BrokenLore: DON’T LIE — Everything We Know

Psychological horror series BrokenLore is continuing its hot streak with the fifth upcoming game, DON’T LIE. It’s Japanese-based, featuring disturbing yokai and respecting your time over its relatively short runthrough. Despite its length, you’ll definitely get the chills while exploring an eerie world with disturbing notions and ideas. Its interactive story will spike intrigue and potentially leave you a bit on the edge with its creepy vibes. Shall we find out exactly what BrokenLore: DON’T LIE seeks to offer players? Here’s everything we know so far.

What is BrokenLore: DON’T LIE?

BrokenLore: DON’T LIE is an upcoming first-person psychological horror game, spinning off from the BrokenLore: DON’T WATCH entry. It’s marketed to be “longer and darker” than DON’T WATCH, which is certainly good news for fans of the series. By “longer and darker,” I certainly am looking forward to discovering more lore and mythology of the BrokenLore series.

As has been the theme, I’m looking forward to an immersive adventure, creeping me the f out. Entering the mind of Junko, I can’t wait to be taken on a wild rollercoaster ride, mixing in hallucinations and medication, and blurring the lines between reality and nightmare.

Story

You’re controlling Junko, a young woman trying to reconnect with Shinji and Hideo, both patients she was with at rehab. While in your small apartment, you unravel the story via daily video calls and intimate moments across the screen. But also have to deal with your own destructive compulsions. You need medication that gradually peels back the layers of reality itself.

Soon, you’re experiencing hallucinations and visions in disturbing liminal spaces, where everything is warped and ever-changing. In BrokenLore: DON’T LIE, nothing is what it seems. 

Gameplay

BrokenLore: DON’T LIE features a story you’ll unravel through first-person, immersive gameplay. While the world and atmosphere will use realistic visuals, it’ll be distorted through paranoia and delusion. You’ll explore different places, including Junko’s apartment and liminal spaces hiding away clues, memory puzzle pieces, and interactive objects. You’ll hallucinate terrifying beings who you must evade via stealth, i.e, hiding and not making a sound. 

Players will also fight enemies, although it’s unclear how deep or complex the combat will be. Overall, you’re unraveling an intriguing story, making choices that influence your fragile mind, and conversing with NPCs to push the story forward. 

Interestingly, BrokenLore: DON’T LIE features a retro sidescrolling game called Fantasy Boy. Playing this helps you to calm down. And while it appears to be a separate gameplay experience, it’ll be seamlessly integrated into your actual playthrough. The platformer also has an important story significance, originally seeming innocent and cute, but merging with your reality in “unsettling ways.” Apparently, the game that would soothe  you now collides with your real world, resulting in “something grotesque.”

Between reality and hallucinations, you’ll experience disturbing events and moments, where your eyes play tricks on you. Where you see glitches, mutations, and hear whispers of something following you. “Every glance in the mirror might reveal something new,” says Steam’s description of your gameplay. “Every word spoken might alter the fragile balance, every lie brings you closer to what you fear most.”

Connection to DON’T WATCH

For those who played BrokenLore: DON’T WATCH, the new, upcoming game seems to tie into its story and events. BrokenLore: DON’T LIE won’t just be darker and longer than the game it’s inspired by. It’ll also reveal new secrets and events that help make sense of the original’s story and reveal what really happened. 

In DON’T WATCH, players explore the haunting world of Shinji, who’s a young hikikomori trapped in his Tokyo apartment. And as their mind unravels, they face a malevolent entity hiding in the shadows. 

As Steam’s description comes to a close, it warns players not to trust what they see or hear. But “above all, DON’T LIE.” What impact will lying have on your playthrough? On the story development and your fragile state of mind? I certainly can’t wait to find out. 

Development

BrokenLore: DON’T LIE is currently in development by Serafini Productions. Wired Productions, on the other hand, is at the helm of marketing and publishing. Serafini is a Japanese Tokyo-based studio that has carved a niche in developing horror games. They are fully leading the charge on the BrokenLore series, so far releasing four games, including LOW, UNFOLLOW, FOLLOW, and DON’T WATCH. But they have also worked on other games, including Haunted Bloodlines and Blood Crossroad. 

Wired Productions is a publisher you may have heard of or know their works. “Driven by passion,” they say, as they continue to work on too many indie games than we can count across varied gaming genres. “Over 100 games,” their website says, that they’ve helped publish across consoles, handheld, and PC platforms. 

Trailer

As brief as a reveal trailer can be, BrokenLore: DON’T LIE’s ushers you into a creepy universe. There’s a scene of a classic sidescrolling platformer, before taking you to a claustrophobic, liminal space whose walls are drenched in gushing blood veins. And then a video call on your computer screen, more disturbing liminal spaces. And the most horrifying visual of all: eyeballs sticking out of a girl’s hands and legs.

She downs pills that she says she needs, but seem to cause more harm than good, hallucinating gruesome monsters, grappling with visions, traversing pretty cool-looking places, and falling endlessly into the abyss. This one’s a wild ride in all of its 58 seconds. 

Release Date, Platforms, & Editions

BrokenLore: DON’T LIE is coming to Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC platforms. The respective storefronts are already out now. Well, only Steam, Epic Games, and PlayStation at present. Neither of these stores highlights an exact release date. However, several outlets seem to think the game will launch sometime in 2026, with no specific date revealed.

It’s unsurprising, therefore, that we don’t know of any editions, either. However, one sure-fire way you can remain in the loop of future correspondence is by adding the game to your wishlist on your respective gaming platform. Alternatively, you can follow the official social media handles for Wired Productions, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.