The block button won’t save you
By Paul Hunter
BrokenLore UNFOLLOW on PS5 is Serafini Productions’ latest entry in the BrokenLore series, built as a standalone first-person psychological horror experience. If you’ve played earlier games, you’ll recognize the series’ taste for dark and emotional themes. If you haven’t, this one still works as a great starting point for newcomers.
At a high level, UNFOLLOW centres on social media pressure and the way online validation can warp how you see yourself. The game is split into seven chapters, with the first half largely focusing on pyschological terror, while the second half opens up more and transitions to more abstract, introspective horror. The runtime is about four hours, so it’s easy to commit to a full playthrough over a weekend.
What grabbed me most is how hard the atmosphere goes, with the settings and graphic styles shifting as you push forward. Multiple endings give you a reason to revisit key chapters and make different decisions, and collectibles add extra context and replayability if you want to dig deeper.
So, is BrokenLore UNFOLLOW the psychological horror run you should start next? Let’s find out!
The opening drops you into a quiet house with Anne waking up alone, then the story starts dragging her through places linked to her past. A school and a hospital are part of that journey, and familiar settings keep twisting as she pushes forward. What begins as real-world memory slowly turns into something closer to a nightmare, like her mind is rewriting the rules as it goes.
Online life is a major pressure point in that spiral. Anne’s need for validation gets tangled with a parasocial fixation, a one-way attachment to a creator who does not know her. The story connects that obsession to envy, resentment, and fear, and it uses that tension to keep Anne off balance. A few links are kept deliberately mysterious, which fits the psychological horror angle and keeps you thinking about what is literal versus what is internal.
As the chapters move on, the narrative keeps focusing on a different wound each time, building toward big moments that force a choice between revenge and forgiveness. Those decisions steer where Anne ends up, and the story stays personal and hard to shake once it wraps.
When danger shows up, the game relies on stealth moments and chase sequences. You can crouch to avoid patrolling enemies, and line of sight matters, so you'll want to stay out of their direct view. Enemy behaviour can shift a bit between encounters, so sometimes you may need to crouch to stay hidden while other times sprinting is your best course of action. Many chapters also build toward a bigger, mandatory chase where you sprint through rooms, loop around furniture, and keep moving until you hit safety.
UNFOLLOW also gives you simple tools that shape how you explore. Your flashlight runs on a limited battery, so searching for battery pickups become part of your habit before rushing into darker spaces. Later, you get a phone that doubles as a light and a way to protect yourself from certain threats, which changes how you approach situations in the late chapters.
While searching for supplies you may also find dolls, elysium symbols, and records collectibles that reward you for slowing down and poking into corners. All collectibles tie back to an Extras main menu option where you can view your collected dolls, replay cutscenes, or losten to the music tracks you've found.
UNFOLLOW also mixes in TV screen segments that change the vibe. Live-action interactions happen with the influencer Anne unhealthily idolizes leading to some tense moments berween the two. There are also many “The Animal in You” clips that show a doctor relating Anne's feelings and instincts to certain animals, and has a strange late-night-program feel that suits the themes.
Audio backs everything up with strong ambient sound and effects. Music ramps up hard during scare moments, and the quiet stretches can hit even harder because you’re left with footsteps and unsettling room noises. Voice work, where it appears, is great overall and fits the tone well. Performance on PS5 held up well for me, with smooth gameplay and no bugs during my playthrough.
Final Score: 7/10 - Good
Developer: Serafini Productions
Publisher: Shochiku
Genre: Horror
Modes: Single-player
A key was provided by the publisher.
By Paul Hunter
BrokenLore UNFOLLOW on PS5 is Serafini Productions’ latest entry in the BrokenLore series, built as a standalone first-person psychological horror experience. If you’ve played earlier games, you’ll recognize the series’ taste for dark and emotional themes. If you haven’t, this one still works as a great starting point for newcomers.
At a high level, UNFOLLOW centres on social media pressure and the way online validation can warp how you see yourself. The game is split into seven chapters, with the first half largely focusing on pyschological terror, while the second half opens up more and transitions to more abstract, introspective horror. The runtime is about four hours, so it’s easy to commit to a full playthrough over a weekend.
What grabbed me most is how hard the atmosphere goes, with the settings and graphic styles shifting as you push forward. Multiple endings give you a reason to revisit key chapters and make different decisions, and collectibles add extra context and replayability if you want to dig deeper.
So, is BrokenLore UNFOLLOW the psychological horror run you should start next? Let’s find out!
Story and Narrative
BrokenLore UNFOLLOW tells its story through Anne, a woman carrying years of damage from bullying, harsh social pressure, and a home life that left lasting scars. The game does not treat this as vague backstory. It ties Anne’s self-image to repeated body-shaming, including an eating disorder, and shows how that pain keeps resurfacing when her life spins out.The opening drops you into a quiet house with Anne waking up alone, then the story starts dragging her through places linked to her past. A school and a hospital are part of that journey, and familiar settings keep twisting as she pushes forward. What begins as real-world memory slowly turns into something closer to a nightmare, like her mind is rewriting the rules as it goes.
Online life is a major pressure point in that spiral. Anne’s need for validation gets tangled with a parasocial fixation, a one-way attachment to a creator who does not know her. The story connects that obsession to envy, resentment, and fear, and it uses that tension to keep Anne off balance. A few links are kept deliberately mysterious, which fits the psychological horror angle and keeps you thinking about what is literal versus what is internal.
As the chapters move on, the narrative keeps focusing on a different wound each time, building toward big moments that force a choice between revenge and forgiveness. Those decisions steer where Anne ends up, and the story stays personal and hard to shake once it wraps.
Gameplay and Mechanics
BrokenLore UNFOLLOW keeps gameplay straightforward for first-person psychological horror. Most of your time goes into exploration, checking rooms for key items, and interacting with objects that push the chapter forward. The puzzles stay basic and direct, usually asking you to spot an obvious clue, grab the right item, then move on.When danger shows up, the game relies on stealth moments and chase sequences. You can crouch to avoid patrolling enemies, and line of sight matters, so you'll want to stay out of their direct view. Enemy behaviour can shift a bit between encounters, so sometimes you may need to crouch to stay hidden while other times sprinting is your best course of action. Many chapters also build toward a bigger, mandatory chase where you sprint through rooms, loop around furniture, and keep moving until you hit safety.
UNFOLLOW also gives you simple tools that shape how you explore. Your flashlight runs on a limited battery, so searching for battery pickups become part of your habit before rushing into darker spaces. Later, you get a phone that doubles as a light and a way to protect yourself from certain threats, which changes how you approach situations in the late chapters.
While searching for supplies you may also find dolls, elysium symbols, and records collectibles that reward you for slowing down and poking into corners. All collectibles tie back to an Extras main menu option where you can view your collected dolls, replay cutscenes, or losten to the music tracks you've found.
Presentation and Audio
Visually, BrokenLore UNFOLLOW is unique for how it rarely sits on one look for long. You start in familiar places like a home, a school, and a hospital, but then the game keeps twisting those spaces as the chapters move forward. Later sections push into more symbolic territory, including backrooms-style areas, digestive-system passageways and pixelated memories that feel unreal on purpose. Transitions can sometimes feel blunt, yet it fits the psychological horror tone the game is aiming for.UNFOLLOW also mixes in TV screen segments that change the vibe. Live-action interactions happen with the influencer Anne unhealthily idolizes leading to some tense moments berween the two. There are also many “The Animal in You” clips that show a doctor relating Anne's feelings and instincts to certain animals, and has a strange late-night-program feel that suits the themes.
Audio backs everything up with strong ambient sound and effects. Music ramps up hard during scare moments, and the quiet stretches can hit even harder because you’re left with footsteps and unsettling room noises. Voice work, where it appears, is great overall and fits the tone well. Performance on PS5 held up well for me, with smooth gameplay and no bugs during my playthrough.
The Verdict
BrokenLore UNFOLLOW is a focused first-person psychological horror game that pairs relevant modern themes with nice visuals that amplify the mood. I enjoyed the mix of shifting environments and live-action clips shown on screens that explore the themes in greater depth. The pivotal choices and multiple endongs give you a good reason to revisit chapters for another pass. All in all, a solid horror experience and another quality entry in the BrokenLore series.Final Score: 7/10 - Good
BrokenLore: UNFOLLOW details
Platform: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PCDeveloper: Serafini Productions
Publisher: Shochiku
Genre: Horror
Modes: Single-player
A key was provided by the publisher.