Games like POOLS
by Tensori
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.
View on Steam · $9.79 →
Ranked by how similar the games actually are, not by sales. Released and Price are remembered for next time.
Closest matches
$17.99Dreamcore
Jan 23 · Montraluz
Both: Exploration · Walking Simulator · Psychological Horror
Experience backrooms like never before. Dreamcore is the ultimate psychological exploration game, set in the largest liminal world ever made. No guides, no path—only intuition. Will you keep your bearings in a world designed to make you lose them?
ExplorationWalking SimulatorPsychological HorrorFirst-PersonSurreal3DHorrorNonlinearRelaxingAtmospheric👍 1,881
$5.99Dreamcore: Rabbit Hole
Apr 24 · Ankoku
Both: Exploration · Walking Simulator · Psychological Horror
Walking simulator. Explore cozy liminal spaces that feel unsettlingly familiar and spark your imagination, like a dream you’ve been in before.
ExplorationWalking SimulatorPsychological HorrorFirst-Person3DAdventureSurrealNonlinearHorrorRelaxing👍 398
$4.990°N 0°W
Mar 1 · Colorfiction
Both: Surreal · Exploration · Walking Simulator
Ready for a wild trip of psychedelic sights and sounds? 0°N 0°W is a chill, first-person walking sim for everyone, where each run is a fresh adventure!
ColorfulSurrealExplorationPsychedelicOpen WorldPlatformerWalking SimulatorFirst-Person3DRelaxing👍 363
$12.99Shape of the World
Jun 5 · Hollow Tree Games
Both: Surreal · Walking Simulator · Exploration
A serene first person exploration game in a surreal, organic world that reacts to your presence. Journey through a psychedelically colorful ecosystem of flourishing flora, rambling waterfalls, burgeoning mountains, glowing monoliths and graceful creatures. A 1-3 hour escape from work, anxiety and stress.
CasualNatureIndieAtmosphericSurrealWalking SimulatorExplorationFirst-PersonRelaxingAdventure👍 263
$29.99Obduction
Aug 24 · Cyan, Inc.
Both: Exploration · First-Person · Surreal
A new sci-fi adventure from Cyan, the creators of Myst. Abducted far across the universe, you find yourself on a broken alien landscape with odd pieces of Earth. Explore, uncover, solve, and find a way to make it home.
AdventurePuzzleExplorationIndieFirst-PersonMysterySurrealVRWalking SimulatorAtmospheric👍 3,032
$9.99HOST
Jul 1 · Garrett Fuselier
Both: Exploration · Walking Simulator · First-Person
When your spacecraft crashes on an unknown planet, you navigate your way through its dark and puzzling corridors. Using only your hands and your wits, will you discover your parasitic power before it's too late?
Early AccessExplorationPuzzleWalking Simulator3DFirst-PersonVRSurrealUndergroundLinear
$19.99Submerged
Aug 3 · Uppercut Games Pty Ltd
Both: Exploration · Relaxing · Walking Simulator
Submerged is a third-person combat-free game in which you explore a mysterious flooded city and discover the beauty of desolation in vast outdoor environments. You take on the role of Miku, a young girl who has brought her wounded brother to the city in their small fishing boat.
ExplorationRelaxingFemale ProtagonistWalking SimulatorFamily FriendlyNatureThird PersonCasualAdventureOpen World👍 4,327
$4.99Backrooms Abyss
Jul 4 · Chadder Studios
Both: Walking Simulator · Exploration · First-Person
Explore and survive levels based on the popular creepypasta lore. Each level offers various escape routes but also introduces perilous obstacles. Players can immerse themselves in the seemingly boundless and unsettling levels of the backrooms, experiencing the game's eerie and intricate mazes.
AdventureCasualRoguelikeWalking SimulatorExplorationFPS3DFirst-PersonRealistic1980s
$5.99TIMEframe
Jul 7 · Random Seed Games
Both: Walking Simulator · Exploration · First-Person
Time is relative. Sometimes 10 seconds can feel like an eternity... In TIMEframe you will discover a world in slow motion. Explore the remnants of a mysterious civilization on the brink of destruction.
IndieCasualWalking SimulatorAtmosphericGreat SoundtrackExplorationFirst-PersonAdventureStylizedShort👍 269
$14.99THE LONGING
Mar 5 · Studio Seufz
Both: Walking Simulator · Exploration
An unusual mix of adventure and idle game. In utter loneliness deep below the surface, it's your task to wait for the awakening of your king... for 400 days.
Point & ClickWalking SimulatorChoose Your Own AdventureIdler2DUndergroundMultiple EndingsExplorationAtmosphericChoices Matter👍 6,979
Also worth a look
Share some of the same DNA, but further from the original.
$7.99Hospital 666
Mar 5 · Lokin
Both: Psychological Horror · Realistic · Walking Simulator
Hospital 666 is a 1-4 player horror escape game. Traverse through eerie hospital levels while observing the occurrence of anomalies and choosing the correct elevator. Some abnormal bosses will chase you to death, and you must find the right way to escape them.
HorrorOnline Co-OpPsychological HorrorMultiplayerRealisticWalking SimulatorMultiple EndingsThrillerSupernaturalAdventure👍 1,203
$4.99Is Simon There?
May 6 · Stanislaw Truchowski
Both: Psychological Horror · Realistic · Walking Simulator
A few months have passed since the death of my son, Simon. Ever since that tragic day, I find myself falling into the darkest emotions I could ever imagine. I am haunted everyday with what I have done; But sometimes, I am haunted by more than just my emotions...
HorrorPsychological HorrorStory RichRealisticDarkPuzzleWalking SimulatorThrillerCollectathonAtmospheric👍 286
$9.99Backrooms: Escape Together
Oct 18 · Triiodide Studios
Both: Psychological Horror · First-Person · Realistic
A visually lifelike co-op horror game for 1-6 people. Journey through 11 procedurally generated levels, using what's available to survive and progress deeper into the Backrooms.
MultiplayerHorrorOnline Co-OpPsychological HorrorSurvival HorrorCo-opAtmosphericFirst-PersonRealisticEarly Access👍 42,321
-20%$7.99Escape the Backrooms
Oct 23 · Fancy Games, Blackbird Interactive
Both: Psychological Horror · First-Person · Exploration
Escape the Backrooms is a 1-4 player co-op horror exploration game. Traverse 30+ eerie backrooms levels while avoiding entities and other dangers. Try to escape but be warned: survival isn't guaranteed.
HorrorMultiplayerOnline Co-OpPsychological HorrorCo-opSurvival HorrorFirst-PersonEscape RoomExplorationAdventure👍 137,469
$6.99Fractal Block World
Oct 18 · Dan Hathaway
Both: Exploration · Surreal · First-Person
This is a surreal exploration game. Explore a massive fractal with great complexities. You can shrink infinitely to go deeper into the fractal. Or you can become larger by growing. Inner space awaits you in this infinite world.
ExplorationOpen WorldSurrealFPSVoxelIndiePsychedelicFirst-PersonAdventureNonlinear👍 1,490
$15.99Backrooms: Lost Tape
Dec 23 · Cortez Productions
Both: Psychological Horror · Exploration
You work in the cinema as an usher and accidentally fell into the Backrooms, now being trapped, needing to unravel the mysteries of the yellow rooms in order to get out of this place, but be careful, there are entities that will be in your way.
HorrorSurvival HorrorPsychological HorrorDarkExplorationSingleplayerAtmosphericLore-RichMysteryInvestigation👍 1,334
$22.99Kayak VR: Mirage
Jul 12 · Better Than Life
Both: Realistic · Relaxing · Exploration
Kayak VR: Mirage is a jaw-dropping and exhilarating journey through beautiful locations, made for Virtual Reality. Maneuver our fully physically accurate kayak around checkpoints and crown yourself the fastest, or take it easy and use the free roam mode and enjoy the scenery.
VRRacingRealisticSimulationImmersive SimNatureRelaxingPhysicsArcadeExploration👍 1,006
$4.99Writer. Chapter 1
Jan 6 · Beshbarmak games
Both: Exploration · Walking Simulator · First-Person
You, the legendary writer, the “King of Horror,” find yourself at the center of a nightmare. A mysterious place, frighteningly familiar, hides sinister secrets. Explore locations, solve riddles, escape from the monster, collect a story that will become a new masterpiece... if you survive.
ExplorationPuzzleDetectiveWalking SimulatorFirst-PersonPsychological HorrorHorrorSimulationControllerLinear