Escape the Backrooms After Party update: three new levels in December

• The update adds three new levels; free and paid cosmetics arrive in October.
• The co-op horror game from Fancy Games and Secret Mode has been played by more than 12 million people since its 2022 Early Access launch.

What happened

Secret Mode announced a new update for Escape the Backrooms on October 8: After Party. The party-themed update was previously shown during the Triple-I Initiative showcase and is scheduled for December. The announcement does not give an exact release date within that month, but it does confirm that the update will arrive sometime in December.

The main update adds three new levels to the game. The announcement does not name those levels, describe the environments, or provide any details about new enemies, puzzles, or other gameplay elements. For now, the content of the three levels is limited to the fact that they are three additional play areas.

Ahead of the December update, free and paid cosmetics will arrive in October. Secret Mode has not said which items will be free and which cosmetics will be behind a paywall. It is also unclear whether the cosmetics will be sold separately or as part of a bundle or in-game store.

Escape the Backrooms is a co-op horror game for one to four players. The game launched in Early Access in 2022 and has since been played by more than 12 million people, according to the announcement. The statement does not explain whether that figure refers to unique players, downloads, sales, or another metric, so the wording remains intentionally broad.

The new update fits into the game’s ongoing expansion. Based on the available information, Escape the Backrooms now has more than 30 levels. The After Party update is therefore another addition on top of an already substantial content base, but Secret Mode has not shared any further roadmap beyond December.

Background

Escape the Backrooms is developed by Fancy Games and published by Secret Mode. The game is available on Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2. That makes the title widely available on PC and consoles, while the update announcement focuses on the same version of the game that has been on the market in Early Access since 2022.

The game is a co-op horror title for one to four players and centers on exploring Backrooms-style environments, which is what the title refers to. The available information says the game now has more than 30 levels, showing that it had already built up a sizable amount of content before After Party arrives. The new update adds three more levels in December, but the announcement says nothing about a later roadmap or another major content wave.

The party-themed approach of After Party was already teased in the Triple-I Initiative showcase. Secret Mode’s new announcement on October 8 now confirms the timing and the broad content details. The official GameTrailers trailer reinforces that message with a title and description that also point to three new levels and a December release.

The 12 million players mentioned in the announcement mark a notable milestone for an Early Access game that began in 2022. Because the source does not explain the figure further, it remains unclear how the number was calculated. What is clear is that Secret Mode is using the milestone to underline the game’s current scale, alongside the fact that it now has more than 30 levels.

The October cosmetics are a separate step before the main December update. The announcement only distinguishes between free and paid items, without further specifics. For now, the only certainty is that cosmetics are coming in October and that the larger content expansion, After Party, follows in December.