At the beginning there were 3 reasons for me to play Pools:
1: Many players praised the game for its atmospheric and immersive experience.
2: In addition, some said that the game narrates and directs with sounds to make you feel like you're really there.
3: It's the same with movies and music, I really like to discover very special and varied things and I also look for them specifically, but I rather prefer to be surprised or when it finds me without me desperately searching for it.

I don't have any favorite genres of games, there are a few things that I just don't like that much or just don't have enough time, patience or nerves for.
But if a game has something more to do with sound or music than usual, then my attention is focused on it and I need to check it out at some point.
And that's why this review will focus more about the sound design in the game than the actual game itself or whether I peed in the pool or not.

But before I do that, a few lines about the game in general. In short, the game experience was good, I got goosebumps in a few places even though nothing happened. The 6 levels are partly different and complex and nothing seems logical and there are no creatures, but you constantly expect something to happen. What I was really pleased about was that the game saves the last position in a level before you quit, well thought out!
And now 2 small pieces of advice, firstly it is possible to move faster through the levels (running) but I strongly advise you not to do this on your first playthrough. Put on good headphones and adjust the volume well, you don't want to hear anything other than the sound in the game and then dive in deep and walk around the place.
Then there's a fun option for a shot to change the look of what you're seeing, simply that it looks like an old VHS tape.
To do this, simply go to the settings and adjust the brightness far down or all the way down, VHS film grains all the way up and exactly the same with lens distortion, all the way up. I used this setting to run through the levels in my second playthrough and it was kind of fun.

Now as promised my review of the sound design and I would like to state right away, and you have seen that the game got a thumbs up from me, that I didn't notice anything that could be criticized heavily or perceived as poorly implemented. What comes next is just my opinion and I also won't be stingy with praise, because if something is done well, then it deserves praise, period.
I wrote down a few things for myself while I was playing and giving them away now without any particular order.
If you're interested in sound design, please let me know what you think in the comments below and don't forget:
NO JUMPING NO DIVING NO CANNONBALLING INTO THE POOL!!!

As you walk through the area looking for the sauna, you can see air vents here and there and not only that, but you can also hear them and they sound really good and very real! From time to time you can also hear a slight rattling sound as if the slats are moving or a mouse is running around in the shaft. Here as well as in other places in the game the 3D sound works well to okay, if you turn away then the angle of incidence also changes, which means if you move away from the air shaft to the right you will also hear the shaft more to the left or left behind. However, I have noticed that there is a threshold where the 3D sound doesn't find a smooth transition to a certain position then the sound just jumps from one point to the next in that audible space.
Of course that's kinda complaining on a high level and not really bad at all, but if I had been responsible for the sound design in the game, it would have been important to me, because and yea okay not all players would have cared or maybe noticed but those like me would have and with in a game like this, all these little details would make the experience so much and even better.

Next point: If you let your character sit on a chair it breathes out and if you let it run, it breathes for a while and catches its breath. That all sounds good so far, it just seems like 2 different people performed it, to me it doesn't sound like the same person. Again not bad at all just noticed and after that I thought how cool would it be if the character was breathing all the time, which would have been a great fit in terms of the atmosphere in there.
After these thoughts I decided to produce a little sound remake of Pools and also include more breathing
and what can I say, it's just dope that way because it's so realistic and pulls you more into the whole thing.
Also what i wanted to do differently in my remake, were the sounds of the steps, especially because you can also set barefoot in the menu but still it kinda sounds like you wearing shoes. I mean depending on the surface, the steps sometimes sound from good to okay to (unfortunately) a bit inappropriate, no idea what happened there.
It was important to me that you can hear that it's really barefoot steps and when you come out of the water,
your feet are still wet for a while and sound exactly like that.
And speaking of water and to be clear on that, it's not always audible with every movement, but sometimes when you go in or out of the water it sounds way too sharp almost metallic, and I also had recordings like that in my takes, but then I just edited them more in a tidy way or didn't use them at all. When I listened to my remake at a later point, I noticed myself that I could have filtered even more between 9kHz and 16kHz. But there is a clear difference to the original, in my opinion.

In the game you can also open different doors, which usually is quite okay but sometimes not so much and than it sounds more like you are kicking the door which could also be the case, fair enough! But also there are moments where you hear 2 to 3 identical bumps although you have not come any closer to the door again.
I have recorded a door that sounds a little more discreet and you hear it also when it reaches and hit the wall.
Sometimes less is more and in this case less fits better (IMO) reminds me again of the steps, sometimes it sounded too intensive or too processed on wooden floor, I also did that a little differently but of course it works both ways.

Finally, only positive feedback and absolutely nothing more to complain about:
*The electric whirr near lights and lamps sounds great!
*Entering and walking on a diving board sounds very authentic! Running down stairs also sounds very authentic,
but only in terms of rhythm (Sorry).
*There is also music to be heard from time to time, sometimes you can see horn speakers and it sounds accurate.
*Depending on the size of the room, the reverberation is different but the components are always there:
direct signal, first reflections, early reflections and reverberation tail. And most of the time it sounds very good!
*What I also liked very much was the sound when you sliding down and when falling into the dark,
both sound absolutely great!

If you've swum with me this far, then hats off, if I could I'd give you a like for it, I mean it and seriously, I rarely read such long reviews.

Have fun with Pools!