BrokenLore: LOW rises up on Steam for Windows PC

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Demo also available for debut installment of Japanese psychological horror game series

There are plenty of real-world horror stories about creepy, unscrupulous producers meeting privately with young, aspiring artists eager to make their mark. BrokenLore: LOW, the newly released first game in a planned series of Japanese horror adventures by Serafini Productions, isn't one of those stories, but it promises to leave plenty of scarred psyches in its wake nevertheless. 

Players step into the first-person role of Naomi Montgomery, a singer who arranges a visit to the secluded town of  Kirisame Mura to meet with Hideki, a music producer about his next project. Undaunted by the "strange stories" told about the man, Naomi arrives alone to find there is no one in sight, just a curved, seemingly endless mist-shrouded street. Before long, what "seemed like a routine trip turns into a nightmare when dark entities emerge from the village’s most forgotten corners," most notably the Gashadokuro, a kind of skeletal yokai from Japanese folklore. The landscape begins to transform before Naomi's eyes, and she discovers that she's trapped here, unable to leave. If she's to survive the ordeal and escape this doomed place, she'll need to uncover clues to the "tragedy linked to an ancient, now-lost temple that cursed the entire town."

When you begin playing BrokenLore: LOW, you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd stepped into a Silent Hill game instead, as the game drops players into a 3D "hyperrealistic, claustrophobic environment where supernatural forces and tragic cycles abound," all enshrouded by a thick fog. The good news for those who tend to get lost easily is that most of the action takes place on a single street that winds around in a circle. (The bad news, of course, is that it won't let you out.) The layout isn't simply an aid for the directionally challenged, however, as the town is "designed to be an enigma in itself, a labyrinth with no exit that symbolizes ... the unstoppable cycle of tragic events." As the environment "subtly repeats and changes," it's the player's task to break the loop holding Naomi there. Not all changes will be subtle, mind you, as at one point the game introduces a "retro-style graphical segment" that will go on to play a key role in the unfolding BrokenLore series. 

The full version of BrokenLore: LOW is ready now to download on Steam for Windows PC, along with a playable demo to try out first. Intended to be a standalone experience in its own right, the game also represents a prelude "laying the foundation for the events of the BrokenLore series," including not one, not two, but THREE games already available for wishlisting, each with demos of their own: Don’t Watch, Follow and Unfollow.

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