Home / Games / POOLS
POOLS
Walking simulator. Explore, admire and listen. Uncanny. Relaxing. Unnerving. Eerie. Immersive. No monsters chasing you or jumping at your screen, but can feel oppressive at times by invoking fears of getting lost, the dark, tight spaces and liminal space architecture. Inspired by backrooms.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-04 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-13.
“This, in my opinion, is a perfect Liminal Space horror game, for one reason... It doesn't try too hard to be scary. When I play a Liminal horror game, I don't want to KNOW that I'm not alone, I want to FEEL that I'm not alone, and this game does it perfectly. One of my biggest…”
— a player, Steam review · 4 hrs played“Pools: The Backrooms is one of the most unsettlingly peaceful horror experiences I’ve ever played. There are no jump scares screaming in your face, no monsters chasing you every five seconds, just endless liminal spaces, echoing water, and the kind of silence that makes your…”
— a player, Steam review · 2 hrs played“Usually walking simulators bore me out, but this just invoked a feeling of horror I haven't felt before. Just.. endless walking through what feels like a childhood dream. A giant water park. It's so weird and its great! BUY IT”
— a player, Steam review · 3 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-09-05.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-25. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-04). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Update notes (19th December 2025)
Hello, PC & PCVR players, you haven’t been forgotten! The VR experience has gotten a complete graphics overhaul. The new version of VR mode on PC is now much more performant so if you’ve had any issue
POOLS joins the World Ocean Day Charity Steam Sale
Hello everyone, We’re proud to share that POOLS is taking part in the WDC World Ocean Day Charity Steam Sale , which runs from June 5 to June 12 . This special event supports the wonderful folks at Wh
VR mode available in Demo version
PC VR mode is now available for free in the Demo version of the game (Windows only). Thank you for your patience & keep your feedback coming so we can keep improving the VR mode to be as enjoyable as
Update notes (4th June 2025)
Full changelog: Chapter 0: Fixed hotel doors sometimes opening to wrong directions Added "deletePlayerPref" command to the developer console - Example: "deletePlayerPref vr-tracking-origin-mode" comma
PC VR is here
PC VR mode is out now as a free update! Full changelog Windows: Add PC VR support Add view distance setting Chapter 2: restored "Look At" event functionality to the statue surrounded by plastic chairs
Games like POOLS
From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
Dreamcore
88.8% · 878 reviews
shares Escape Room, Underwater, Nonlinear, Surreal
Iron Lung
92.2% · 8,867 reviews
shares Underwater, Surreal, Minimalist, Dark
The Inheritance of Crimson Manor
86.9% · 540 reviews
shares Escape Room, Nonlinear, Dark, Mystery
Manifold Garden
94.9% · 4,786 reviews
shares Nonlinear, Surreal, Minimalist, Mystery
Lingo
94.5% · 689 reviews
shares Nonlinear, Surreal, Minimalist, Psychological Horror
Anemoiapolis: Chapter 1
79.6% · 899 reviews
shares Surreal, Dark, Psychological Horror, Mystery
Rusty Lake: Roots
95.3% · 1,987 reviews
shares Immersive, Escape Room, Surreal, Dark
Kairo
73.7% · 1,193 reviews
shares Surreal, Minimalist, Psychological Horror, Mystery
Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-13.
| Genres | Adventure |
| Player tags | Psychological Horror · Walking Simulator · Atmospheric · Realistic · Exploration · First-Person · Singleplayer · Immersive · Surreal · Relaxing · Adventure · Nonlinear (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Full controller support · Tracked Controller Support · VR Supported · Steam Trading Cards · Camera Comfort · Mouse Only Option |
| Languages | English * , French * , Italian * , German * , Spanish - Spain * , Arabic * , Bulgarian * , Czech * , Danish * , Dutch * , Finnish * , Greek * , Hungarian * , Indonesian * , Japanese * , Korean * , Norwegian * , Polish * … |
| Controller | Full support |
| Achievements | 24 |
| Official site | https://poolsthegame.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: Processor: Intel i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 from around 2016 or later Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580 or newer Storage: 12 GB available space VR Support: OpenXR. Supports standard gamepads and motion controllers. Only Windows is officially supported for VR Additional Notes: Lower resolution for additional performance. Laptops can work too. Tested on 2021 Lenovo thinkpad, works smoothly with low settings and lower resolution setting. NOTE: You can always try the Demo to see how game runs.