The Backrooms 1998 - Found Footage Backroom Survival Horror Game Review

The Backrooms 1998 - Found Footage Survival Horror Game made waves when it first released in Early Access back in 2022. While the fictional Backrooms concept has been popularised as empty and eerie, Steelkrill Studio offered a unique twist, filling 1998 with strange sights, loud jumpscares, and a gruesome narrative to unravel. Now, three years later, the game has officially launched on PC and consoles with improved enemy AI and updated scares, but is it worth adding to your horror library?

A montage of mismatched homemade footage welcomes you to the world of The Backrooms 1998. You’ll see a smiling young boy, a dense forest, and a group of pals skateboarding with a sinister undercurrent, no matter how mundane each sight might be. Your character films himself hyping up his friends to do cool tricks on their skateboards so that they can “become famous” (in his words), but mid-recording, he no-clips into the Backrooms.

Immediately, you’ll notice that this game’s world is filled with more objects and threats than titles like Escape the Backrooms, The Complex: Expedition, and Backrooms: Escape Together, which lean more into an abandoned, surreal aesthetic. Instead, Steelkrill’s version seems like a typical horror game that’s borrowing some visual elements of the Backrooms, and its gameplay and narrative could easily fit in a real-world setting. It definitely excels at making you feel unsettled at every turn, but if you’re looking for a more liminal horror experience, you’ll be disappointed. Personally, I loved that Steelkrill took a chance to do something different, though I do wish its overall execution was better.

Radio segments and environmental clues are the two vehicles for storytelling that 1998 relies on. I won’t spoil much, but the game reveals in the first few minutes that a heinous murder has taken place back in the real world, so you’re tasked with finding items hidden throughout the Backrooms, which are all connected to that crime. As such, you’ll embark on a confusing romp through the winding maze of hallways and rooms. All the while, you’ll notice your character is still filming like he was before the “no-clip” mishap, and VHS-style glitches will frequently distort your screen as if his camera is malfunctioning while you explore.

Although I enjoyed the initial frights, 1998’s frequent and excessively loud jumpscares quickly ruined the spooky atmosphere for me. I usually recommend headphones for most horror games, but the immersion is not worth it in this case. Many of the scares seem to serve no purpose other than to blow out your eardrums, and their inclusion isn’t deliberate, as there’s little build-up of tension between each one. While a jumpscare can be a powerful tool, its use in 1998 is more annoying than terrifying.

The game also suffers from redundancy, in a way, as one of the main mechanics you’re given is spray paint that allows you to mark where you’ve been in the maze, but there are already many visual markers that distinguish rooms and hallways from one another. If the game leaned more into the usual emptiness of the Backrooms, then I think the feature would make more sense. As it is right now, the mechanic isn’t reaching its full potential; it seems like a cool item to incorporate, but using it is very optional. Additionally, spray painting walls with the Nintendo Switch’s controls is awkward at best, as you can’t be accurate with what you’re drawing/writing, causing more frustration than it's worth.

Where I think Steelkrill hit the mark is the design of its monster, which will stalk the halls as you try to find the items. It’s truly gross and unsettling to look at (if you’ve seen the promotional images, you’ll know what I’m talking about). I also love that the enemy can hear you from your microphone, making hiding more intense. That said, the console has neither a built-in mic nor does it support Bluetooth mics. If you want to experience 1998 to its fullest, you’ll need to connect a headset/microphone via the 3.5mm audio jack. To its credit, though, it’s entirely playable without a mic; in fact, it’s far easier.

While there is a save system in 1998, I unfortunately had a lot of trouble reloading, as it would cause my playthrough to bug out, removing previously picked-up items from my inventory (such as the flashlight you get early on) and causing my quest log to duplicate objectives three times over. I had to restart twice as a result. With the game being only an hour or two long, these issues should be easily avoidable as long as you finish it within one sitting (and don’t die).

The Backrooms 1998 isn’t a horror game I’d recommend for those who dislike jumpscares, and honestly, I’d be hesitant to recommend it to those who do. The gameplay is a bit tedious, the atmosphere is ruined by loudness, and it’s still quite buggy even after the years it spent in Early Access.