scream, you restart. An Unreal Engine 5 short horror experience made by two indie devs. The challenge: explore the forest for 18 minutes without screaming. The catch? Time only ticks when you move. It's the perfect game to scare the pants off your friends and family.
Reference
Lawhead, N. (2024, February 5). Backrooms, Liminal Spaces, And The Subliminal Menace Of Loneliness in Indie Horror Games. Www.gamedeveloper.com. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/backrooms-liminal-spaces-and-the-subliminal-menace-of-loneliness-in-indie-horror-games