In Bramble: The Mountain King you never know what's waiting around the corner. One minute I'm happily riding on the back of a hedgehog, and the next I'm fighting for my life against a troll with a meat cleaver. I can't say I didn't expect this, developer Dimfrost Studio has been dropping clues of something more sinister beneath its Nordic fairy tale facade ever since the game was revealed, but I really didn't think Bramble would be scary enough to make me genuinely shriek during my playthrough.
Similar to Little Nightmares, Bramble: The Mountain King has a good amount of cuteness to balance out the spooks. For the first hour or so of the game, I was wonderstruck by the world Dimfrost has created. As little boy Olle, you explore an enchanting forest full of beautiful foliage and curious wildlife. I couldn't get enough of the magical place – I would have spent the entire game there if I could – but the peace quickly gets disturbed when Olle's sister gets kidnapped by a troll and taken to the Mountain King.
Nordic Nightmare
Thankfully, Dimfrost eases you into Bramble's darker side. Once you've got far enough from toadstools and hedgehogs, you'll come face-to-face with the Näcken. This menacing monster lurks in rivers and will try to jump out and grab Olle as he leaps across lilypads to safety. In turn, you'll need to run, jump, climb, and hang from one object to the next, whilst utilizing nearby items, and solving puzzles to progress through the game.
With its freaky face and intimidating stature, I genuinely believed that the Näcken would be the worst of it and that anything after that wouldn't be as scary. But I was so wrong. During one section of the game, I had to navigate what I can only describe as The Blair Witch's second home to save a stolen baby. Although incredibly tense (at one point I had to play the game on mute as I was so worried about things jumping out at me), not a lot happened whilst exploring the abandoned shacks located around the forest. This all changed, though, once I reached the boss of the area.
To be fair to the actual horror fans out there, I am someone who spooks easily – especially when it comes to jump scares. But when I tell you my soul left my body, I mean it. For this boss, Olle is standing on a raft in the middle of a pitch-black river, and every so often a wooden cot will bob out of the water and you'll hear a baby's cries coming from within. Without knowing what to do at first, I span the camera around Olle to get a better look at my surroundings, which is when a witch emerged from the darkness at lightning speed and screamed at me – leading me to scream right back at her. The scream also came out of the PS5's DualSense controller meaning that trusty mute button was no help to me in that moment at all!
Bramble: The Mountain King's terror isn't just limited to its jump scares either. It's also got many chilling moments where you'll see something creepy in the distance but most of the time, won't ever get close enough to it for it to react to you – adding more dread to Olle's adventure. It's also got enough gore to keep the most gruesome horror fan content and those who are faint of heart feeling a little nauseous.
Light in the dark
That being said, there's also a lot of wonder to be found in Bramble. Despite all the spooks I've experienced, my biggest takeaway from this game is just how much fun I had exploring the forest and meeting all of its inhabitants. One of my personal highlights is the baby gnomes you encounter early on in the game that follow you around, make cheery little noises, and just want to play hide and seek. It's these sorts of interactions that give you that little bit of respite between the bleak moments in Bramble, and have me desperate to revisit.
Last year Dimfrost told us it doesn't want Bramble: The Mountain King to be labeled a horror game and now, after having played myself, I can see exactly why. Bramble is full of frightening and grim moments, but there's also a lot of light to be found in it. Beneath all the monsters there's a story about family, and the lengths we'll go to protect the ones we love. I'm not sure I'd be quite as brave as Olle if anything ever happened to my sister in a spooky forest, though. And there are unfortunately no mute buttons in real life.
Bramble: The Mountain King is available now on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. If you're looking for some other hidden gems to play, take a look at our upcoming indie games and best horror games lists.
