POOLS similar games & best alternatives

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POOLS

PC (Microsoft Windows) • 2024

Should you play it?

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.

What works

  • Exceptional atmosphere and sound design
  • Unique liminal space exploration
  • No jump scares or monsters
  • Immersive and creative level design
  • Good optimization and graphics

Things to keep in mind

  • Short game length
  • Limited gameplay mechanics
  • Some repetitive areas
  • Minor bugs and technical issues
  • Lack of multiplayer or social features

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Liminalcore

  • The Windows Are Gone

  • Interior Worlds

  • The Norwood Suite

  • Anemoiapolis: Chapter 1

  • DREAM LOGIC

Less expressive

Games that feels like POOLS but with less self-expression and customization

  • The Complex: Found Footage

  • The Complex: Expedition

  • Dreamcore

  • Backrooms: Lost Tape

  • The Backroom - Lost and Found

  • Twisted Gallery 异馆

More survival-focused

Games that feels like POOLS but with a stronger survival pressure

  • SCP: Daybreak

  • The Backrooms Game FREE Edition

  • CAPTURED 2

  • Backrooms: Found Footage

  • The Walking Fish 2: Final Frontier

  • Fibrillation HD

Choose your own criteria ->

Similarity map

How to compare these games

Compare nearby games

Each card is a nearby game on the similarity map, compared with POOLS. Swipe sideways to move between games. Titles already listed in What to play next are left out.

  • Cover and title: open that game’s page.
  • What works / keep in mind: the same highlights as the desktop comparison panel.
  • Bars: the main motivational differences versus this game.
How to use the graph

Similarity map

Each dot is a game placed from its motivation profile relative to this page’s game. Direction shows which motivation differs most; distance along that axis shows how large the gap is.

  • Purple star: this page’s game at the centre — everything is relative to it.
  • Direction: each axis is a main motivational difference vs this game (e.g. more / less competitive).
  • Distance on an axis: how large that difference is (ring scales show +/− points).
  • Coloured chips: click to highlight games that mainly differ on that motivation; click again to reset.
  • Dotted line: link between this page’s game and the one selected for comparison.
  • Hover a dot to preview that game in the panel on the right; click to keep that comparison.
  • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom.

How to read the map This is a polar difference map: direction = which motivation differs, and distance = how much (same units as the sidebar deltas).

Swipe to compare nearby games with POOLS. These titles are not in What to play next.

POOLS: Less representative of its motivational profile, with noticeable differences. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Survival, Violence, Competition, Thrill. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Thrill. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Growth, Intimacy.

Last update: 21/08/2026