Shifting to the Backrooms is the kind of horror game that likes to slow you down just long enough to make you doubt whether you are stuck, missing something obvious, or walking straight into the right answer without realizing it. That works well for atmosphere, but it also means some levels can feel more confusing than difficult, especially when the game starts leaning into perspective tricks, sound cues, and non-Euclidean weirdness.
This guide is built to help without flattening the entire experience. Instead of just handing over every answer, it focuses on the kind of hints that keep the game moving while still letting you connect the dots yourself. If a level has a trick, a pattern, or a visual rule the game wants you to notice, that is the part worth understanding.
House Original
The opening is more straightforward than it first appears. Start by picking up the phone on the nightstand beside the bed to leave the room. After that, head into the kitchen and sit at the table to continue. The next part is a QTE, so just press the keys shown on screen when prompted.
House Alternative 1
Go to the massage room at the end of the hall. After the cutscene finishes, do not overthink the room. Wait until an interaction prompt appears at the top of the mirrored bed, then use it to move on.
The Void
This level removes the usual instinct to sprint, which can make it feel more restrictive than it really is. You cannot run here, so just keep moving in a straight line. After the corridor, continue walking all the way forward until the very end.
Pink Delight
This one is easy to misread because the environment feels open enough to suggest multiple routes, but the path is more deliberate than it first seems. Follow the route to the tree, then head down toward the ocean. Keep walking through the water and you will eventually find a hidden staircase that leads to the exit.
The Dream Park
This is one of the more playful puzzle areas in the game, but it still has a clear internal logic once you stop trying to brute-force it.
When you reach the room with three slides and three shaped wall cutouts, the trick is to match each ball correctly. The slide opposite a cutout tells you the ball’s color, while the shape of the cutout tells you which ball shape belongs there.
You only need one ball in the middle to open the first route forward. There is also an optional second step: if you go back and place another correct ball into the left cutout, that opens an alternate passage leading to a staircase.
If you take the first route, you will run into the perspective-based ball puzzle. The ball changes size depending on how far away you are from it. Step back until it appears small enough, then interact so your character carries the small version of it. Bring that version forward and place it in the hole in the floor.
The Static Void
This is one of the game’s most distinctive levels because it relies less on conventional puzzle design and more on paying attention to how the world is behaving around you.
The first clue on the wall is telling you to move between 4 and 5, then between 2 and 3. That sequence matters. Go through the passage between 4 and 5, ignore the unmarked opening, then pass between 2 and 3. Repeat the same logic again in the column section: first 4 and 5, then 2 and 3.
Once you reach the maze, follow the arrow and enter each newly opened path. The level plays with non-Euclidean geometry, so you need to watch for changes in the environment rather than expecting the layout to obey normal rules.
Later, after the newly opened corridor passage, head to the end, turn right, and run toward the doorway. A staircase should appear in the next room. If it does not, step back out and enter again while looking through the doorway. The staircase only becomes visible under that condition.
At the section with the converging walls, timing your jump is the whole challenge. A good way to make it easier is to angle the camera downward so you can track your footing more precisely. Keep moving and hold the jump input through the end of the sequence.
The Whiteout
This objective is simple, but the level’s presentation can make it feel more complicated than it is. You need to find three boards and bring them back to the pillar with the timer.
Cinema
This level is more about reading the room correctly than guessing. Each theater has its own code, and the information you need is already there. The row number and the lowered seat number give you the pattern for each theater. Then, by applying the same logic to the hall number and the digit shown on the screen, you can work out the password for the door containing the third USB drive.
School
Near the spawn point, enter the open door. Inside, there is a Polaroid photo that points you toward pieces of paper scattered around the level. Each paper has a digit on the front and a sequence order shown by dots. Once you have the necessary pieces, arrange the digits in the correct order and enter the code on the first floor near the exit, beside the large fire extinguisher.
Supermarket
This is one of the simpler progression sections once you realize the game wants you to trust sound over sight. Move forward until you reach a left turn leading into the supermarket. Once inside, follow the sound of crying. You need to follow it three times.
Office
The Office level mixes a scavenger task with a visual minigame, so it can feel busier than it actually is.
First, find 12 missing posters and throw them in the trash. Later, while working at the computer, watch for random groups of numbers that grow in size. When they do, click and drag with the left mouse button to highlight them. There is a meter at the bottom of the screen, and once it fills, the game will show you a randomly generated code.
Memorize that code because you will need to use it for the next three times it comes up. In the final room, where everything is overturned, escape through the blue glowing passage.
Hotel
The Hotel level revolves around a simple but effective rule: the entity only moves when you are not looking at it. Once you understand that, the rest becomes much more manageable.
Take the first key from the reception desk, then move through the rooms one by one, finding the next key as you go. In the final room, you will need a code for a cabinet. That code is tied to the keys you have collected and the symbols shown on them, so pay close attention to those details as you progress.
Hedge Maze
This is one of the more tense levels because it mixes navigation with threat management. The main rule is to follow the blue lamps and avoid the red ones. Some blue lamps also have notes attached, and those notes are important enough that you should stop and read them.
You should also avoid the garden statues, including the elephant figures. At one point, one of the blue lamps warns that the entity is close and approaching. When that happens, back away, hide, and let it pass along its route toward the red lamp. After it moves on, return to the blue lamp it came from and continue from there.
If the entity starts chasing you, the safer response is usually to take a quick detour so the path it came from clears, then run back that way.
House Alternative 2
Go downstairs to the first floor. Near the couch and the interactive cube, there is a nightstand with items you need to collect. Pick up both required objects, then interact with the cube.
From there, continue through the opening doors and head into the basement. Pick up the sledgehammer and start breaking through the walls while following the lamps and Emily’s voice. When you finally reach the toy, keep using the interact button until the sequence completes.
The Void 2
This section feels like it might be taking control away from you, but it is still asking for input. Just keep walking forward, even if it seems like a cutscene is doing the work for you.
House Alternative 3
Head downstairs to the first floor and focus on the blue void. Once the tunnel sequence begins, you can move the camera while flying through it, but the main thing is simply to stay with the sequence and let it carry you forward.