Backrooms, Kane Pixel, A-Sync

Unidentified and strange videos on YouTube started to achieve million views by clicking radio waves.

Backroom Discord is becoming more active, and Steam backroom games are starting to appear one after another.

What is a backroom? Why are people excited?

 

 

Backrooms

It is a common myth about being trapped in an unknown world due to an unknown supernatural phenomenon called "noclip". If you think of this world as a superficial stage, you can think of the back room as a location around the waiting room where the stage is adjusted from behind, and the name back room is derived from that.

 

The back room is characterized by an infinite repetition of fairly modern and ordinary-looking things, such as beige wallpaper and carpets, and fluorescent lamps that make a buzzing noise. In other words, it is not the dark and gloomy atmosphere of obvious fear, but on the contrary, the infinite space where the routine and monotonous background is repeated causes fear.

 

Everyone will have fond memories of looking into the back space for employees in a shopping mall or store, or a dark and still pool with no waves. In this way, the scene that gives off an alien cold, serene, and eerie feeling is called a liminal space in an internet meme, referring to the 'boundary space' of architecture. It is a stimulus to arouse a sense of incongruity about the unfamiliar facts, a fear of a potential threat that may lurk, a discrepancy, a sense of insecurity, and a sense of alertness.

 

There are ARGs with this motif as well, and they have gained popularity on various Internet platforms such as TikTok and YouTube.

 

When the ghost story was created, it was known only to those in the know, but on January 7, 2022, Kane Pixels' short film, which will be described later, became a huge hit and became world famous. In addition, a similar concept, liminal space, also became popular.

 

 

Features of Backrooms

 

Basically, it is a closed space in which the same or similar structure is repeated infinitely, is not connected to the outside world, and the outside of the window is also blocked by another building wall or ceiling.

 

Levels exist even in infinite space, and the labyrinth of beige wallpaper is level 0. If you escape from there, you can go to level 1. Basically, you can go to higher levels in this order, but you can also go to levels that don't matter in numerical order. The level is not specifically formulated or acknowledged by the creator itself, but the Backrooms fandom accepts it as a source for many, up to level 8.

 

Unidentified monsters are roaming this space. Seeing the mention of "If you heard something moving, it would have noticed your presence, so good luck", it seems like a threatening existence that should not be met, but in the secondary creation, an entity that plays the role of a friendly merchant appears. Most of them, with the exception of a very few, appear hostile.

 

 

The emergence of the Backrooms subtype.

A fandom is created.

 

As with the popular creepy pastas, it has also appeared in live-action fan films on several occasions. Although not required, many videos are analog horror.

 

Due to the nature of a monotonous space that repeats infinitely, it is easy to create realistically using 3D tools. In addition, it is easier to produce because it does not require high image quality due to the nature of the found footage genre. Most of the videos uploaded to YouTube were made with CG, but there are rare works that were produced in live action. A video filmed at a hotel that actually became the motif for Level 188. You can tell it's a live-action shoot from the scene where the photographer's image is reflected on the window.

 

In the backroom video, which is so arduous and inevitably similar, the parts that show the producer's ability are the natural camera walking, entity description, original liminal space, and sound production.

 

 

One of the back rooms studded with infinite pool tiles. There is also a video with a blue tile tone. Excluding the original backroom, it is one of the backrooms that get the most support among various images such as atmosphere and work.

 

Video from October 27, 2019. It is a short story by Evan Royalty that was made using GTA 5. The story is about a police officer who has received a report that a scream is heard from a house, searches the inside of the house in question, and then runs out into the back room. It features Backrooms' infinitely repeating architectural form that is likened to a level in a video game.

 

 

Video from TVOrangeMan. The main character, who was walking around the back room, finds someone (a YouTuber), and the YouTuber yells at the main character why he came to such a dangerous place. At that moment, a monster chases the main character, but the YouTuber throws something to blow the monster away, then approaches the main character and tells him to turn it off and returns the main character to the real world. While most of the backroom videos are terrifying or have a bad ending, there are many responses that the main character is protected by a divine existence and ends peacefully (?). A number of sequels have been uploaded since then, and these too are mostly gag videos.

 

It is a setting in which a creature wearing SD Kigurumi from HoloLive's virtual YouTuber Sakura Miko wanders aroundthe back room.

 

Rather than viewing the Backroom itself as an urban legend or ghost story, they often enjoy stories made based on the setting of the Backroom's noclip or infinite space. The reason backrooms are popular is not because of the existence of the setting, but because of the loneliness and creepiness that comes from the space itself, so it is a pity for those who prefer it. Most of the video channels that started to lead the trend of backroom content, including Kane Pixels, still retain the charms of the early days of backroom instead of following this common fandom universe.