The stories parents tell their children differ across the globe, and some are as old as words themselves. From the boogeyman to Hansel and Gretel, these stories change and evolve over time, sometimes becoming dark and twisted. Bramble: The Mountain King captures the unsettling feeling of a story whispered in your ear. It’s ethereal, haunting, and once or twice, I said “Oh my god” out loud. Under my breath, of course, in case there were any monsters listening from underneath my bed.
You play as Olle, a small boy who loses his sister while exploring one night. She is stolen away by a hideous troll with a massive snozz. Lillemor, your sister, is out there somewhere, later revealed to be secreted away in a far-off mountain. It’s a classic story, and one we’ve all heard before, but Bramble whisks you away on a rambling adventure of dark fairy tales and hideous creatures. The game takes a well-worn formula and breathes new, horrific life into it, like a stone troll come-to-life.
The game is foggy with atmosphere. It has a hazy quality to it. Music drives the narrative forwards and pierces the ambience. The CEO of Dimfrost Studios, Fredrik Sellden, told me in an interview that the music was all designed in-house. It also draws inspiration from songs they sang when they were children. Sometimes the music is like thunder, while other times, it’s as soothing as a bedtime lullaby. Bramble also cleverly uses perspective to create tension and immersion. Exploring the world feels like turning the pages in a picture book, with blurry foregrounds, distant vistas, and rich colours, like a tapestry of childhood memories that have turned gooey over time.
You’re lured into a false sense of security and warmth during the first hour or so of the game, before it’s brutally smashed apart. From swamps that swallow babies to a giant pig butcher, or the guttural gurgling of an unknown monster in a dimly lit cave, this game is grit-your-teeth gross. However, it’s also well-paced—between the tense action scenes and slow, meandering fear of being chased that seems to pervade the entire game, there are moments of calm, with gnomes and fairies and flowers.
It’s a relentless adventure. Even some of the more finicky platforming and puzzles, which were generally sound throughout, couldn’t stop me from wanting to know what was over the next rise. Bramble constantly surprises you, and for someone who knows little about Nordic folklore, it was a delight to discover something new and disgusting around the next corner. There is a brilliant moment where your cute little gnome friends are snapped up by a bunch of bear traps. It’s so brutal and sudden that it made me gasp before laughing out loud. Some of the death animations when you inevitably get crushed by a troll or land in a pit of spikes are gruesome.
Those puzzles that I mentioned are very solid. I’m not a massive puzzler- I prefer to get pulled along by a narrative that isn’t broken up by five or ten minute brain-teasers - but Bramble’s puzzles are original and interactive. There were a lot of environmental puzzles that reminded me of games like Limbo and Little Nightmares, two games that Sellden told me the team had enjoyed playing. Sometimes the platforming was a little frustrating, but honestly, I put that down to my own ineptitude and “go fast to finish the review” mentality that journalists sometimes get while working to these turnarounds. In your own run, take the extra time to admire the scenery, and maybe you won’t fall into the same spike pit I did six times.
To delve much further into the game would spoil the sense of adventure. I shouldn’t tell you about the stories, the monsters, or the ending of the game. I shouldn’t mention any more of the things that made me gasp. But I should say, “Play this game” if you’ve ever wanted a puzzle platformer, Limbo-esque horror game that drags you through a swamp of grim-dark Nordic fairy tales by your ears. It’s an excellent, labor-of-love game filled with little details that make the world feel very much alive - although no one wants that. I’d never leave my house again.
A PC Steam code was provided for this review.