Suggestions for Level 0, 1, -1, 2

[round bison]

I spent a few hours playing levels 0, 1, -1, and 2. In this post I’ll try to write down all my suggestions for these levels. Let me know what you think!

Level 0
Very nice level. From my point of view, I’d suggest two small improvements:

• I think the shortcut to the sublevel is too easy and “lazy”: this could lead many players to skip level 0 and move on immediately, which is a shame because level 0 is a classic of the Backrooms genre and it’s really well done. What do you think about an idea like this to make it a bit more interesting? My idea: in the pitfalls there are two holes with the black circle on the ceiling, but only one is the correct one with mattresses at the bottom, the other leads to death. A 50/50 chance. However, around the level you can find lanterns (or flares, or matches, or glowsticks, something like that) that you can light and drop into the pitfalls: if the lantern you drop breaks and the light goes out at the bottom, it means it leads to death. If the light stays on, it means there are mattresses. The light would then remain on at the bottom of the hole to help teammates understand which hole is the right one. In my opinion this would be a good compromise for those who don’t feel like searching for all the VHS tapes, but at the same time they’d still be forced to look for at least one lantern to move forward and spend a few minutes experiencing level 0. There would be two different approaches to completing the level. Maybe this would only be possible after the “hands overhaul” update on the roadmap.
• I think the Smile entity should move toward the players: very slowly, but it should move. The fact that it stays still, in my opinion, kills half of the anxiety and tension that entity could potentially generate. Imagine realizing that the Smile is slowly coming toward you… it would be much scarier in the middle of a blackout! And this would apply both to level 0 and to the sublevel.

Level 1, -1, 2 in the comments:
⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

Level 1
An overhaul is already planned for this level, so the gameplay might be completely reworked and it doesn’t make much sense to talk about it now. I think the weak points of this level are the flat, repetitive environment and the entities being too “stupid” and mechanical, not very natural. But reading the brief description of the overhaul on the roadmap, I think the developers are moving in the right direction!

Level -1
Almost perfect. Maybe it has two weak points:

• 1. the first tutorial section. In my opinion, there’s no need for a tutorial, just like in all the other levels, the drawings on the walls are enough and you learn the rest by experiencing the level. Basically, I think the first part should be cut: you should start the level in the TV room, already inside the main level. I would keep the second red-alert phase, that makes sense.
• 2. there are areas with WAY too many electrical power boxes. Seriously, I’m not joking. There are entire areas and corridors without a single hotel room, just power boxes to activate electricity. It becomes frustrating after a while. Maybe it would be useful to reduce the spawn rate of these boxes.

Level 2
In my opinion this level is very weak, and I’m surprised that no overhaul is planned on the roadmap, considering it was voted in an old poll as the least liked level. I propose these improvements:

• the strong point of all the other levels is that they are randomly procedurally generated and vary a lot from run to run. This level, instead, is the only one that always has the exact same macro-structure: a safe corridor at the beginning, a central area that is always the same, and three corridors B, C, and G with a valve to activate at the end. Yes, the three corridors are procedurally generated, but in the end it doesn’t really make that much difference. You already know what to expect from each of the three corridors, and it will always be the same: side rooms with items, lockers to hide in along the way, and the final room at the end with the valve. There’s no surprise; the procedural random component in this level doesn’t work as well as in the others, in my opinion. I think the structure of this level needs to be redefined, made more variable, slightly more labyrinth-like, and more surprising each run.
• the other very weak point of this level is the entity: it’s too nerfed. It runs too slowly, and its supposed strong point, exceptional hearing, doesn’t actually work very well and in my opinion should be adjusted. Sounds like walking, jumping, or talking into the microphone should attract its attention much more, or at least from farther away. I find it absurd that it’s so easy to lose it simply by running, or that we players can hear its sounds when it’s at a moderate distance, but the entity doesn’t hear us if we run or talk. Also, the level is structured in such a way that you could complete all three corridors without ever encountering the creature, purely by coincidence. Maybe having two entities instead of one would be more fun and make the level feel less “empty.”

[round bison]

What do you think? Let me know your thoughts, maybe I’m wrong, or you might come up with better ideas!

[forest elbow]

I think that Level 1 should have parking garage wall texture

instead of the one from lvl 2

like this

[rancid quail]

you cooked i agree with like all of those suggestions

i also wish they would put more keys in the power rooms

[midnight horizon]

i agree with level 2, it could be more interesting and it's too easy. I disagree with nerfing the level 0 skip. Yes, many players skip it, but the skip is really important to speedrunning and most player, who use it, have played the game normally before and now don't want to bother with it anymore. It is the longest level after level fun and skipping it makes runs more enjoyable imo.

[rancid quail]

although i dont think smilers should move

[forest elbow]

Aplausos for this suggestion

[rancid quail]

cuz they dont have legs so it would just look like a roblox animation tbh\

[forest elbow]

Technically, the shadow from lvl -1 are just black particles

and it can move

[rancid quail]

black particles with legs

[forest elbow]

no

[rancid quail]

yes

[forest elbow]

black particles with black particles

[rancid quail]

nah cuz it has footsteps

[round bison]

Yeah, but they’re literally floating black clouds with a face, I think they can float haha. I don’t believe the lack of legs would prevent an entity like that from moving… I’m not sure. From a gameplay perspective I’d prefer them to move slowly, but maybe you’re right

[rancid quail]

and if you look closely the void entity looks like a human

[forest elbow]

If a skin stealer steals the skin of a human, is it technically a human?

[rancid quail]

no

but it has legs

[forest elbow]

short answer:

NO

then it's the same logic with what you said

it looks like a human, but its not human

[rancid quail]

all im says is the void entity has legs

[forest elbow]

alr then

I wonder how were they created though

[round bison]

Yeah, that’s true, the level -1 entity makes footstep sounds, even though it seems to be floating

[midnight horizon]

there could be legs hiding in the smoke

[safe tundra]

what is this bro

[safe tundra]

I kinda like how the entity's design is so simple yet scary

[round bison]

I was thinking about what you said… it’s true that the shortcut is useful for speedrunners and for those who, as I mentioned, don’t feel like searching for all the VHS tapes because it’s a fairly long task. But I have a couple of thoughts:

1. speedrunners are a niche group of players, they’re not the majority, and they would simply adapt to the new feature anyway, just like they do with everything that gets added or changed in updates.

2. my idea was precisely to find a compromise: it’s true that completing objectives is a long process that most players skip in runs after the first one, which is why I only proposed making the shortcut more interesting, not as long as the VHS tape mission, but also not as short as it is now. In my idea, it would be enough to find a single item in order to use the shortcut, that’s all. I find it sad how easily level 0 can be skipped at the moment, you just need to find the pitfalls, which are often right next to the elevator, so it takes about 20–30 seconds. My idea would force the player to do a minimum amount of exploration, to enjoy at least a few minutes of level 0 on every run, which is still fun thanks to the presence of Bacteria and events like the blackout and the alarm

.
At the moment, it’s the only shortcut like that in the game. I mean, why allow players to skip level 0 in about 20 seconds, but not any of the other levels? Maybe the only similar case is jumping out of the window in level 4, but in that case you’re not skipping level 4, you’re actually skipping level 6 haha.
And anyway, that shortcut makes sense, because it’s not like you can jump out of the first window you find. You have to find a window near a desk that you can use to jump (and from what I’ve seen, it’s fairly hard to find). It’s already a more elaborate shortcut compared to the one in level 0

[rancid quail]

I think that the shortcut for 0 is fine, but maybe there should be more of an incentive to not take it, such as an item that is helpful for future levels

[midnight horizon]

Have you seen the duo skip in level 4?

[humble wren]

Btw the generation are hard sometimes in lvl 0 and the pitfalls arent close to you

[midnight horizon]

I agree with this, maybe there are some really helpful hidden items or smth that make you stay and complete the objectives normally

[round bison]

Yeah, that works too! It’s similar to what I said, except in my case I forced you to look for an item in order to use the shortcut, while in your case it’s optional. So in your scenario there would be three alternatives: take the shortcut immediately; look for the useful item and then take the shortcut; or complete the VHS objective (and you’d probably find the useful item along the way anyway)

[round bison]

Yeah but in any case, you just need to follow the line on the floor, I’ve played level 0 several times, and most of the time I reached the pitfalls within about 30 seconds

[round bison]

Oh okay, so you’re saying: you have to find all the tapes and complete the objectives, and only after doing that you’d somehow be rewarded with the useful item.

I don’t know… I wouldn’t want to give too much importance to this item, considering that every time you die you lose your items, in theory…

[round bison]

Maybe instead of an item… if you complete all the objectives of level 0, somewhere a door or passage unlocks that lets you skip level 1 or -1 and go straight to level 2 (maybe passing through another sublevel first, similar to 0.11 but different, since level 0 has a ton of sublevels in the lore haha)

There are really so many ideas guys 🤣

[forest elbow]

Actually, when Lvl -1 released, it didn't have the tutorial specifically, but many, many people complained about not directly understanding the level, so the devs added the small tutorial section.

I completely agree with your second point, the level is filled with electrical power boxes, it looks like a gray electrical station instead of a hotel haha

[round bison]

Yeah, I remember that, I had trouble too, but it was because the first drawing on the wall wasn’t clear, not because there was no tutorial. The new drawing is much clearer. Also, a tutorial makes sense for a first run, but having to redo it every run is simply redundant

[round bison]

I’ve also noticed that if you die at any point in the level (even near the end, when you’re in the alarm phase with the red lights and have to find the TV room), it makes you redo everything from the tutorial… it’s way too frustrating, don’t you think?

[forest elbow]

just dont die

you start from 0% because there's a door to backtrack

if you wanna do lvl 1 instead

[round bison]

And I get that, but the possibility to backtrack should be within the level itself, not in the tutorial section. In my opinion, the tutorial part should be removed entirely. Level 1 doesn’t have a tutorial and has the backtrack door to level 0 inside the level itself, not in a tutorial section. Level -1 should work the same way

[forest elbow]

There shouldn't be a tutorial in the game overall

In the backrooms, you should NOT know where you are, or what you have to do, that's what makes it scary and liminal

[round bison]

Exactly, there shouldn’t be a tutorial in any level, these are the Backrooms! It shouldn’t feel like you’re playing a game, it should feel like you’re actually inside the Backrooms