Disclaimer: Some individuals might find the sounds or other content included in this level disturbing or shocking.

Backrooms Arena or BACKROOMS_ARENA by M00nbot is a Free For All multi-player map for Quake III Arena and OpenArena based on the fictional Backrooms location. The location itself is a creepypasta that represents a gigantic and sometimes impossible-to-escape labyrinth, usually consisting of oblong walls and passages between them along with some identical square lamps on a low ceiling; the classic version is done in the shades of yellow.

According to Wikipedia, in 2019 the concept was popularized on the 4chan imageboard where an anonymous user stated: "If you're not careful and you noclip out of reality in the wrong areas, you'll end up in the Backrooms ..." Later, in early 2022, the idea went viral when a back-then 16 year old content creator and music producer Kane Parsons aka Kane Pixels made a series of short videos on YouTube called Backrooms with, according to the plot, revealed footage of different backrooms, [spolier!] often with some monsters chasing the main character.

The concept of such location then gained even further popularity and received a lot of attention on various social media platforms, such as Reddit, Twitter (X) and TikTok. That is also when it got an incredible amount of attention in the gaming community and numerous single-player survival horrors started to appear and become successful. Over time, both the games and location had more and even more variations in geometry, colour, environment, length and plot twists, and some even have multi-player support. Among the most successful there are The Backrooms: Found Footage by BaddWeather, Escape the Backrooms (supports multi-player) by Fancy Games and a custom map for Doom II called My House / MyHouse.WAD by Veddge (which also went viral).

What we have here, is a single ArenaFPS level, which means that there is no exit from the maze at all and nowhere to escape to. Nevertheless, it is fun to spend some time in tactical, yet somewhat chaotic fight series on BACKROOMS_ARENA in Quake 3 or OpenArena. After all, who said a single-player location is not entertaining in a multi-player mode, if properly rebuilt? I think Escape the Backrooms is a great evidence that it is entirely possible to do; and this release provides for us some even further opportunities for experiencing a differently styled gameplay on a level that still stays true to the concept.

Basically, Backrooms Arena represents a backrooms level with very few armor or ammunition to pick up, yet gives you all the regular weapons except the Grenade Launcher, which for obvious reasons could have easily been overpowering on this map. So, if no grenades bounce off the walls of the oblong corridors with green gates, yellow floor and rectangle lamps on the ceiling, what possibly could be so fun about this level? Well, it is the peculiarity of gampelay, of course. The fact that here you are both the hunter and the potential victim, you are both the one running away from the monster and that monster chasing someone else at the same time. However, there is a need to keep in mind that the match participants here are placed in the same position.

In order to make the plain corridors with wallpaper and sockets on walls feel at least somewhat (or should I say even?) more diversified, the arena gives you a Quad Damage, Haste and Invisibility, as well as a MegaHealth, two 25x Medkits and some armor shards. The wallpaper textures are misaligned in places, but to be honest, sometimes wallpaper is misaligned in real life as well, so it is not necessarily that big of a problem. What does seem very peculiar to me is the decision to make all the weapons and items soar in the air, as it gives me the feeling of not being able to reach them, yet I can. Although this is something that M00nbot is known for, so I suppose it is one of the author's design gimmicks.

Continuing with the gameplay theme, there is one thing to really be aware of on this level, and that thing is the grenade trap. In a square room with a box of rockets there is a trigger throughout the entire area which will immediately start to spawn 4 series of fast grenades, all at the same time, and they will keep being spawned and thrown for as long as there is at least one player/bot in the trigger zone. It is also important to note that the projectiles get outside the square room as well. So in the end, there are some grenades that bounce off the walls on this map.

Besides the trap, the only other real danger on the level itself is to get lost in its atmosphere. There is a spooky ambient sound (which I think is more positive as compared with other sounds) that can be heard throughout the entire map and a persistent plangent echoing sound of a partly broken lamp. The ones that are the most hard to miss, however, are the evil low-voiced laugh and disturbing echoing cry of a baby in a dark corner. Let alone the numerous hallways with the same visuals but different geometry.

The zigzag nature of the arena makes you wonder what is the suggested player load, and I was not able to find any information about it in the readme file. Considering the default bots for this map are Orbb, Bones, Doom, Razor, Sarge, Tank Jr., Xaero and Daemia, I assume the author implies that with 9 players it should work just fine. Personally, the less bots the more atmospheric the match, and the more bots the trickier the fight. The fact that the level has some dead ends, but not too many of them, helps diversify the movement. In my opinion, the map works in the Instagib mode quite well too.

M00nbot has certainly improved their mapping skill since some of their previous releases, which is brilliant to see! Despite not being a space map this time, and while still being a level with a fairly simple layout, Backrooms Arena manages to bring some interesting combat to the table and recreate a famous concept with a totally different gameplay adequately adapted to Quake 3. Without a doubt, it is a level that you will probably find an excellent hidden gem, if you are into both Quake 3 and Backrooms. However, please keep in mind that if your nerves are not strong enough, it is better to skip this one.

Reviewed by Geniraul