BrokenLore: DON’T LIE is another short psychological horror experience from Serafini Productions, this time putting players in the shoes of Junko, a young woman who has withdrawn almost completely from society. Her apartment initially serves as both sanctuary and prison, but that sense of security quickly disappears when strange visitors, distorted memories and increasingly unsettling visions begin to intrude on her carefully controlled existence. The game is clearly more interested in psychological unease than conventional horror, using Junko’s unreliable perception to keep players questioning what is actually happening. That approach works particularly well when the story deals with her isolation, past experiences and dependence on Fantasy Boy and Miki-chan, although the deliberately ambiguous storytelling can also leave the narrative feeling somewhat underexplained by the time the short campaign reaches its conclusion.
Junko is an interesting protagonist precisely because the player cannot simply take everything she experiences at face value. Her memories, hallucinations and possible interpretations of events constantly overlap, while messages, documents, environmental details and discoveries hidden throughout her apartment gradually provide pieces of the bigger picture. The game is at its strongest when it turns her psychological problems into tangible elements of the world, allowing familiar locations to become increasingly distorted reflections of her past. The transition from her realistic surroundings into liminal spaces is effective, and the recurring mystery surrounding the masked figure at her door provides another reason to keep investigating. At the same time, some of the story’s deliberate uncertainty may frustrate players looking for clearer answers, particularly since the ending leaves Junko’s fate open to interpretation rather than providing a particularly satisfying resolution.
That emphasis on atmosphere comes at the expense of mechanical depth. DON’T LIE is essentially a walking simulator with light exploration, environmental investigation and occasional puzzles, so most of the time is spent moving through spaces, examining objects and finding documents or other clues. The controls themselves are straightforward and responsive, which is appropriate for a game where observation is much more important than mastering complicated systems. Unfortunately, the exploration design is less consistently successful. Multiple routes and optional chests encourage players to look around, but there are sections where progression prevents returning to earlier areas, meaning it is possible to miss items without deliberately choosing to do so. The puzzles also offer little resistance, making them more like brief interruptions to the narrative than meaningful challenges.
There are some more unusual ideas here, most notably Fantasy Boy and the way elements from Junko’s favorite game begin to bleed into her reality. The little 2D game provides an effective visual and thematic contrast, while the appearance of its creatures in the supposedly real world helps reinforce the central idea that Junko’s grasp on reality is deteriorating. There is an argument that these encounters could have been developed further, however. The campaign lasts roughly two hours, and both the Fantasy Boy sections and the overall story ended just as their ideas were becoming interesting. The introduction of a sword and some combat encounters also works against the game’s otherwise vulnerable, exploratory character. The combat is extremely basic, and allowing Junko to directly fight certain creatures can reduce some of the tension that comes from feeling powerless in a horror game.
Visually, DON’T LIE is considerably more successful. The realistic presentation of Junko’s apartment and other ordinary environments provides a convincing foundation for the increasingly surreal imagery, while the deliberately contrasting cartoon-like creatures and Fantasy Boy sequences create an unsettling clash between different visual styles. The game makes particularly good use of distorted spaces, impossible environments, exaggerated objects and physical representations of Junko’s memories and trauma. Some of the imagery can be genuinely disturbing, and the lighting contributes substantially to the atmosphere, although the game can become excessively dark in places, making exploration harder than it needs to be. There are also occasional rough animations and minor technical imperfections, with the PS5 version running at 30 frames per second without a performance mode.
The audio work is one of the game’s more consistent strengths. Environmental sounds, footsteps, whispers and other carefully placed noises help create tension without constantly resorting to jumpscares, while the soundscape becomes increasingly strange as Junko enters the more distorted areas of her mind. The contrast between relatively normal sounds and the warped audio of the liminal spaces reinforces the uncertainty at the heart of the experience, and headphones or surround speakers make the effect considerably more effective. The Japanese voice acting is generally serviceable, although long pauses between some lines can occasionally interfere with the otherwise carefully constructed atmosphere.
Ultimately, BrokenLore: DON’T LIE is more successful as a psychological horror story than as a game built around traditional gameplay. Its strongest ideas concern Junko herself, the unreliable nature of her perspective and the way her memories and fears are transformed into physical spaces and creatures. The realistic environments, strange visual contrasts and unsettling sound design give the roughly two-hour experience a distinctive identity, even if the limited gameplay, simplistic puzzles and repetitive apartment-to-liminal-space structure prevent it from developing those ideas as fully as they might have. The short runtime also means there is relatively little room for the story to provide additional context or resolve its mysteries. For players drawn to atmospheric horror and deliberately uncertain narratives, there is plenty here to appreciate, but those expecting substantial exploration, challenging puzzles or sustained combat will find a much leaner experience.
Score: 7.1/10