POOLS provides an immersive experience resembling an art gallery, with minimal puzzle-solving and navigation challenges in an oppressive atmosphere devoid of monsters or conventional storytelling.

Environmental sounds reflect different in-game locations, with water movement slowing to intensify tension as players explore mysterious settings across six chapters, each spanning 10 to 30 minutes.

About:

POOLS is inspired by the internet phenomenon “Backrooms Poolrooms”, inspirations include:

– Jared Pike from 2022 (https://www.jaredpike.art/)

– Mortain Colors from 2022 (https://www.instagram.com/mortain_colors/)

– Matt Studios videos from 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu2h5oP8G5w

– Anemoiapolis: Chapter 1 from early 2023

First 2 Chapters are more of the traditional Poolrooms Look. Chapters 3, 4 and onwards you can see our unique takes on Poolrooms. Chapters 5 and 6 are not yet available, but they too are filled with unique, never before seen aspects in this genre.

CLOSED BETA INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Get “Pools Demo” from Steam

2. Right click “Pools Demo” in your game library

3. Click “Properties…”

4. Choose “Betas” tab

5. Write password “poolsbetatest” in the access code area

6. Click “Check Code”

7. Click “Opt into: beta-test…”

8. Wait for Steam to download and play!

If you want to opt out of the Beta, select “None” at the Beta participation dropdown in the “Betas” tab.

We would be grateful if you gave us constructive feedback. There are a couple of ways of giving feedback in-game, like a prompt after each chapter to anonymously review on a scale of 1-5 (I have coded a simple software to track the average ratings for each chapter) and a link to Google forms at the end of chapter 4. You can of course give us feedback via email too!

Please note that there can be bugs and other issues. If you don’t like something, please let us know. And remember – nothing is set in stone yet.