For the past couple of weeks, there hasn't been a more talked-about movie than Backrooms, the record-breaking A24 thriller from Kane Parsons. The chilling horror sensation has gone so far above and beyond expectations, not only making a ton at the box office but also becoming a legitimate cultural moment in the process. And speaking of cultural moments, nothing has hit the zeitgeist harder in the last year or so than Matt Dinniman's already iconic LitRPG novel series Dungeon Crawler Carl. The books have been flying off the shelves, the tabletop game shattered crowdfunding records, and Peacock's live-action adaptation is already one of the most anticipated TV projects in years.
Backrooms and Dungeon Crawler Carl represent arguably the two biggest entertainment success stories of 2026, and fans of both are already looking for other books, shows, and movies that can at least partially scratch the unique itches that these titles have created. While nothing is going to be exactly like Dungeon Crawler Carl or Backrooms, there's actually one series out there that somehow combines the two for a wild and totally different experience. If you take the insane sense of humor and RPG aspects of Dungeon Crawler Carl and literally toss them into the never-ending horrors of the Backrooms, you get Discount Dan. And while you may not be familiar with the name Discount Dan right now, you should familiarize yourself, because it feels like this could be the next LitRPG saga to really blow up.
The LitRPG genre isn't exactly brand new, but it has been freshly brought to the attention of the mass public in the wake of Dungeon Crawler Carl's popularity. Dinniman has helped to inspire writers within the genre to test the limits of their imagination, and it's clear that Dungeon Crawler Carl served as a big inspiration for James A. Hunter's Discount Dan's Backroom Bargains series. There are a lot of similarities between the two stories at first, but Hunter quickly finds his own voice and direction for Dan.
This series, like Dungeon Crawler Carl, includes the leveling and ability elements of a roleplaying game, and it does utilize plenty of shocking, off-beat, sometimes crass humor — usually to great effect. It's also got the vibe of a dungeon crawl, as the 999 levels of the Backrooms are different from one another. But after that, the stories start to veer from one another.
The first book in the Discount Dan's Backroom Bargains series, simply titled Discount Dan, throws you into the fire without much warning at all. The protagonist, Dan, wakes up after a wildly drunken night at a friend's bachelor party and realizes he's in the Backrooms. There's a voice in his head, a game interface in his vision, and a battle between two terrifying beings unfolding right in front of him. Dan's mission is clear: He just has to survive and hope one day he might find a way out of the seemingly endless hellscape.
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Since there is no known exit for these Backrooms, and a bounty on his head from the ruler of floor 999, Dan needs to find a way to hunker down and give himself a chance at survival. Aided by a mimic that poses as a googly-eyed dog made of Croc material (yes, really), Dan ends up taking control of the Backrooms version of a Walgreens and sets up a trading post for all of the human delvers that find themselves stuck in there with him. From there, as expected, chaos unfolds around just about every corner.
Given that it's probably the closest direct companion to Dungeon Crawler Carl (at least on the surface), Discount Dan has already seen a big bump in popularity with readers who are exploring the LitRPG genre. It helps that Discount Dan also has a very popular audiobook version. The way the Backrooms movie has blown up, though, it feels like the Discount Dan's Backroom Bargains series as a whole could be getting even more attention.
It's tonally very different from Backrooms, but the exploration of liminal spaces is something we'll likely see a lot more of in entertainment in the near future. While a lot of creators will be following Kane Parsons' lead, Discount Dan has the benefit of already existing prior to the release of Backrooms.
In fact, there are three books already out in the Discount Dan series, and even more on the way. The third book in the saga, Kiosk Kingdom, was just released back in March of this year. So, in other words, things are still in the early stages for Discount Dan, and now would be a great time to hop on the bandwagon.
