KEEP YOUR HEAD UP
A FAMILIAR PLACE
DON'T LOOK BACK
KEEP YOUR MIND TOGETHER
YOU ARE ALL ALONE
DON'T LOOK BACK
KEEP YOUR MIND TOGETHER
YOU ARE ALL ALONE
— Gameplay trailer
Subliminal is an upcoming horror/puzzle video game set for release in 2024, developed by Sven and based on the lore of The Backrooms. It will be playable on PC.
The player will solve puzzles while exploring the Backrooms, an endless series of interconnected rooms that resemble places one might see in real life, like living rooms, hospital corridors, and subway stations, but all of them are ominously empty of other people. Empty, that is...aside from some hostile entities and monsters you might run into.
An official trailer
and official gameplay trailer can be viewed on YouTube.
Not to be confused with Superliminal, a similar-looking game that's less horror and more of a puzzler.
This video game contains examples of:
- Amusement Park of Doom: One of the levels is an indoor children's play area with brightly colored structures, reminiscent of Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach.
- Analog Horror: The training video is in the style of an old-fashioned VHS tape.
- Deliberate VHS Quality: The training video has a grainy filter over it that makes it appear to be a VHS tape...and there's lots of glitches.
- Madness Mantra: The word "SORRY" can be seen written over and over in graffiti on the walls of a subway station.
- No Eye in Magic: Whoever's narrating the training video warns the player not to make eye contact with any unfamiliar entity.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Like the lore of the creepypasta it was based on, the game's primary scare factor comes from being in spaces that are ordinarily filled with other people, but are instead empty and silent. Most of the trailer is spent wandering around various empty locations while eerie music plays, including a living room with children's toys and a TV, a hospital corridor, and a hotel floor.
- Ominous Visual Glitch: Very easily missed, but the first room that appears in the trailer is a dimly lit living room with furniture that includes a single wooden chair. The player looks away from it for a few seconds to turn the light on, and when they turn back to it, there are now two chairs.
- Red Filter of Doom: A hospital corridor is shown, bathed in ominous red light.
- Repetitive Audio Glitch: The training video at the beginning of the trailer glitches audibly and visually multiple times, including when the narrator says, "Use your light source to help you navigate through the ex-ex-experience..." and "Av-av-avoid making eye contact with any unfamiliar faces..."
