Grab your blankets and a night light cause a new horror game just dropped, with three more on the way! From developer and publisher Serafini Productions, comes BrokenLore: Low on Steam. As of writing only the next part, Brokenlore: Don’t Watch, is set for release on the 20th of April, with the final two due later in 2025.
BrokenLore: Low is a psychological horror game set in the beautiful, remote, mist-covered Japanese village of Kirisame Mura. You play as Naomi, who has arrived in the village for a professional music career opportunity. Very soon after her arrival, she encounters and faces off against a sinister force which is the cause of a dark and twisted legend that left the town cursed.
The town itself is a labyrinth by nature, adding to the mystery and intrigue found within. The styling of the town and its labyrinth nature pairs itself wonderfully with the game’s themes of envy, ambition and failure found within.
Artistically the game is of an extremely high quality with high-definition character models and environments that allow you to get lost within the world. Sadly some of the animations themselves are a little janky at times, which does take away from the immersion. Thankfully these are few and far between.
The sound design is fantastically haunting, from the screams of creatures to the ominous music that is always present. It brings the dark themes and twists together. There is also a retro graphical segment that plunges you into a styling almost reminiscent of the PlayStation 1. This section is fairly short and the gameplay itself is finding pieces of a mirror.
On the back of the above, the gameplay itself is fairly minimal. Most of the time you will be walking to and fro, feeling lost while you explore. There are moments when you will be interacting with the environments such as doors and context-sensitive items. There isn’t a great deal to say about the actual controls, aside from that you do move quite slowly, but the controls are responsive which is always good.
Being the first entry to a series, BrokenLore: Low is a strong start, with a confusing and dark story that left me feeling uneasy. Honestly, a massive congratulations on that as not many horror games do that to me.
I enjoyed my short time with BrokenLore: Low. It’s not a long title, my overall time for one completion was around two hours, however, there is also a secret ending to achieve which adds more gameplay as you search for hidden items.
I am certainly looking forward to the next part of this series (and the overall series in general). I’m hopeful that the entire story will come together as opposed to being four small disconnected horror titles.
Platform: Steam
Developer: Serafini Productions
Publisher: Serafini Productions
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