FailRooms is the weirdest fun I've had getting absolutely nowhere
I don't usually like backrooms or liminal space games as a general rule. Not because they're bad; some of them are undeniably creepy and well done. It's more because I eventually tire of feeling so lost without a goal. But sometimes games come along that give me enough reasons to keep playing, and FailRooms is one of them.
Developed by Leon Camayo and Andes Interactive, FailRooms takes the usual backrooms/liminal space recipe, sprinkles in a few incredibly well-timed jump scares, more than a few drops of weirdness, and dials up the WTF-based humor. It's bizarre, it's delightfully twisted, and the demo has absolutely left me wanting to see more.
Hey ma! I'm making friends!
You can tell from one look at the Steam capsule that FailRooms is going to be on the stranger side, but I still went into it expecting it to be a long walk through interconnected rooms that got me nowhere fast. And to be clear, that's exactly what was delivered, but it's the stuff in the rooms that makes FailRooms special. Admittedly, it's a little hard to describe.
Almost as soon as you dive in, you're confronted by men in weird yellow suits who will actually talk to you, though I fear they've been trapped in wherever the hell they are for too long, because they're all a little… How do I say this in the nicest way possible? How about we go with “peculiar.”
The first one jump-scares you from around a corner and, after you hesitantly approach him expecting to be attacked, mocks you for getting scared. As you progress, you'll meet more of his friends as they bounce off the walls (literally), skitter across the ceiling (again, literally), and perhaps most worryingly, tell you to die near the entrance so your body is easier to retrieve.
Everything is wrong, so why does it feel so right?
It doesn't get any less weird after you leave your friends behind, so don't go thinking you've gotten off lightly. First comes a series of successively stranger toilets, starting with one that has the toilet paper positioned so far away that you're guaranteed to do “the waddle” (you know the one I mean, don't pretend you don't) every time you use it. Then you find the couples toilets, and you can sit on all of them, too. You know, if you want to really max out the immersion.
Admittedly, the oddities slow down after the trip through progressively more questionable toilets, at least until you meet Mr Duck. I'm not a fan of spoiling things more than necessary, and I've already enlightened you on the tunnel of toilets, so all I'm going to say is that the capsule art is at least 75% accurate, but the last 25% is all in the eyes.
And then, as if things aren't weird enough, the demo ends with a toilet-headed, giant, tiled man who is apparently sentient and drags you into a Quick Time Event that I'm seriously hoping I actually get to finish in the full game because I have never been so thoroughly blue-balled by the ending of a demo in my life. And that's saying something, considering the mountain of demos I play every month.
Wherever we go from here, I'm down for the ride
You could be forgiven for thinking I may have taken something questionable before sitting down to play FailRooms, but I swear that's not the case, at least not unless Coca-Cola has brought back a long-abandoned ingredient without warning. It's incredibly hard to explain FailRooms in words and do the game justice; it's just too bizarre to really explain to anyone who has never gone through it before.
I have no idea what nonsense is around the next corner, but I'm hoping for more chairs that make weird noises when you sit on them (because yes, they exist too). I know my friends from early-game are going to make a comeback, and honestly I'm okay with that, considering my main gripe with backroom games is the lonely wandering aspect.
The thing that makes me want to play more FailRooms is that every corner could reveal something new and delightfully off-the-wall, and I want to discover how insane and depraved the rooms become. If I have to suffer through jump scares and a bit of aimless wandering for that to happen, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.
Thankfully, we don't have long to wait to see what else FailRooms has in store, because it's due to release in November 2026. You can (and should) go and play the demo on Steam in the meantime, though.
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