Bramble: The Mountain King

Lots of folklore and a fun dark side scroller. These type of games don't hold back. I enjoyed it.

I’ll get to the point. I really liked this game. I’d been itching for a “Little Nightmares-like” experience and this literally nails it. It’s essentially ‘Little Nightmares: Scandinavian Edition”. But that is absolutely not so say it’s a rip-off of Little Nightmares. It carved out its own spot and did it’s own thing and it did it well. The graphics are bloody gorgeous. I played this on my Legion Go S (SteamOS Edition) and it looked phenomenal. I did need to use Lossless Scaling to get it looking great and with good frames, but I managed to easily. Controls are good, no complaints from me. It’s also got fairly forgiving checkpoints, so I never really found myself getting frustrated by the trickier spots. Each area is interesting and worth exploring for the visuals alone. The part where [spoiler] the Nacken suddenly stops playing his fiddle and looks directly at you [/spoiler] was phenomenally well done, nailed the spine-tingly feeling perfectly. That was the part that has stuck with me the most from this game. I was kind of surprised to see [spoiler] boss fights, and for a game like this, I didn’t really expect much. But wow, I thought they were executed very well. I quite enjoyed the Skogsra fight and the final fight with the king [/spoiler]. They’re not award-winning by any means, but they were very enjoyable for a filthy casual such as myself. And then there’s the soundtrack. Wow. It’s incredible. I bought the OST. I’d been waiting the entire game wondering where the hell [spoiler] “Hall of the Mountain King” [/spoiler] was, as it’s unironically one of my favourite classical pieces. And when it finally came [spoiler] during the final boss fight [/spoiler], ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ was I ever vibing hard. It all just hit so perfectly. I’d also accidentally heard the “Bramble” track before playing the game and REALLY liked it [spoiler] and so I was sad that it wasn’t in the game. Until the credits roll. BOOM! Credits roll, ‘Bramble’ plays and it’s just so great [/spoiler]. I sat there just jamming away while the credits rolled. As for issues, I can’t say I remember having many. Some parts did kind of feel like trial and error, but the checkpoints are so forgiving that it didn’t really bother me. I had wished that [spoiler] some of the people you found followed you for a bit longer. It would have been nice not to have been so alone the entire time, but I guess it’s also what makes the game feel so oppressive (in a good way) [/spoiler]. Also, I really didn’t enjoy the [spoiler] gnome ‘hide and seek’ game, and herding the creepy-naked-flower-babies into the flower “pen” [/spoiler]. It is fairly early in the game, and it kind of got me worried that the rest of the game was going to have these dumb things to do, but thankfully that was the end of those types of mechanics. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the fact that some puzzles were reused (I think 2 puzzles are used exactly the same way). Felt a tad lazy, would have liked to see some more variety there. Overall, there really isn’t a ton negative I have to say about this game. If you like the ‘Little Nightmares’ franchise, I think you’ll absolutely enjoy this game. Also, if you’re into folklore and fairytales (especially of the Scandinavian variety), I’m 99% sure you’ll enjoy this game. In fact, I’m playing through Little Nightmares I right now and there are times I kind of wish I could experience Bramble again for the first time. We need more of these types of games. I’m really curious what the devs will cook up next. Will definitely be keeping this studio in mind. 8.5/10

I absolutely loved this game!

If you liked Little Nightmares, this will be right up your alley. This is more story driven than LN, but it's a good story with great art, music, and visuals. Also like LN, it is on the short side. So I have a hard time recommending it at full price, even though I found it to be a wonderful game. Pick it up on a sale, put on some headphones, and enjoy.

I actually really liked this game but I didn't see a Horror tag. It's says 'dark fantasy' but it's straight up gore and horror. However, that doesn't diminish the game at all, it just took me a long time to play bc I'm not great with scary games.

Na aanleiding van de goede reviews aangeschaft. Gelukkig in de aanbieding, want de volle prijs vind ik te hoog voor wat de game biedt. Leuk in elkaar gezet, maar ik had het eerste uur moeite om erin te komen. Zoals vaker genoemd wordt het thema later een stuk donkerder, wat interessant is, en steeds interessanter wordt. Uiteindelijk geef ik het een 7/10.

Great game. A few of the segments are a bit challenging, but the game excels in storytelling with a beautiful yet haunting setting.