Escape the Backrooms Level 974 Guide: How to Escape Kitty's House (Secret Ending)

What Level 974 Is

Level 974, widely recognized in the lore as "Kitty's House," is a unique secret level in Escape the Backrooms. Unlike normal progressive hub gates, accessing this level requires navigating a specific hidden sequence between Level 6 and Level 7. Visually, the level resembles a cozy, brightly colored pastel-pink suburban home, contrasting sharply with the bleak environments of other levels. However, its deceptive domestic comfort conceals an intense, high-pressure survival scenario.

The primary objective within Level 974 is a scavenger hunt: players must locate five hidden plush toys (such as teddy bears or doll items) scattered across the two-story house and return them to the central stools in the main lobby. Completing this ritual activates a mystical pillar of light, providing a clean exit route and unlocking a unique secret ending transition.

How to Access the Level 974 Entry Route (Step-by-Step)

To reach Kitty's House, you must follow a deliberate path after reaching the transitional space between Level 6 and Level 7 (accessible after completing the core game loop). Locate the locked metallic door that lights up when approached. To unlock it, you must possess the correct workplace credential item: swipe your Work Badge / NC Key Card across the card terminal to cycle the door mechanisms.

Once you take the elevator down, you will find yourself in a pitch-black, eerie utility hallway filled with pipes. Do not panic about the confusing layout; veteran players use a simple navigation rule to clear this maze efficiently.

Surviving Kitty: Core Entity Mechanics & AI Behavior

The sole resident of Level 974 is Kitty—a massive, pitch-black silhouette entity that moves with terrifying speed and agility. Surviving solo on this level is considered exceptionally difficult and highly oppressive due to Kitty's unique aggressive behavior rules:

• The Eye Contact Rule (Fixed Aggro): Kitty operates on a mechanic similar to SCP-173 or "Peanut." If you maintain continuous, direct eye contact with Kitty, the entity remains locked in place and cannot harm you. Turning your back on the entity or breaking line-of-sight instantly triggers an aggressive strike.
• Teleportation and Door Interaction: Kitty possesses the ability to blink-teleport ahead of your positioning, making it easy to run straight into its face when turning corners. Note that closing doors will NOT secure your safety indefinitely; Kitty has the ability to open closed doors to pursue targets.
• Multiplayer Target Lock (Un-interceptable): In multiplayer sessions, Kitty's aggro targets a single player completely at random. It is NOT based on who holds a plush doll. Crucially, if Kitty is locked onto you, teammates cannot intercept or pull hostility by looking at Kitty for you—the targeted player must maintain their own eye contact.

Pro Survival Tip: When exploring unsearched rooms, always open doors and walk through thresholds backward. This guarantees that if Kitty has teleported inside the room, you are already maintaining the necessary eye contact to freeze the entity instantly upon entry, preventing sudden death jumpscares.

Scavenger Hunt: Doll & Plushie Spawn Rules

To escape, players must locate 5 distinct plush doll items distributed randomly across the kitchen, dining rooms, bedrooms, and dead-end hallways of both the first and second floors. These spawns are highly dynamic; an area that appears empty at the start of a match may dynamically update or populate a plushie later in the run.

Tracking by Audio Cues (and Audio Glitches): The absolute key to locating items efficiently is listening for distinct sound effects. As you draw physically close to a hidden plush doll, a faint, repeating child-like giggling or musical toy sound will play. However, you should be aware of two critical spawn behaviors:

• Delayed Audio Cues: Sometimes a room will remain completely silent when you first walk in. Do not instantly leave; wait a few seconds as the audio cue can sometimes delay or fail to trigger until you are standing directly adjacent to the item's furniture container.
• Silent Spawns: In rare cases, a plushie (such as the raw meat item or specific bears) can spawn completely silently in deep dead ends without making any noise. If you are missing one last item to clear the level, manually double-check all corners on the first floor, even if they sound silent.

Triggering the Secret Ending Exit

Once an item is successfully acquired, carefully navigate back to the main lobby area. Place the collected item onto one of the matching wooden stools arranged in the center of the room. Submitting items progressively fills the extraction requirements.

After all five plushies are securely positioned on the stools, a celestial column of light will descend into the lobby. The number of active light beams precisely scales to match the player count of your session (e.g., one beam for solo players, more for co-op teams). To secure your escape, ensure all survivors step directly inside the illuminated zone simultaneously. The screen will fill with structural smoke, simulating a deep sleep transition, safely concluding Level 974 and clearing the secret path.