Imagine being the monster stalking mark and just listening to him scream at nothing

Is no one going to comment how horrifyingly natural everything was rendered? It was so real looking that it made the infinite construction even spookier

"And you can just FEEL a cacophony of maybe hundreds of thousands and maybe millions of people that are just SCREAMING AT YOU. and your idiocy, you ever get that feeling??" Um, yeah, Mark, it's called anxiety.

"Is that hole meant for me? Is that my hole?" Every reminder that Mark knows about Amigara Fault is another bullet in my chest.

The other Backrooms games are quickly becoming a bunch of run of the mill “there’s a scary monster chasing you” games. This was the first one that I’ve seen that really *nailed* the whole “liminal space” feel. Super unsettling, no jump scares, 100% atmosphere. This was awesome!

I love Mark’s slow descent into madness about him missing something here, but in actuality that’s the exact experience this place is supposed to evoke lol

At my last job there was a series of backrooms built something similar to these games and when we were closed and no-one was there, it was probably the most mind-altering experience I have ever had. It's so quiet it hurts your ears, you literally start to see and hear things if you just stand in there and walk around and it feels like it takes forever to walk from one side to the other. It's a strange phenomenon.

23:50 Holy shit i distinctly remember being in a green tiled pool room like this when I was a little kid, and for whatever reason the memory stuck with me. It had such an uncanny and.. isolated feeling to it exactly how everyone described the feeling of the back rooms. I’m so glad someone else had that experience and tied it into a back rooms game. Something about 80’s architecture man.

"The funfact is the jumpscare" Dear lord I love Lixian

I love how the game doesn’t contain any monsters, it’s just the ambiance and fear of not being alone crawling on your back. Just like how backrooms were meant to be.

11:23- I just realised the backrooms would be a great laser tag arena

Every time Mark was paranoid: 0:00 - 37:19

What I’ve learned from the comments: 1. This is what the back rooms were meant to be. Pure nothingness. No silly monsters. Just you and your increasing level of insanity. 2. The mind plays tricks on itself. When it’s bored, it makes things up. 3. It’s the fear of nothing that’s more scary than the fear of something. It makes you uneasy and longing for something, anything. 4. The point of the back rooms is displacement. Feeling like you’re the only thing in a supposedly man-made place, but also feeling as if you’re not supposed to be there. Like nothing in there should be living, yet there you are. 5. Our brains will betray us more than help us. It will fill in the voids and come up with theories other than the truth. 6. Mark gave the perfect reaction and is quite simply entertaining in stressful, seemingly boring scenarios. We love you, Mark!

*actually yawns* Mark: _“Lixian, I think people are getting bored, hit them with a jump scare”_ NO WAIT!!

I'm so glad a backrooms game finally used more than just one setting holy shit. There's tons of liminal spaces to use and it's only ever the yellow rooms.

Okay there was definitely a head that peaked out down the hall in the dining hall level

Markiplier: Thinks this game is complex Also Mark: Thinks losing his mind scares him more than the actual horror game.

It goes to show that Mark is just a top tier creator that I literally watched him walk around for 40 min and didn’t regret a second of it

0:57 the only jumpscare that got me

25:27 MatPat's reaction was so dang similar "This was a bad decision, I regret my decision. This is one of those moments where oh- I regret nothing, I was right the whole time! I knew what I was doing, this was entirely within my planning."

The cool thing about Mark doing this is that it literally simulates actually being in the Backrooms, and at first he was like "Hey, I'm playing a game about the backrooms, yeah, lets do that" and his emotion changed, just as if he actually no-clipped into the Backrooms. Eventually, he would expect to be jump-scared by the thing he saw at the beginning and was waiting for it and when that didn't happen he started to doubt that he saw anything at all, just like if it had actually occurred. He started getting frustrated with the fact that he felt like he was going in a loop, and even stated that he was seeing a whole lot of nothing and was exited over scared to just to claim to be hearing a clicking sound, and responded negatively instead of positively went it went away. And he barely even noticed. Just like if it actually occurred.

Edit: I didn't expect to get top comment, it never happens to me lmao! This comment contains spoilers for the video, so read at your own risk if you haven't finished yet. This was such a good representation of the original backrooms concept. It's empty. There's nothing. No stupid monsters. You wander and wander under the humming flourescent lights and you think there _must_ be *_something_* here. You're so desperate for anything to break up the monotony of endless wandering and the incessant hum of the lights that you trick yourself into seeing and hearing things. It happened constantly to Mark throughout this video, and it's proof of concept that the backrooms never needed monsters. Edit 2: I'd like to amend a few things. Firstly, yes the original greentext does say something along the lines of "god forbid you hear something because if you heard it, it certainly heard you." This is not explicit confirmation of a monster inside the backrooms, it is an implication at best. Remember that the backrooms are based on "liminal" spaces, at least according to how the aesthetic has changed the meaning of that word. These images are of public spaces that should be teeming with people, but are empty and usually taken with dim lighting to give them an abandoned or dilapidated appearance. They're supposed to invoke unease and loneliness. This game achieves that same feeling by not having anything truly threaten you. Second, I had not seen kane's videos before this, and I do like his monster, but you'll notice he spends a lot of time building up to them and they aren't the only source of horror. There are the disappearances and strange events, anything could happen in kane's backrooms! Lastly, yes, there are a couple instances of an appendage of some kind disappearing behind a pillar in the video. But still, nothing happens. To me, it seems to be presented as your mind playing tricks on you, as I said above. I don't think every horror experience needs to be an adrenaline pumping sprint away from a screaming monstrosity that wants you dead. Sometimes isolation and hopelessness are all you need, and that's what I was trying to praise in this comment. Thanks to everyone for their likes and replies, whether you agreed with me or not!

This is my FAVORITE backrooms game adaptation. This one really hit me, maybe for the same reasons it hit Mark 😂 With nothingness, nothing but silence and walking....it makes me wonder how long I would last in this environment. It'd be rough

Can we just appreciate Mark running around for the first 20 minutes lost and then all of a sudden he's smashing out the quickest plays for each level.🤣🤣🤣🤣

You can actually tell Lixian is a good editor because I actually thought the "The Backrooms 2" at the start was part of the game.

"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"*

There's just something about the area at 34:26 that makes it my absolute favorite liminal space aesthetic. The idea of being at a decrepit house in the middle of an unforgiving, endless tundra, while under a dark and starry sky fills me with equal parts dread and awe. I can't really explain it anymore than that, but this exact combination of atmospheric elements that intrigues me more than any other Backrooms-esque aesthetic. Not every Backrooms level needs some sort of entity to make it interesting, and sometimes it's just the idea that you're all alone in a desolate and foreign environment that makes it special. It's such a simple and open environment, and yet to me, it ends up being so much more than that.

I was so hoping there'd be no monster and when there wasn't I was so happy. The monsters always make Backrooms stuff less scary. Just the isolation and thinking that there *COULD* be something inhuman there with you is so much more terrifying. Loved this

Everyone's saying that 1998 is scarier than this, but I think this is perfect. Maybe a little more from the wavy-tentacle just to really make you think it's following you, but even that might be too much. People add monsters to this world that actively chase you and are a constant threat, but the _fear_ of something _watching_ you without your explicit knowledge is terrifying. The fact that there's nothing here when there feels like there should be is terrifying. The near impossible to follow architecture that makes you constantly wonder if you've already been here is terrifying. This is a great game. Not to mention the camera effect on it. It's just perfect.

i love the way the backrooms are portrayed in this game. no threats, just making you make up crazy stuff. One time I got lost in a bookstore and I couldn’t find my mom. This game gives me the same feeling i had then. Unsettled, distressed, and having a longing to go back. I also love how this game makes you want to turn your head and look behind you every second.

28:34 Mark suspected, I saw. This game has a lot of great little moments that make you question what's going on and Mark likely spent much longer in these rooms alone than we did with him in this video.

I worked in security a long time ago, in a massive office building under construction. All the walls were in, the flooring down and this lighting installed. I was told by my supervisor that doors and furniture would be arriving soon but in the meantime all I had to do was keep an eye on the place to make sure nobody was breaking in to rob building equipment ( which was all stored in one room anyway) So every night for 9 days straight I would wander around the " backrooms" and get feckin lost every time because without doors and furniture it all looked the exact bloody same. Keep in mind this was in the late 90's, long before the Backrooms was even a thing. I can promise you it is every bit as scary as the games make it out to be and god help your underwear if you hear a single sound.

Mark: I don't like the darkness Also Mark 5 seconds earlier: *heads straight for the darkness*

Mark: Questions his moves. Questions what he saw, or thought he saw. Is unsure where to go, if there's a point, if he missed something. Double backing on himself. The Backrooms: Working as intended.

This was pretty interesting. You thought there was going to be something, but it was nothing. You thought you saw something, but it was really just your brain trying to fill in holes with -something-, anything.

I even went into this knowing that there was no monster and i still got so tense. The developers did such an amazing job with this, its horrific and so unbelievably well made.

I love how Mark is going through all of the emotions that the backrooms is said to inflict. It's super interesting to see what the brain does in times of panic and confusion

personally, i much prefer the interpretation of the backrooms without a monster or some weird creature, since that makes it feel kind of just like a supernatural labyrinth with a different minotaur, whereas the idea of an endless maze without any real destination or threat makes it a much more compelling concept in my opinion, with the explorer's own mind and will being the only real limitation

Mark turning around after 7:15 has the same vibe as SpongeBob turning around going “I feels like somebody WANTS TO SELL ME SOMETHING!” 😂

The sound Mark makes between 6:11 - 6:18 could honestly be used as a horror sound effect in its own right. Imagine in a horror game you walk through some dark abandoned place and you hear something is approaching you making that sound but you can't identify where and you need to run. I think it would be damn creepy 😅

Other people: run away when they catch a glimpse of the monster Mark: walks towards it

Mark literally went through the exact essence of what The Backrooms id all about. Just the empty infinite halls of rooms, ambience, no monsters, and just the eerie environments that makes you go crazy as time goes on and you start to see things that aren’t even there. This has got to be the closest thing you get to the ACTUAL original backrooms post.. well done to everyone that made this!

As a backrooms enthusiast who has played every backrooms game known to man, they NAILED the vhs feel. the square camera that warps the sides, the blurry camera and the darkness. They also nailed the weird shapes of the pillars and walls

oh the part I found the creepiest was when there was knocking on the elevator . Marks expressions there was great aswell.

Yes! This is how the backrooms is done. Just emptiness, ambience, and your own imagination driving you crazy. This was way more disturbing than any of the other dozens of games that just throw monsters in for no reason.

We need an interactive backrooms series from mark

Mark's jump scares are getting better I almost screamed

Imagine if you could play this on VR 😃

Now THIS is what backrooms was actually meant to be: a limbo of nothingness. It all looks man-made but no man resides here, no sign of life, as if nothing alive is meant to be here and yet here you ARE. The real fear isn't the monster because that would mean death, that would mean you're not alone. The real fear is never dying, never seeing anything ever again, never getting anywhere but within these yellow walls.

Imagine the Laser Tag potential in these backs rooms.

I almost DIED at the jump scare at 21:37

I like how Mark is upset that he isn't getting jumpscared when he chases the weird silhouette, it is like a dog hearing a loud sound, he isn't used to it so he doesn't like it

I was just thinking to myself “could someone make a horror game without any tangible threat” and then this video dropped

The game looks way way realistic, can't believe its a game finally. The game is made by a professional developer

For the first 10 minutes it just sounded you were going crazy bc you kept expecting things and we're imagining things

My favorite thing about The Complex is that it knows subtlety. Like how you keep seeing shit in the distance and then it turns out it's just a light or something? I've never seen a game do that so similar to when it happens IRL. The game knows the vibe it's going for and NAILS it.

I saw someone recommend you the game backrooms 1998 and I think you should really try that out mark would love to see you play it

The visuals of this game are seriously impressive.

this game gave me a vibe of like those long hallways to the bathrooms in big shopping centers or malls. they're always so eerie for no reason at all, as if there's just gonna be a random zombie apocalypse that'll happen at that exact moment.

25:43 Lol I think he was so open mindedly his brain fell out.

When I clicked on this I thought Mark would run into entity after entity, but if he did meet anything it just stalked him. Which is exactly how some entities of the backrooms work, plus he experienced the exact paranoia that is said to be experienced in the backrooms. Really realistic, really creepy without anything but you in there, and altogether an amazing game.

I love that this perfectly captures the backrooms' first level, no monsters, no nothing, just you and your thoughts in an unsettling abyss for an indefinite amount of time

The relationship between Mark and Lix we see in Mark's videos is always funny to see.

Just having the camera facing the Backrooms with nothing happening is more scary than more horror games for me.

There are apparently A LOT more endings and puzzles, so I really think mark should play this again

I like to think of the Backrooms like, an entity from another dimension that had no idea what our dimensions is like, had to create a reality, and the only motivation they had was 45 seconds of flipping though an Architecture Digest magazine from the 1980’s

It definitely helps me watching mark play video games based on the back rooms, I experience a lot of derealization and it makes me feel like I’m in the back rooms if I’m inside of a building, and watching these with mark playing them makes me feel a lot better about it tbh.

I can't believe this is free. it's so atmospheric and beautiful!

Before the backrooms became popular and mainstream, before it was converted into all of these horror games/stories, all the backrooms were was a concept of “the inbetween.” It was because people reported that when they died for a short amount of time, they were in “beige, bland, never ending rooms.” Like a large waiting room. This is why it was scary- Imagine if you never were revived? You were just endlessly stuck in rooms that had no rhyme or reason. No monsters, no people, no.. anything. Just stuck. With nothing. Forever.

Honestly, this is the first Backrooms game that FEELS like the Backrooms... at least the version Kane has created. There is no monster chasing you and the "lack of progress" and mindless wandering makes you feel like something is following you and that you aren't doing something right... that psychological horror that makes up the Backrooms!! Love it

11:24 i genuinely like that effect/soundclip, Kudos, Lixian!

this sort of thing happens to any D&D player that steps on a teleport trap. what if it actually cast the spell Labyrinth on you then it would be exactly the same

im really impressed by the graphics. It looks like actual footage with the way the walls warp at the edges of the screen, the filter over the screen, the way the lights blur when Mark moves the camera, the way things in the distance or out of focus are blurred, its SO well done.

Mark mixing up giving someone a "reach-around" and the "run-around" killed me. I didn't think about how similar those sound but how different the meaning is until now

This is the quintessential back rooms game for me. The look, the vibe, the soundscape, the subtly of the scares. Friggin brilliant.

This game was so nauseatingly empty that it terrified me to my core. There is something so WRONG about those places, especially the other floors we don't see as much media about. The pools and the mall, the mall especially, made me shrivel up with anxiety. There HAS to be something there. And the fact that there's not anything to be seen?-- somehow that's infinitely worse.

I am incredibly impressed with the ambiance and the look of this game. It genuinely felt like a tape recording and I was really surprised when you could move around and it still look exactly like the videos.

You should play ‘backrooms 1998’ one of the few scary games that legit gave me nightmares also the fact that is uses your microphone adds to the fear factor

"FUN FACT: The fun fact is the jumpscare." Ha, good one Lixian.

Mark "talking" to Lixian is really fun to watch tbh, Lixian is a great- uhh FANTASTIC Editor

Honestly the backrooms is 10x scarier without a monster. Not everything needs some scary jumpscare demon. The scary ness is the endless rooms filled with nothing but your own insanity

Other people when seeing something scary: running the other way Mark seeing something scary: *runs towards it*

wow that game actually looks amazing

28:34 ACTUALLY GAVE ME CHILLS y'all see that head peeking out from around the distant corner???

As someone with anxiety, i didnt like the whole monster immediately being present in most backrooms games but the anxiety this game gave me with the lack of anything but tiny things you cant tell are your imagination or something else, it was terrifying, and i loved it.

The funny thing is that Mark's "shortcut" in the pool section actually just took him like 5 steps forward if he didnt enter the small space

this game and concept is very intriguing especially for those, like myself, who love horror and love to be scared, because you're always in suspense waiting for a jumpscare, or some maybe some big chase scene. its really interesting how over time you're playing/watching this you're really starting to question things like, is this actually happening, will I be able to figure anything out, and is there a threat here. or maybe just the simple things; did that light just flicker? did I hear footsteps? is something watching me? did I just see something behind that corner? just the complete feeling of suspense frightens you at every turn, the anticipation of where is the scare here?? for me, its well designed and I love this trope, the uneasiness, the unsettledness, the suspense, the paranormal/supernatural, the dead silence, that's what interests me in horror (tropes and you see it happen to mark, and especially in the backrooms, the discomforting feeling of, have I been here before? am I going in circles/loops? will I ever find an exit? is there even a way to escape this place?? or even, how long have I been here? at some point it seems you would be relieved to be scared, to hear a noise, or to actually see or feel something, or any confirmation at all. but yet again, was it real? could you have just been imagining it? or perhaps you have been doing anything or gone anywhere. may be its all in your mind.

This game recreates the layout and feel of the actual backrooms videos on KZfaq incredibly well. I’m impressed. Hopefully there’s more content released down the line, I’d love to see it.

I think there were parts that turned out to be more monotonous than terrifying, although for the most part I was really unsettled- but I think if a backrooms game like this was somehow put into VR, I would lose my MIND from how scary it would be, even *knowing* nothing was there. Fantastic concept either way tho.

This. This is the most accurate representation of the original backrooms concept i have ever seen in my life. It's just you, the buzz of the lights, and the fear of being or not being alone. I've never seen ANY media that makes you feel like you're actually into the backrooms, as if you're actually in there, and Mark's reaction seems to reflect that.

I never realised Mark played this !!! I absolutely love this game. The way it genuinely makes you feel like youre going crazy and the way it actually similates what its like to be in scary liminal like situations alone. The way your eyes and ears can actuallly play tricks on you. Its great

The one time markiplier thinks we’re all yelling at his stupidity we’re just as confused as he is

"The fun fact is the jumpscare" actually killed me lmao

28:34 for those of you who missed it (including mark and me at first playthrough lmao) look down the hallway here. Also it was not a flappy arm it was a trapdoor opening up from the wall which introduces the horrirfying truth that the walls of the backrooms are inhabited.

its nice to see games that understand the feel of the backrooms. the horror really comes just from the endlessness of it, just how your alone, not even the release of death or attack from a monster to keep you company. just YOU which can be the worst thing to happen to a human.

The fact that the graphics look so realistic makes newer video games look like they were released in 2001.

This game does a good job at making me feel uncomfortable even with the comfort of Mark here

This is definitely one of the best backrooms games I have seen, leaving the scares to the environment instead of any entity is so charming. It's really what the original post was meant to encompass.

The big spooky face made me swallow an entire ice cube. My through hurt from cold🧍🏼‍♀️..

u gotta play escape the backrooms its just the perfect game for u and its so detailed and gets updates its like 8 bucks on steam and I think the developer deserves the support honestly