Bramble: The Mountain King
PlayStation 4
Before Playing:
I've been in a video game playing rut lately. I just haven't been able to get into anything. I recently started Bully for the PS2, but I didn't like having to follow a schedule and go to class and that kind of thing. I wanted something less limiting and more, I don't know, video gamey. So I headed over to PlayStation Plus to see if there was something short I could play to get me back into the gaming mood.
As soon as I saw Bramble: The Mountain King, I knew that it was a game that I had to check out. The graphics and the dreamlike, fairy tale atmosphere of the game jumped out at me. I quickly looked up some reviews and found that the game was relatively well received. And best of all: it was short.
So I decided to put Bully on hiatus for a little bit and turn my attention to this game. How would I like it? Let's find out!
Story:
The basic plot of the game is that you are playing as a boy named Olle. He and his sister wander away from their home late at night. His sister leads them through some magical adventures (real or imagined?) before she is taken by the evil Mountain King. You then have to proceed through this dark and mystical land all by yourself, making your way through various different Nordic fairy tales, to save her.
I didn't know what the game was about when I came into it. And even after beating it, I still have questions. It's very surreal and dreamlike. You never know what is real and what's a hallucination. Like, did all of this actually happen or was it all in the main character's head, ala Where the Wild Things Are? Much of the game's events are up for interpretation. If you've ever played games like Shadow of the Colossus, Inside, Rime, or Ico, you should know what I'm talking about. It's one of those "video games as art" kinds of titles.
The game is inspired by Nordic fairy tales. It may seem like a kids game at first, but it gets dark FAST. In fact, I would say that this was one of the scarier and more unnerving games I've played in recent memory. It's not that the game is an outright horror title. It's isn't. It's not even the same type of scary you'd see in Resident Evil or The Evil Within. I suppose if anything it leans more to the abstract Silent Hill side of things. It's more of a surreal, psychological type of horror. You may read a fairy tale about a scary witch or a butcher that lives in the forest and is projected by magic, but the game brings it to life in a way that is terrifying and unexpected. It really tries to mess with your mind.
Gameplay:
I hesitate to call this a walking simulator, because it has more refined gameplay elements than you normally see in a walking sim. You have full 360 degree control of your character. You can run, jump, pick items up, and climb on top of things. There are a couple of combat segments against boss characters, but for the most part, this is a battle free game. You're mainly going to be relying on your puzzle solving skills in this one.
That said, this is a very simple game that involves a lot of walking. Mainly, you will find yourself being guided along by the story, from one fairy book tale to another. These tales get progressively darker as the game goes on. Early in the game, you'll find yourself doing lighthearted things like herding lawn gnomes around and riding on top of hedgehogs. By the end of the game, you'll be hiding in the shadows from evil witches that eat children.
I wish I could go into greater detail about the gameplay, but there really isn't much to say. Go where the game tells you to go, and pick up the things the game tells you to pick up. Like I said, the story pretty much moves you along.
Some of the puzzles are clever, like when you have to find the right ingredients to brew potions to open sealed doors. Since you're playing as a kid, there isn't any hand-to-hand combat because obviously a child would be no match for some of the game's monstrosities. Instead, you're given an amulet that glows when you hold it up. During normal levels, the amulet can scare away would-be attackers. During boss segments, the amulet fires magical attacks at enemies.
The boss battles are probably the highlight of the game. Some of the bosses can be pretty big. They require unorthodox lines of thought to beat them. For example, in one boss battle, you have to fire away at all the effigies hanging in the trees and destroy them before you can take down the boss. I remember attacking the boss nonstop for fifteen minutes and getting frustrated that my attacks weren't doing anything. It's one of the only instances I had to look to the internet for help in this game.
The game took me about a week to complete. I didn't get out a stop watch or anything, so I can't tell you how many hours I played. I'm willing to bet that if I'd sat down and sank about 5 or 6 hours into the game per day, I would have beaten in 2 or 3 days (if that). Instead, I only played for an hour or two per day, and still finished it within a week.
There's not really any point in coming back to play, except to get any trophies you missed. Except as soon as I saw one of the trophies was "complete the game without dying" I was immediately like oh hell naw. No way I'm ever going to be able to do that.
Graphics:
There's no doubt this is a visually stunning game. It's very atmospheric, too. It's like a dark, haunting series of fairy tales come to life. It can be bright and fun when it wants to be, and dark and terrifying at the same time.
This is one of those games I'd recommend immersing yourself in by wearing headphone and playing it in the dark with no distractions. A little herbage wouldn't hurt, either. While we're on the topic, if I ever, erm, go "on a trip" anywhere in the near future, this would be the perfect game to put on while doing so. Even if it is just a video of someone else playing. I bet it would be amazing.
Sound:
The game sounds just as good as it looks. Voice acting is top notch. The game really sells the dark and haunting "fairy tale gone bad" atmosphere. Like I said with the graphics, this is a game that needs to be played in the dark with headphones on for the full experience.
Side note - due to the game having "Mountain King" in its title, I was half-expecting to hear "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Grieg at some point in the game. You'd know the song if you looked up a video of it, even if you don't know it by name. But this song actually DOES make an appearance during the final boss battle. And holy crap, it was well worth the wait. One of the more epic moments I've seen in a game lately.
Overall:
This is game that I can't help but to root for. It looks great, it sounds amazing. The setting is fantastic. It's an extraordinarily atmospheric and immersive title, and you can easily see that it is very well made. Buuuuuuut, is it any fun to play? That's debatable.
Would I ever play this game again? Probably not. Would I watch a playthrough of this game - just to experience the atmosphere and the visuals? Probably. That's a bit telling to me. My motto for my reviews has always been "gameplay is king." But this game has mediocre gameplay and I still like it. If I was going on gameplay alone, this would be in the C- or D+ range. But due to the incredible storytelling, music, and visuals of the game, giving it a score that low would be unfathomable to me. So this is a somewhat interesting spot for me to be in.
I guess I'll fall back on the good ol' reliable "above average" grade of a C+. I feel like I give a lot of games this grade. Not good enough to be in the B range, but not bad enough to be considered average or below average. It's slightly above average. I guess I can live with that. It may have mediocre gameplay, but as an experience, it delivers.
THE GRADE:
C+
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