Level 522 - "The Backrooms Robotics Headquarters" / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page Level 522 - "The Backrooms Robotics Headquarters".

+1

Light_Nate 23 Jun 2026 05:18

It gives you enough information to get you hoked into backrooms Robotics lore, and enough understatement to make the reader wonder.

No

leondris 23 Jun 2026 17:49

"read it, I spent a year working on this shittily"

Jokes aside… I've never read any article related to this goi, but I think you've got me interested in them now. Otherwise, I am not really sure what you were going for (except for the monthly feature /lh).

Last edited on 23 Jun 2026 18:15 by leondris Show more

No vote, but may change my mind 𝚒̶𝚏̶ ̶𝙸̶ ̶𝚐̶𝚎̶𝚝̶ ̶𝚘̶𝚟̶𝚎̶𝚛̶ ̶𝚖̶𝚢̶𝚜̶𝚎̶𝚕̶𝚏̶

Natedagreat563 13 Jul 2026 20:25

After reading through it twice, I decided to novote this article, though I’m leaning towards an upvote because I may just be biased against minimalism and I’m writing this after an 8 hour shift where I had to be up at 4:45 am SO I’ll try to be clear and objective but if I’m being dumb tell me. Anyways I’ll try my best to convey my thoughts and rationale behind this decision.

For starters, the description to me feels way too short. My general rule of thumb is at least 5 paragraphs. This introduces a lot of ideas but I feel as if some of them are either contradicted later in the article or not elaborated on thoroughly enough for me to get a clear picture of what this level is supposed to be or be able to vividly imagine myself in the scenery. The third paragraph of the description is the one I had the most problem with. It presents the idea of a powerful god-like entity/the level itself being alive as a given or default, when one generally would not assume such a thing. It caught me off guard, as the first sentence seemed to be implying this level was somewhat of a dead zone until I realized a couple sentences in you were referring to the potential for this rare scenario as if it was a very common scenario. What is the evidence that leads the authors of the article to such a conclusion?

It also seems to assert pretty confidently that the level is devoid of standard entities even though the SD class claims the presence of entities is undetermined. Perhaps you’d benefit from altering the sd class to one of the environmental related ones. Regarding the environment, I have no idea exactly how dangerous this level is. It’s implied to be a borderline dead zone given the lack of standard entities and organic matter, and then later on we find out the Backrooms robotics just kinda figured it out one day and we’re never really told how or why. I would’ve liked some elaboration on how exactly they adapted to what was previously presented as such a hostile environment to the point that a malevolent demigod entity that ruled over the level was being considered as a possibility. Of course, I’m not asking for le magic lore offset that explains everything unsubtly, I’m just saying some kind of elaboration would be nice on how we went from borderline dead zone to “BR now runs the level oh also there’s a bunch of small communities too”
The little div blocks of emails and quotes from BR employees were neat and interesting, but the fact that you wrote the article from a third party’s perspective made their inclusion confusing. When I saw the email in the beginning, I automatically assumed the article would be from the perspective of BR, and then it read like a typical M.E.G. article but with slightly altered formatting and less details. Why would the M.E.G. include a small snippet of an audio recording they weren’t even involved in instead of the whole thing? If they didn’t write this article, then who is? I assume it’s not the Backrooms robotics since it seems to know very little to nothing about them, how they got there, what their intentions are, etc. I get you were going for show not tell, but it feels like you weren’t showing enough. Such as the quote from Amelia vane. I have no idea what it’s trying to imply with that Joe guy. What caused him to leave? Was the job too tough or is it the malevolent being you were alluding to earlier? Obviously you don’t have to answer this outright, but I feel it’s too vague to the point it doesn’t make sense.

The primary reason I novoted instead of downvoting is because the article did intrigue me enough to want to see more with this group and its revival. I just feel like you tried so hard with the show not tell that it didn’t show nearly enough to make much sense and feels more underdeveloped than mysterious. As I mentioned, I am a vehement hater of minimalism, so if I’m just being biased and acting stupid because there’s not 10 images and 20 paragraphs, feel free to tell me to stick my thumb up my butt and die, but as of now I’ll be novoting this.

Last edited on 13 Jul 2026 20:27 by Natedagreat563 Show more

Re: No vote, but may change my mind 𝚒̶𝚏̶ ̶𝙸̶ ̶𝚐̶𝚎̶𝚝̶ ̶𝚘̶𝚟̶𝚎̶𝚛̶ ̶𝚖̶𝚢̶𝚜̶𝚎̶𝚕̶𝚏̶

InspectingCritters 14 Jul 2026 09:00

I'll respond to a few of these points. Ultimately, I cannot change your opinion but hopefully this at least clears some things up.

For starters, the description to me feels way too short. My general rule of thumb is at least 5 paragraphs.

I originally wrote a decent bit more for this page, but eventually came to dislike that version because it was very bloated and added details that didn't really need to be added. I could talk more about environmental details, sure, but it wouldn't tell you anything you didn't already know/could figure out. The issue with this level is that there isn't really anything to it—it's just BKR's place. I opted to just write about the generalities and fine tune the prose and atmosphere. Maybe I could've done better worldbuilding with this piece, but I wasn't able to conceptualize it in that light (nor did I want it to be another detailed lore page like most of the main 12), so this is what I went for.

The third paragraph of the description is the one I had the most problem with. It presents the idea of a powerful god-like entity/the level itself being alive as a given or default, when one generally would not assume such a thing. It caught me off guard, as the first sentence seemed to be implying this level was somewhat of a dead zone until I realized a couple sentences in you were referring to the potential for this rare scenario as if it was a very common scenario.
[…]
Regarding the environment, I have no idea exactly how dangerous this level is. It’s implied to be a borderline dead zone given the lack of standard entities and organic matter

In what way does this assert it as a default? And in what way does it imply a deadzone?
The paragraph's first few sentences introduces an idea to ponder: whether or not anything native to 522 could be counted as entities, and whether machinery could be considered life, not that 522 is inherently hostile to life. The "Occasionally heard of are tales of explorers…" is a follow up to that as a contemplation on whether or not the level itself is alive. It doesn't actually state that there is a confirmed higher entity, only that people are compelled to seek one out. I know I'm replying from the perspective of the author and I know my own intentions with my writing, but I don't know how this could've come off as implying 522 to be a deadzone?

and then later on we find out the Backrooms robotics just kinda figured it out one day and we’re never really told how or why. I would’ve liked some elaboration on how exactly they adapted to what was previously presented as such a hostile environment to the point that a malevolent demigod entity that ruled over the level was being considered as a possibility.

Again, nothing here that actually explicitly states or implies 522 to be malevolent. Anyway, apologies if the BKR lore actually did end up being unclear as I was trying to figure out how much I should to reveal/allude to this without stating it outright, and the last 2 crits I got didn't bring it up as an issue. To summarize: nobody knows how BKR did this to the point where it is alluded to be anomalous in nature, because it is—BKR is implied to have given themselves over to the level in search of technological salvation. There're a lot of little details that are meant to allude to this, but it culmulates in the groups section:

It is difficult to overstate the level to which Backrooms Robotics has adapted to and modified the megastructure. While the Backrooms will never be fully understood, a non-insignificant portion of Level 522 appears to have been heavily integrated within the company and its activities, the masses of mechanical parts serving purpose for the corporation, and their own modifications following the structure's contours as seamlessly as the junk on its floor. Their employees are in many ways not too different, working their way around the disorganized space with a level of familiarity that suggests habitation for much longer than in actuality. Safety appears to only be a concern for those outside the loop.

"Ah, well, it's not so bad here. Company's got plenty of amenities. You learn to… maneuver around the place, eventually. It's quite nice, actually, the sounds of turning gears, and there's a sleekness to the chaos, once you get used to it all. When you're here for long enough, you really start to understand it. Like it wants to be understood."

-Rimehart Zehr, Manufacturing Supervisor

If they didn’t write this article, then who is?

GPD/some unnamed 3rd party; not relevant enough in my head to be a detail that matters. Was originally the MEG + BKR but I couldn't reconcille the difference in group relations between Indus and main so I opted for an outsider perspective.

I have no idea what it’s trying to imply with that Joe guy. What caused him to leave? Was the job too tough or is it the malevolent being you were alluding to earlier?

This quote comes immediately after "Occasionally heard of are tales of explorers who have wandered far and deep into the bounds of Level 522, purporting to be searching for salvation within the megastructure. […]"; is it not obvious that it's meant to be directly related to the preceeding sentences? Why would it be about how tough the job is if that hasn't been talked about at all up to this point?