POOLS

First-person horror exploration through empty, maze-like pool spaces

Tensori · Published by Tensori, UNIKAT Label · Released Apr 26, 2024

Reviews: Overwhelmingly Positive; 95% of 6,707
Recent reviews: Overwhelmingly Positive; 96% of 107 in 30 days
Playing now: 14; right now
Steam Deck: Verified
Last update: 9 months ago; Dec 19, 2025

Free demo available, 2 playing it now: get the demo.

What is POOLS?

A first-person exploration game set in surreal pool complexes. Across six chapters, you walk or wade through maze-like rooms that change as you progress. There are no characters, dialogue, or conventional story.

For you if...

+you prefer tension without enemies chasing you
+you enjoy exploring slowly and finding your own way

Not for you if...

−you need clear objectives and a story to follow
−you want combat, enemies, or sudden scares

What players say

95% of 6,707 reviews are positive · 96% of 107 in the last 30 days

Players praise the pool settings and echoing sound for creating an uneasy atmosphere. Others find the sparse activity boring or not especially scary; some report crashes and restrictive VR movement.

Screenshots and trailer

POOLS system requirements

As published by the developer.

Minimum

Processor: Intel i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 from around 2016 or later
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580 or newer
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Storage: 12 GB available space
Notes: Lower resolution for additional performance. Laptops can work too. Tested on 2021 Lenovo thinkpad, works smoothly with low settings and lower resolution setting. NOTE: You can always try the Demo to see how game runs.

OS: Windows 10 or newer
Processor: Intel i5 or AMD Ryzen 7 from 2018 or later
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT or newer
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Storage: 12 GB available space
Notes: Tested with high settings on 1080p. For 4k with high settings NVIDIA 4080 or AMD RX 7900 is recommended. NOTE: You can always try the Demo to see how game runs.

PC version details

DRM, required accounts, controller support and Steam features.

DRM: None declared on Steam
Controller: Full controller support
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
Achievements: 24
Steam features: Cloud saves, Family Sharing, Trading cards, VR

Steam Deck: Verified

All functionality is accessible with the default controller configuration
In-game text is legible on Steam Deck
Default graphics settings perform well on Steam Deck

Multiplayer and co-op

Single-player

Languages

Full audio: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Portuguese - Portugal, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish - Latin America, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese.