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- Image of Backrooms Level X courtesy of Jose Manuel Conesa Hernandez and Firenut Games

Lost Runners Warns No Yelling in Backrooms: Only Monsters Will Hear You

Originally posted on Total Apex Gaming | By David Gilbert | Last updated Oct 6, 2025 10:49 PM ET

For many games, the typical walking simulator format often associated with the Backrooms mythos has run its course. Yet, ShimStudios plans to address this fatigue with their new game, Backrooms: Lost Runners. Coming soon to Steam Early Access, players should expect a surreal horror experience. Therefore, how can players get an early look at this fresh take?

Backrooms Hallucinations Blur The Line

Fortunately, players won’t have to wait too long to get the game. On October 13, Lost Runners will launch as a featured part of Steam Next Fest. This game firmly moves beyond a simple walking sim by combining high production values and cinematic moments with systemic challenges. Players will explore familiar liminal spaces filled with unique monsters and an original interpretation of player death.

In each environment, they’ll have to confront genuine danger, deep mystery, and unexpected twists to win. Consequently, a team must rely on seamless teamwork and meticulous attention to detail to survive. Unraveling the deep secrets hidden within the Backrooms demands cooperation and clever thinking. These puzzle elements are built around interactive systems like electrical circuits, switches, and complex ciphers.

So, how does the game keep these challenges feeling fresh? In each puzzle, a team must adapt and take a specific approach, showing that success requires inventive and on-the-fly problem-solving. Lost Runners forces players to remain constantly vigilant due to its wicked feature. Not just footsteps but even whispered words in team voice chat could attract a horrifying entity.

The Backrooms Have Never Been Alive

Image of Backrooms Level X courtesy of Jose Manuel Conesa Hernandez and Firenut Games

With spaces heavily populated with creatures, sensory inputs like sound, light, and movement could bring death. There are two types of monsters players must face: some hunting a voice, and the other waiting in the oppressive darkness. To avoid a gruesome death, learning and adapting to these distinct behaviors becomes essential. Players who succumb to the violent, horrifying experiences of Lost Runners, their time doesn’t end with a game over.

Instead, these defeated individuals transition into a surreal Tesseract realm, where their living teammates can find a way to revive them. If not, the fallen player will have to discover their own path back to the world of the living. Sadly, the immediate physical threat of death isn’t the only danger that Lost Runners presents, as it also introduces a persistent sanity mechanic.

Players can slow the draining of their sanity by staying near comforting heat sources or by wisely conserving their flashlight power. In Lost Runners, he sanity bar is incredibly important to keep up, as players can suffer from terrifying hallucinations if defeated. In this new desperate struggle, players will find their survival turning into a personalized nightmare that they could only wish to awake from.

This article first appeared on Total Apex Gaming and was syndicated with permission.

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