Preview by Jon Donnis
I was asked by the nice people at Merge Games to check out a preview of two never before seen levels from Bramble: The Mountain King on PC, the imaginatively titled Nearby Forest and the slightly more impressive sounding Skogsra's Grove.
For those unaware, Bramble is a "grim adventure game inspired by horror and Nordic folklore."
You play as Olle as he goes on a quest to save his sister from the Mountain King (giant troll), he has to travel through a dangerous and unsettling world, and take on all manner of weird creatures.
Here is the blurb:
"Not everything in Bramble is exactly how it seems - in this strange land with creatures big and small, you must be careful when to approach and when to hide. Many hungry and spiteful beasts lurk in these forests and caves. Watch your step....
Call upon the Spark of Courage, an enchanted fragment granting the gifts you need to endure the pitfalls and trials in your path. Defeat the horrid creatures you encounter in different and unique ways. Be warned, courage without kindness can take you down a dark path."
You will read there about the Spark of Courage, this is basically a small light that you hold, that doubles as a weapon. Of the two levels available, the Nearby Forest has you traversing through a dark forest, with the ultimate aim to reach a clearing where you will meet a character who will give you the "Spark", and allow you to train to use it, this involves you firing it at objects thrown up by the character.
This level is pretty straight forward, the levels are linear, so you cant really get lost or explore too much, there are some collectables to look out for too. The camera angle is fixed although you can move it slightly to see more of an area.
Skogsra's Grove will have you eventually squaring off against who I assume is Skogsra, a large female witch like creature. As you fight her she will cast spells that will fire at you, think a wave like black shadow, direct hits and spikes coming out of the floor. At first I thought the way to beat her was to just fire at her, while avoiding her attacks, but you have to take out these witch like images from behind trees, when you have done all of that you can make a direct hit, but then she will power up and you will have another battle, this will be a different style of fight. After a few different fights you will eventually win. This is not an easy fight, and will take a while to first figure out what you are supposed to do, then to learn the attack patterns so you can avoid them.
The graphics are very good, everything looks great. Control is best with a gamepad, forget using keyboard and mouse as that is unplayable.
The game is quite gory in parts, so not for kids, despite the fact your character is a child.
The Good
Of the two levels available to me, everything looked great, and the fight against Skogsra was challenging but also fun.
The Bad
It didn't take me long to get through the two levels, hopefully the final game offers more of a challenge.
Overall
The game has a lot of potential, and I look forward to playing the final finished game.
Bramble: TMK will be launching to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch & Steam on 27th April.
Wishlist on Steam now at
There is also a short demo you can download now and play, which covers The Nacken's Pond level.
