© 2026

Decide how you want to play the game.

Normal Mode: Hide from enemies, control your asthma to avoid an attack, and loot around to keep your phone charged. A true fight for survival.

• Safe Mode: No mortal danger or enemies. Just focus on the story and comfortably explore the creepy liminal atmosphere.

🌑 Watch Your Back!

You have no weapons, you can't fight. All you can do is run and hide.

• They Can Pop Up Anywhere: Enemies don't have a fixed location, they can appear suddenly.
• No Memorizing: When you replay the game, enemies won't be in the same place. You must constantly stay alert.

💊 Watch Your Breath (Asthma)

As if the enemies weren't enough, you are also fighting your own body.

Avoid the Toxic Tree: Stay away the moment you see the "Smoking Kill" tree, or you will run out of breath.

• Find Medicine: Collect randomly spawning loot to avoid asthma attacks and stay alive.

📸 Collect Memories

Don't just run, you need to solve the story too.

The Toy Phone: Use that plastic phone to find hidden memories around you.

• Memory Museum: Display every piece you find in your museum and understand what really happened.

🔎 Discover Anomalies

This place is already not normal, but some things are extra wrong.

Look Closely at the Rooms: Find things that are wrong or out of place (anomalies) around you.

• Keep Your Eyes Open: The faster you spot the weirdness around you, the better.

🧩 Push, Pull, and Slide!

Just running is not enough, sometimes you need to use your brain and muscles:

Use the Items: Push, pull, and play with the physics of objects around you to clear the path or solve puzzles.

• Have Some Fun: This might be a nightmare, but when you see that water slide, don't forget to slide down and have a little fun!

🖍️ Don't Get Lost, Leave a Mark

Draw your own path so you don't keep going in circles in the massive maze:

Use Spray Paint: Leave marks with spray paint on the places you pass so you don't get lost in the maze.

• Examine the Pictures: Don't forget to examine the story-related pictures you see on the walls to understand the story.

🌊Inspiration & Style

Poolside Vigil is deeply inspired by internet phenomenons like POOLS, Liminal Spaces, Found Footage, and the Backrooms, especially the “Backrooms Pools” or “Poolrooms” concept.We would like to thank Jared Pike, considered one of the original artists behind the Poolrooms concept, whose work had a massive impact on the visual direction of this project, for his inspiring creations.