Pools

POOLS for a lack of a better term could be called a cozy horror game. Instead of being creepy-cute like other darker games within that category, this game is creepy-cool. Each level flows into a floaty, dream-like experience. The "horror" lies in how the player perceives the environment in spite of the beautiful and sleek visuals. POOLS is a reserve of an almost constant air of unease. Instead of the classic horror elements, POOLS is a nervy, slow-burn that dives deep into your own personal anxieties.

It is a masterclass in vibes, the kind of immersive experience games with a small country’s worth of budgets can only ever try to clumsily emulate. That is of course if you’re open to what POOLS is trying to do, no doubt some will find its lack of explicit systems or goals frustrating or outright boring. Fortunately, I’m a sicko and this kind of slow-burn, ambient horror is exactly what I want from interactive experiences. As I began to piece together my understanding of events in the game through stray imagery and implications, jumping at shadows and straining my ears for an attack that never came, I realised I had drowned somewhere along the way in POOLS.

Whether you find liminal spaces strangely appealing or unsettlingly eerie, we recommend you give Pools a try. We certainly haven’t played anything quite like it before. It may not be an action-packed experience with complex mechanics – hell, some might not even consider it a game at all – but it’s utterly compelling from beginning to end.

A short but impressively realised walking simulator that will unnervingly delight many and disappoint some, POOLS is a purely experiential liminal piece of media. Like all of its halls and corridors, you may wonder where the end goal is, or where the purpose lies. But that’s precisely the purpose of the liminal – to focus on emotion and feeling, even if that’s slightly undermined by its structural design.