With so many short form horror games releasing every year, it’s hard to know how best to find the best spooky experiences to indulge in. At least that was the case until the start of this year, when BrokenLore: LOW released and provided an unnerving couple of hours for horror fans. Now firmly on my radar I’ll happily play all BrokenLore games, which are thankfully going to come our way at a rapid pace. BrokenLore: DON’T WATCH is yet another great way to spend a couple of hours, that might leave you unable to sleep after playing.
Winning the award for least likeable horror protagonist is our main character Shinji, who spends all day locked away in his apartment playing video games. In the first few minutes of the game you’ll witness him ghosting a friend for no particular reason, and swearing at a pizza delivery person for daring to knock on his door. Shinji is clearly a troubled little shut-in, and unfortunately for him has a bad night ahead of him.
You see his friend Junko he was hell bent on ignoring was calling about a friend, who was having one of those typical horror freak outs that go ignored. When it’s proven this friend was telling the truth, Shinji starts experiencing some freaky shit. It turns out that the particular horror monster featured in BrokenLore: DON’T WATCH is targeting hikikomori – people who have chosen to shut themselves away from society. Your safe haven of an apartment soon becomes a waking nightmare, and one which you might not survive.
You’ll spend the majority of your time in DON’T WATCH wandering around your apartment and interacting with things, in a spooky walking simulator style. It’s for the most part the same setup as the last BrokenLore game, albeit with less distance to travel between unnerving moments. The sense of being trapped and isolated is only increased due to this, which leads to a less comfortable experience in the best possible way.
There are a few sections where you’ll need to do a bit more than just interact with your laptop or peephole to progress though, where the tension amps up considerably. To survive the sinister Hyukume you’ll need to attack the eyes that appear on the walls of your home, which are hidden in all sorts of nooks. With the threat of a grizzly death looming these portions of the game seriously get the blood pumping, so consider yourself warned.
There are plenty of aspects of BrokenLore: DON’T WATCH that ensure maximum fear, but for me it’s the high fidelity visuals that help with this the most. This game is simply stunning, and does a great job of showing off quite how far the indie horror genre has come over the last few years. Much like LOW there’s also a retro visual section that’s a nice change of pace too, and is still visually impressive in its own way.
I had a wonderful ninety minutes with BrokenLore: DON’T WATCH, and didn’t want it to end. My main issue with the BrokenLore series is always that I want them to keep going, though, which is admittedly as much a compliment as it is a complaint. There’s also only really one main threat you’ll have to deal with in the game, which after a couple of encounters does lose its impact a little. I do love the design of this yokai though, as much as a horrendous monster can be loved anyway.
BrokenLore: DON’T WATCH is another must play game in this up and coming series, and I can’t wait for the next instalment. With plenty of creepy moments, gorgeous visuals and a deeper meaning behind the narrative, Serafini Productions has knocked it out of the park again. If you’re feeling brave then DON’T WATCH is a great way to spend an evening, but scaredy cats need not apply.
