Comment by amiga386
3 months ago
The article has a screenshot of the Stanley Parable, but misses an opportunity to reference Control (2019) which is much more directly influenced by the "liminal space" concept, and imagines a non-euclidian space called The Oldest House at 34 Thomas Street (a reference to the brutalist, windowless AT&T Long Lines skyscraper at 33 Thomas Street, New York City).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F74LLDhAhhI
It also very much ties in with the shared SCP universe, which itself has a number of Backrooms-like anomalies, such as SCP-3008 (https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3008), which is like a typical IKEA, except its maze of twisty passages run to infinity.
I am also going to call out House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It's a really interesting book that explores a house that is slightly larger on the inside than the outside. It explores a lot of liminal spaces and has a really interesting format in print.
>House of Leaves
And then from there back to another game: MyHouse.wad, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyHouse.wad
Haven't played that yet though I heard it really helps if you are fan of the series and read the books as the game will make more sense that way.
Interestingly, this video analysis of Control (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VII76R36GWw) claims Remedy was inspired by House of Leaves, and notes the similarity between "Ash Tree Lane" where the House of Leaves is set, and the "Ash Tray Maze" in Control.
Just seeing a few images of the book's pages in this video, yeah it seems like a really interesting book that plays with the novel format directly.
Pair that with Poe's album Haunted https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunted_%28Poe_album%29
> Haunted is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Poe, released in 2000 after a five-year hiatus from her debut album Hello in 1995. The self-produced album was created as a tribute to her father, and counterpart to her brother Mark Z. Danielewski's novel House of Leaves.
That book is definitely something you have to see in print.
Report on an Unidentified Space Station by J G Ballard
https://sseh.uchicago.edu/doc/roauss.htm
And I think I read a short story about a guy buying a house with endless levels below it - maybe the free short stories on tor.com ?
Gregor Schneider made a super creepy house, called House Ur, it is a mega unsettling art piece. There are some videos on it but cant find them at the moment. Super creepy guy and super creepy layers in a house.
2 replies →
The book itself is highly influenced by Borges
That's been done as "The Store is Closed."[1]
IKEA threatened to sue.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/embed/sK5wPE-aQwc?autoplay=1&enablej...
The Stanley Parable definitely plays with non-euclidean and liminal spaces - the room in the screenshot being one such example.
It does, but its main focus is ludonarrative dissonance, which is why Control would be a better example (along with games that specifically invoke Backrooms lore, like POOLS)
I was actually a little surprised there was no mention of Escape the Backrooms, although I suppose The Stanley Parable is a better-known game.
Reminds me how much fun Superliminal was. Might have to get that another play through. :D
I mean if we're trying to source where "liminal space" started, I'd like to add Portal and Portal 2 into the mix. It didn't have the surreal, creepy components because jump scare horror games like Five Nights hadn't been popularized yet but the entire second area of Portal 2 where you're introduced to Cave Johnson and the older Aperture Science HQ is very much "liminal".
If we want to go deeper, then I really think its Earthbound's absurdist take on childhood adventures with cultists, ghosts, dreamscapes, etc. but I think at that point I might as well say dice games influenced things.
i think there's also a strong Lynchian influence to the liminal space aesthetic. Industrial spaces, flickering fluoresecnt lights, and a sense of unease that comes from dream-logic and shots that linger to emphasize emptyness.
Antichamber (2013) is also worth mentioning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichamber
That game is so mind-bending
I don't think it's too far to include Earthbound. After all,
Super studio’s Flooded McDonalds also comes to mind
> which is like a typical IKEA, except its maze of twisty passages run to infinity.
For the 4 people on HN who don't know, "maze of twisty passages" is a reference to the this (the?) text adventure game:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure
Adventure is the OG, the genre-namer. If there's only one adventure game, it's either this or Zork.
Speaking of relevant games, there's also a Roblox game that my son has been into called Backrooms With Guns, and now I understand it a lot more.
https://en.namu.wiki/w/The%20Backrooms%20With%20Guns
I see others have mentioned Superliminal too, which was great.
I'm not an SCP expert, but for a long time I have really liked SCP-087. It really nails the sleep paralysis and liminal space vibes.
I really want to play that game but I am bad at the genre and I got whacked by the first boss. I really like that creepy aesthetic.
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