I’m a huge fan of legendary indie horror game dev Steelkrill. They are an extremely creative developer that has made some of the most fun horror games I’ve played in recent years. Unfortunately, it appears as though a fraudulent company has ripped their entire latest release and is attempting to sell it as their own.
One of Steelkrill’s first titles wasThe Backrooms 1998, released into Early Access in 2022 as a first-person found footage psychological horror game that tells the story of a young teen who fell into the depths of the Backrooms from popular internet creepypasta culture. After a few years of development, Steelkrill is ready to takeThe Backrooms 1998out of Early Access and into full release with a new version including improved enemy AI, bug fixes, more jump scares, and more.
Alongside the full launch PC release, Steelkrill also intended to releaseThe Backrooms 1998on consoles. However, when they went to do so, they discovered thata fake company had literally managed to rip all ofThe Backrooms 1998and upload itto PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch as if it were their own game titledBackrooms Horror Escape.
Comparing the real game,The Backrooms 1998, to the fake scam game,Backrooms Horror Escape, it’s very obvious they blatantly ripped the assets, UI, and everything, and simply added a filter or changed various post processing effects to make it look slightly different.
Since discovering the scam, Steelkrill issued a DMCA for the stolen assets and game to all the platforms on which it was listed. It’s since been taken down from PlayStation and Xbox, but at the time of publishing this article, it’s still up on the Nintendo eShop. According to Steelkrill, Nintendo followed up on the DMCA request asking for clarification as to why they think the fake company stole their game. Steelkrill was quick to point out that not only are the stolen assets a dead giveaway, but the source code itself for the fake game shows all the same properly named assets fromThe Backrooms 1998, and even includes a VHS home video from when they were younger that plays at the start of the game.
After doing a little digging, it appears this isn’t the first time this fake company has done this. Under the name ‘COOL DEVS S.R.L.’, whoever is behind the scam has also fake ripped game versions ofChained Togetherunder the titleChained Towards Heaven, andTCG Card Shop Simulatorunder the titleTCG Empire: Card Shop Simulator. I even found a couple titles currentlylisted on Steamthat are blatant rip offs of existing games on the platform. For example, a ripped version ofSupermarket Simulatorcalled Supermarket Simulator Holidays 2025 that just has it randomly snowing with brighter assets, and another ripped version ofTGC Card Shop Simulatoralso simply with brighter assets calledTrade ‘Em Up! TCG Empire Shop.
Reading over some responses to what’s going on, it seems as though whoever isn’t behind this isn’t only ripping off developers’ hard work, the stolen games aren’t even in a playable state. Several players have admitted they were duped only to find the game they brought to be broken and unplayable.
It’s really a shame to see this happen to such an amazing developer like Steelkrill. They have an especially unique ability to create horror games that incorporate the latest gaming trends—such asThe Stairway 7, an anomaly loop game likeExit 8—or try something completely different and new likeRotten Flesh, a cosmic horror game in which you must search for your run away dog in some creepy sewers while calling for him using your microphone. I’ve enjoyed all of their releases and am anxiously awaiting the upcoming release ofThe 18th Attic.
Steelkrill wants players to keep an eye out and be careful to check the games they are purchasing to make sure they are legitimate, as well as the developer accounts of those selling them. For developers, Steelkrill says they should make sure to use IL2CPP in their code, which can help obfuscate the code and make it harder to steal.
