The Backrooms is the fictional idea of rooms or the environments (the “levels’’) that lead to another from one to the other and are nearly all liminal spaces; this is an entire internet aesthetic that occupies the empty or abandoned which seem Dismal, desolate, and often very surreal. They are also juxtaposed with the idea of the “Frontrooms”, i.e., our real world and that the Backrooms comprise a dimension that is not our own, accessed by “noclipping” through reality.
Apart from this, another purported suspension of laws of physics on these ‘levels’ has reportedly replaced these laws with more chaotic fundamentals. Liminal spaces have an uncanny state of architecture and physical places due to which it might seem discomforting or fill the air with a certain eerie feeling. This unnerving feeling may be due to sites that are very familiar yet lack the usual observed in a context – like the fear evoked by an abandoned office building, empty suburbs, or desolate ruins.
Many Internet fandoms have gathered “levels” of this type, all conveying the idea of liminal spaces and the writing dealing with themes such as isolation, loneliness, surrealism, eerieness, and horror. Every entry tries to cultivate a consistent atmosphere with a different tone dependent on the level.
The Backrooms are said to host over 1000 levels and sublevels, be they offshoots of the parent level or direct continuations of their parent levels. You can find many classifications and structures on any online wiki, which is in the form of a database and also archives created by a group known as the M.E.G(Major Explorers Group).
Standard Levels
These being the positive integer levels, they are all the levels starting from the zenith level of The Lobby and beyond. They are also characterised by their mostly ordinary liminality and stable nature. These were the also the first batch of explored levels designated numbers by the “Casper-Bray Numbering System” – a fictional system that is also part of the online narrative fiction of the Backrooms.
Essentially, each level’s number was determined by the frequency used to playback audio by a radio placed near each Level Key. For instance, Level 400 was designated as so because the radio played back audio when tuned at 400 Hz near the Level Key. The numbering is quite arbitrary however, and does not reflect said level’s properties. Levels which have this phenomena occurring at frequencies with decimal points are designated as follows: Parent Level(integer portion) + decimal point + decimal number. Sub-levels are levels that have a direct connection in theme of their parent level but have enough distinguishing features to be labelled with their own number.
The level list usually divides the different rooms into Cluster I and II to separate Levels 1-999 and Level 1000 respectively. Some are home to sustained communities, while others pose major threats and hazards to the life inside them. Of the first group of 999, the first Nine are the most popular(“The Main Nine”). These are:
Level 0: The Lobby/Tutorial Zone
This is best known as the Lobby or Tutorial Zone that is where new wanderers will mostly end up. It is a vast non-Euclidean expanse of a commercial building. All rooms in this level offer a uniform array of superficial features that include faded mono-yellow wallpaper, dilapidated old moist carpet, an inconsistent distribution of electrical outlets, as well as random placements of fluorescent lighting. Aside from these common features, two different rooms will never have the same layout.
The most prominent hazards in this level are the lack of readily available resources; most wanderers are likely to perish before managing to find an exit due to extended dehydration, starvation, and exhaustion.
Level 1: “The Safe Zone”
The first level is a massive storage unit made purely of concrete and naked rebar. There is a low-lying fog but no clear cause. Unlike the Tutorial Level, this level has a reliable supply of resources like water and power allowing for numerous sustained communities – acting as a Hub before further levels. Furthermore, it is much more expansive, having stairs, lifts, separate rooms and atriums.
Crates of supplies show up and randomly disappear on this level, often containing either vital items and useful tools (Almond Water, eatables, power sources, weapons, etc.) or random nonsensical items. This level is also home to the M.E.G. Base Alpha as well the B.N.T.G. (Backrooms Nonaligned Trade Group) Trader’s Keep. These are the two major organisations in Backrooms lore, with the latter being made up of a faction that broke away from the M.E.G.
Level 2: “Pipe Dreams”/ “Abandoned Utility Halls”
It consists of a myriad of abstract Euclidean maintenance tunnels which range in size, and was once used for a variety of reasons. The tunnels themselves curve sideways at 45 degree angles, and the general length of the corresponding rooms roughly round up to the multiples of 5. However, each of the tunnels is not only tight and restricting, but the walls consist of faded, soiled concrete or even bricks in different parts.
Level 3: “Electrical Station”
It is a sequence of expansive, dim and spiralling corridors that function somewhat like Level 0. All of these corridors are filled with the sounds of constantly working heavy machinery, made of chaotically segmented rooms and meaningless as to the relationship between one room and another. The corridors are very restrictive and tight, a few of them necessitating the explorers to squat, bend, crawl, or hunch sideways while travelling through the level.
The walls consist of dirty brown bricks that have been built in a way that the parts of large pipes and machinery components are exposed. It has grey tile in the floor and an all-metal ceiling. Estimated to cover an area that is over 350,000,000 sq. miles, it is part of the bigger levels. With this expansive scale, encounters with other travellers are quite uncommon when travelling through this level.
Despite the high level of danger, level 3 is nevertheless considered as a locus for supplies. Level 3 is rich with resources which includes Almond Water, False Outlets, Liquid Pain, Squirt Guns, Firesalt, rations, and Bottled Lightning. Exotic objects not peculiar to The Backrooms are also found in the form of knives, lighters, bolt cutters, flashlights, and various other tools and weaponry.
Level 4: “Abandoned Office”
Level 4 resembles an empty office building, even though it is almost entirely lacking in furniture. While some rooms on this level have windows, most of them are completely unusable as they have been entirely blackened out. Windows that haven’t been blacked out should be treated as traps, which should be avoided.
As for this level, the most frequently spotted entities are Hounds, Dullers – and one reported case of Smilers, though without any supporting proof. It is common to see many wanderers on this level owing to the lack of hostiles. This level contains plenty of vending machines, water coolers, and fountains dispensing Almond Water; this is especially necessary for further travel into Levels 5 and 6.
Level 5: “Terror Hotel”
Level 5 is an infinite hotel complex, with countless rooms, corridors and halls. The Level appears to have been built in the 1930s and the furniture dates back to 1920. The level is packed with the ornamentation and furniture that would be attributed to the early 20th century. The Main Hall is also the most busy room in terms of objects. There are three main areas in Level 5 that are fully accessible: The Main Room, The Beverly Room and The Boiler Room.
Level 6: “Lights Out”
Due to the level being cloaked in perfect and absolute darkness, hardly anything is known about Level 6’s actual configuration. There is no light that comes through the level, and light sources brought into the level do not work. The navigation of Level 6 is achieved by groping through the darkness and it is clear that the level is built of a long row of maze-like halls made of some kind of cold, smooth material.
Apart from its permanent darkness, Level 6 is also notably quiet, like a soundproof room. The journey through Level 6 amounts to an ordeal of lingering oblivion, unmitigated silence, and profound solitude. Many wanderers have reported feeling an increasing sense of dread, anxiety and horrifying isolation as they attempted to traverse it.
Level 7: “Thalassophobia”
It is an impossible ocean; it is infinitely large, going on forever as far as the eye can see. Though the level does not seem to have any sources of light, a subdued natural glow washes across the environment throughout the level. Few elaborative studies about this ocean have been done given the great degree of danger together with the necessary preparation needed to traverse this level.
It is unexplored to a great degree but it is commonly known that it consists of the antechamber as an entrance as well as the area with the ocean, with a concrete ceiling high above.
Level 8: “Cave System”
This level looks like an endless maze of cave systems with caverns and dangers at almost every turn. Level 8 consists of enormous caverns, and small cave chains that intertwine much like a regular underground system. Level 8 is extremely damp and moist, with Almond Water dripping from the walls and ceiling of this floor. There seems to be an abundance of stalactites and stalagmites as well. The level is highly echoic, making it relatively easy to pay attention to signs of imminent threat – or even invite the same if not careful.
The location of Level 8 is home to some of the most lethal Entities, including Smilers, Skin-Stealers, Wretches and Camo Crawlers. Transporters, Deathmoths – of both genders, Hostile Facelings, Hounds, Death Rats, Paralies, Clumps, Reviooks, Wranglers and a few sighted Stalkers have also been reported. Due to a theorised connectivity between the vents of Level 2 to the caverns of Level 8, there have been sightings of Crawlers.
Negative Levels
These are all the levels below Level 0 that are marked with a negative symbol preceding their number. As opposed to the ordinary spatially liminal Positive Levels, Negative Levels involve surreal REM sleep and trippy elements, as well as their liminality being more psychologically affected or situational in nature. The normal laws of the universe are also more consistently broken throughout these levels. The levels are numbered much like their regular counterparts: Level -1 to Level -999.
Anomalous Levels
Sometimes also called Enigmatic Levels, these levels are quite mysterious and by obvious design are different from the majority of other levels of the Backrooms. They are not characterised by an arbitrary number. Therefore, for that reason, they often get their names from their biggest characteristic. These levels, despite not necessarily being less lethal, generally disregard rules established by the normal levels of the Backrooms, with some of them being other dimensions entirely instead of just liminal spaces.
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