POOLS

Walking simulator. Explore, admire and listen. Uncanny. Relaxing. Unnerving. Eerie. Immersive. No monsters chasing you or jumping towards at your screen, but can feel oppressive at times by invoking fears of getting lost, the dark, tight spaces and liminal space architecture.

Walking simulator. Explore, admire and listen. Uncanny. Relaxing. Unnerving. Eerie. No monsters chasing you or jumping at your screen

One could say POOLS is like an art gallery where you look around and listen to the sounds. There are very few things to solve, practically a few mazes. Sometimes the game can challenge your navigation skills. But mostly you're just... there.

Note: There are no monsters chasing you or jumping suddenly towards you, but the game can feel oppressive. POOLS plays on fears of getting lost, the dark, and tight spaces.

The game has no user-interface and no dialogue. No background music. Instead, the game uses sounds to make you feel like you're really there. The sounds and echo change depending on the room you're in. Walking in water is slower. All of these things makes the game feel more real and creates a tense atmosphere.

There's no typical story, no characters to meet, and you won't find any notes in game. But as you explore and advance further, you start to notice that the game's world changes around you. Rooms look and feel different. Each chapter has something unique. Constantly you're exploring new places, each with its own kind of mystery.

POOLS has six unique chapters, each taking 10 to 30 minutes to play.

POOLS is inspired by a internet phenomenons "Liminal spaces", "Found footage" and "Backrooms" - specifically "Backrooms Pools" or "Poolrooms".

One of the original artists behind the Poolrooms concept is Jared Pike.

Other inspirations include:

  • Matt Studios: Poolrooms videos from 2022

  • Mortain Colors

  • Anemoiapolis: Chapter 1 by Andrew Quist

  • Kane Pixels: The Backrooms (Found Footage)

Available Achievements

#1
25 XP
#2
25 XP
Whisper In The Dark
25 XP
#3
50 XP
I did it my way
25 XP

POOLS Editions

POOLS System Requirements

Minimum

Recommended

OS version

10

OS version

11

CPU

Intel i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 from around 2016 or later

CPU

Intel i5 or AMD Ryzen 7 from 2018 or later

Memory

8

Memory

16

GPU

NVIDIA GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580 or newer

GPU

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT or newer

DirectX

DirectX 11

Storage

3 GB

Additional Notes

Laptops can work too. Minimum settings tested on 2021 Lenovo thinkpad, works smoothly with low settings and lower resolution setting. Recommended settings tested with best settings on 1080p. For 4k with best settings NVIDIA 4080 or AMD RX 7900 is recommended.

Languages Supported

  • Audio: Swedish, Spanish (Spain), Slovak, Spanish (Latin America), Welsh, Vietnamese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Thai, Tagalog, French, Finnish, Japanese, Italian, Indonesian, Hungarian, Hindi, Hebrew, Greek, German, Malay, Korean, Lithuanian, Serbian, Russian, Romanian, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese, Polish, Norwegian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English

  • Text: Vietnamese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Slovak, Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Spain), Swedish, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese, Japanese, Lithuanian, Malay, Greek, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Finnish, French, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan

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