First part of Level 289, representing the maze. (Credits to Pezo von Ellrichshausen.)
(WIP, I'll finish the level soon)
Level 289 is the 290th level of the Backrooms. This level is known for its distinguished nature, as most of the explorers who visit this level say that they had never seen something like that. Level 289 is divided in layers, with each layer varying on properties, survival difficulties, entities and looks. The entry to this level is only recommended in case you want to die fast or if you want to raise your levels of adrenaline, but not in a good way.
Description
Level 289 is a very big level compared to the others present. Instead of being just an infinite place like Level 0, or a very big and populated city, like Level 188, this level is subdivided in part, with a start and an end. It consists of a maze on the first part and a "find the exit" part with houses on the second part. After you pass these two parts, you'll go to the "real" part of the level. That last part is sub-divided in rooms, varying in every backrooms characteristic you've seen until now.
The very first part of the level consists of a big outdoor maze. The floor is made out of concrete, covered by leaves from somewhere, and the walls are blue, with a poorly made linear pattern. There is no ceiling present, and the natural lighting present from the "Sun" will help you move through the labyrinth. The architecture of the maze is very different from regular ones, as the rooms are circular and intersected with each other, creating some rooms that are very narrow and other main ones that are very big, with little to no obstructions. The rooms seem to be in a form of an unique pattern of size, but it's still being studied.
The house part of Level 289, unknown photographer.
When you enter the level, you will probably be in the smallest room present (at least from the ones we have documented so far). It's the most common room to no-clip in. There is no food or almond water whatsoever in this part, so very few people actually survive and pass to the rest of the level. Lighting is a very big issue to, as there is a day/night system exclusively there, and in the night, entities may appear. There are no colonies or outposts there either.
If you're lucky enough to pass that horrendous maze, you'll see yourself in a scenario full of padronized houses, similar to the ones encountered in the USA. Outside the houses, you can see a very plain grass field, that apparently extends infinitely. The ones who saw it said that it is a very boring sight. There are some easter eggs that you can find in this part, like a giant Aztec monument (destroyed, but it's still a beautiful place) approximately 404 kilometers away from the start.
The maroon house basement to go to The Abyssimus Rooms. Unknown photographer. The ladder leads to nowhere.
Most of the houses have pratically the same structure: living room, a bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen, nothing special, kinda like a The Sims 2 community lot-style. You can rarely find 500 milliliter bottles of almond water and cans of food on the kitchen area, but check them to see if they're still edible. If not, you may suffer food intoxication, and without proper treatment, you will die. This part also separates the tough ones from the weak ones, with many giving up exploring this level, with their mental sanity affected.
The characteristic that makes this part so difficult is that this part only has one known exit in the whole ~200.000 square kilometers present there. One of the multiple maroon-colored houses has a hidden basement. To get there, you need to move one of the disguised bookshelves with a room behind.
Once you get there, find the patch on the floor that's slightly lighter than the rest – you won't find it already open, because the house has regenerating properties –. When you cut it open, you'll see a narrow hole with stairs on the side. One thing that you need to be aware of is that it becomes very dark once you go down the stairs, so bring lanterns or flashlights.
Be really careful with the ambient down there too, as it's very dirty and you might contract diseases. The basement is relatively small compared to the structure of the house above, but there isn't much to do, as your only exit is a small hole. You'll probably take some time trying to fit in it, but once you pass, you'll go to the real part, of the level, The Abyssimus Rooms.
The hallways present in the "final" part of Level 289. Unknown photographer. (Credits to u/ChiefJ98)
The Abyssimus Rooms
The Abyssimus Rooms – abyssimus is the superlative of abyssus, nowadays known as abysm – is Level 289 per se, the other parts were just to separate the weak ones from the strong ones.
When you first enter these rooms by the hole in the basement (there is no other way to go in, by the way), you'll see a collection of hallways. It may look like some other levels that people have already explored, but this isn't even 10% of the level. The hallways are very plain, with an autumn-themed carpet with a dark blue and indigo background in all of it, yellow wallpaper, similar to the one found on Level 0, modern wall lights and a beige ceiling. The main hallway and the smaller ones are like this.
The only way you'll find almond water and food on this part is by trying to find rests of bottles and cans that other people threw away. Either you advance to the other rooms to survive, or you'll keep depending on scraps. The Wi-Fi signal there is non-existent too, so you won't make contact with your friends, even if you have mobile data.
The structure of this level is mainly one big hallway with smaller ones on the side. The whole main hallway measures around 65 meters from the start to the end. The smaller ones measure around 10-15 meters. But now you may ask: Why is this level so special if the main part is so small? Don't panic, little one. We're still going to talk about it.
Non-Euclidean Geometry
The "anomaly" of this level revolves around non-euclidean geometry. Non-euclidean geometry bases on an axiomatic system, modifying the parallel postulate or relaxing the metric requirement, getting either elliptic or hiperbolic geometries. Saying in more common terms, the whole concept of space and dimension is distorted, so the area/volume of a certain room may be bigger or smaller than it seems. This video is a good representation of this fenomenon. Explaining a bit more, if you go to apparently a very big tunnel and you travelled one tenth of the supposed length, this is non-euclidean geometry being applied. Contextualizing this concept to Level 289, although the hallways and the rooms that you enter may appear very small, they're actually a lot bigger in the inside, fooling the majority of the wanderers who came to this level.