BrokenLore: ASCEND

BrokenLore: ASCEND is a first-person psychological horror centered on the final, desperate climb of REN and YUI, two famous Japanese rooftop climbers obsessed with surpassing their limits and feeding their fame. Their channel, SKYLIMIT, has turned them into icons among fans of illegal urban climbing, leading them to the Elysium Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Japan, for a nighttime ascent meant to become “the ultimate video.”

As they climb higher, the ascent turns into a nightmare. A supernatural entity, the Rokurokubi, begins to manifest: a woman with a serpent-like neck and an ornate mask, haunting every shadow of the tower. But her presence is more than just supernatural terror: she embodies their deepest fears, the terror of being forgotten, of becoming ordinary, invisible, irrelevant.

Gameplay blends intense first-person horror, realistic free-climbing mechanics, and stealth sequences where players must cling to narrow ledges, hide from the Rokurokubi’s gaze, and plan each movement carefully to survive. Every breath, every handhold, every sound could mean life or death. Vertical exploration becomes a psychological and physical ordeal where the player’s endurance mirrors the characters’ mental descent.

For Ren and Yui, falling means more than dying. It means losing the spotlight, validation, and the only sense of identity they’ve ever known.

ASCEND tells the story of a climb that becomes an escape from oneself, where the only way to break free… might be to stop climbing.