Fans of horror flash fiction know “the backrooms” as a 4chan horror meme involving the OP waking up in an endless office of a pale yellow color. The horror gameInside the Backroomstransforms this into sheer terror, introducing Creepypasta entities into the mix as shadowy figures that constantly hunt players as they try to navigate their way out of the proverbial Backrooms. With multiple puzzles and confusing randomly-generated rooms blocking their way, players would likely die in the hands of these scary Entities for a couple of times.
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Thankfully, death isn’t necessarily the end inInside the Backrooms. In the horror game, players still wake up as “ghosts”after death, and are given a shot at being resurrected. They simply need to find a radiant room that could lead them to salvation. However, just how can players ensure they achieve this goal?
Prepare For The Revive: The Death Counter
While players of the horror gameInside the Backroomsdon’t have an immediate health bar, they do have a limited number of chances to survive an encounter with the Entity. At the very most, players whoencounter the Entityup close have onlythree (3)slashes before triggering the jumpscare death scene that triggers the revival mini-game.
This scene often causes players to be momentarily unsettled, confusing them before starting the revival process. The few seconds of disorientation can be precious extra seconds players need to look for their Revival Door, so players may want to anticipate the revival process as soon as the Entity reaches them.
Death Is Not The End: Consider The Stakes
When a player dies at the hands of an Entity inInside the Backrooms, they’re not immediately kicked out of the game, compared toother horror titles. It helps for players to understand that they have10 livesfor the duration of the entire playthrough before a complete game is over.
Should players get to revive for each of those encounters, they have a maximum of 10 opportunities to get back in the game provided they follow the revival steps properly. Despite this convenience, players should avoid wasting their revive opportunities. Not only do these revives help in the late-game, but the fact that players have to do extra steps before accessing their physical bodies can delay the game further than desired.
The Luminous Door: The Way Back Into Life
During the Revival Mini-game, dead players get anincorporeal formthat they need to use to find aLuminous Door. When found, the door appears a bit ajar with radiant light coming from inside. The door is easily spotted when found, but its immediate area can be tricky to access in most situations.
Finding this door will haveplayers ofInside the Backroomsspawn anew, and they need to find their way back to their bodies to gather the equipment they’ve thrown on the ground after death.
Incorporeal Doesn’t Mean Inaccessible
When players become incorporeal as ghosts, other players of thehorror gameInside the Backroomsaren’t able to see them properly. This means players won’t be able to interact with their teammates physically while they’re dead. However, death doesn’t necessarily mean “inaccessible” in a literal sense.
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In fact, other players alive in the game can still “sense” the ghost of the other player when they pass by. These situations will have the ghosts appear as “shadows” when close to other living players. They won’t be able to interact with each other, but living players can at least find solace that their dead comrade is with them.
Note The Heartbeat
Dead players who become ghosts can locate the Luminous Door through heartbeats. The closer the ghosts get to the Luminous Door, the stronger the heartbeat gets - like in acampy horror game. Thankfully for players, the Luminous Doors are often close enough within their vicinity to be tracked properly. It’s just that the immediate game area tends to be confusing enough that tracking the Door can become a chore during the first few tries.
Random Luminous Doors
Another caveat players have when they die multiple times is the fact that Luminous Doors end up having different locations each time. The random spawning nature of the Luminous Doors means each death can have a Door spawn in locations that players won’t be able to immediately access, running the risk of a more dangerous revival mini-game.
Hack Death: Make The Revival Mini-Game Work For The Team
Thanks to the nature of the revival mini-game, participants ofInside the Backroomsdon’t necessarily have to feel bored whenever they’re out of the game temporarily. However, they can actually use their death to their advantage, as the Revival Mini-game gives them an incorporeal form that is practically indestructible and unrecognizable to the Entity, allowing players to roam around safely even with the Entity in the immediate vicinity.
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Interestingly enough, players can use this “roaming” aspect to their advantage, assuming they know exactly how to maximize their available time with the rest of the team.
Navigate Safely While Incorporeal
One of the best advantages of being incorporeal is being able to navigate the rest of the stage much safely without worrying about the Entity killing them off. This can be used to the team’s advantage, especially since players can roam areas safely and in advance, pointing out key areas of interest and evenInside the Backroomspuzzlesto the rest of the team provided the ghost players know where their teammates are. When used in the context of the late game, having a ghost roam around carefully would be able to have the team identify locations with new objects, closets and lockers, or even doors to new levels.
Track The Entity For The Team
Aside from players being able to roam around and navigate the stage safely in ghost form, this transformation also allows players to track the Entity as they hunt the rest of the team in sheersound design terror. This detection strategy can be crucial especially when the Entity is nearby, as ghosts can help give call-outs to the team and guide them away from the entity through communications.
Inside the Backroomswas released last Aug 05, 2025 and is playable in PC.
