† HomesickEric †

- you can press anywhere on the blank space to close -

Bramble: The Mountain King - A Review Add comment

Wednesday, November 12, 2025@November 12, 2025

Before you read this, please press play for a dramatic intro:

At 10:50 a.m. today, 11 November 2025, I finished playing Bramble: The Mountain King, continuing my line of Northern Folklore horror games. It is one of the most beautifully crafted and emotionally unsettling games I have played, set in a world shaped by the deep forest myths of Scandinavia. If you stumble upon it, you will notice how every shadow, every melody, and every creature feels alive with an old northern soul.

Developed by Dimfrost Studio, an independent team based in Norrköping, Sweden, Bramble: The Mountain King was released in April 2023 under Merge Games and Maximum Entertainment. The studio was founded in 2017 by Fredrik Selldén, Mikael Lindhe, and Ellinor Morén, later joined by Fredrik Präntare and David Wallsten. Their earlier project, A Writer and His Daughter, already hinted at their focus on emotional storytelling, but with Bramble they fully embraced Swedish folklore and the haunting beauty of nature. Built using Unreal Engine, the game combines cinematic horror with folk art influences inspired by Swedish painter John Bauer.

The story follows a young boy named Olle, who wakes to find his sister Lillemor missing. His search takes him into the cursed valley of Bramble, where reality folds into the folklore of old Sweden. The world is filled with enormous creatures, twisted by grief, loneliness, and revenge. This game got super gore all of a sudden, shifting from playful quiet fairy-tale wonder to moments of pure horror without warning. The developers designed these beings not as simple monsters but as living fragments of Nordic myth, bound to nature and the fears that come with it.

The game draws heavily from northern folklore, with several characters drawn directly from Scandinavian legend and local urban myths. The Näcken, or Nøkken, from Swedish and Norwegian folklore, is said to dwell beneath bridges and rivers, luring wanderers with his violin until they drown... a story still whispered near real rivers like Sweden’s Motala Ström. The Skogsrå, the spirit of the forest, recalls the warnings from rural Sweden about women who lead lumberjacks astray, vanishing once they cross a boundary of trees. The Kärrhäxan, or Swamp Witch, is closer to the stories from southern Sweden and Finland, where marshes were feared as cursed places where witches and outcasts were said to sink. Even the trolls, vast and solemn, mirror Norway’s mountain myths, where sunlight turns them to stone... giving rise to the rugged cliffs and boulders scattered across the land.

I played the game using a terrible keyboard and mouse setup, probably one of the hardest experiences I have endured in gaming. The controls were complicated. At times I needed to press four different keys for a single movement, and I often forgot that I could jump. The awkward camera angles and constant shift in point of view added to the challenge. If I had a proper joystick or console, the experience would have been smoother, and I intend to revisit this game in the future, hopefully with a proper PC, ultra graphics, and a joystick (or maybe a console version).

The bosses in Bramble: The Mountain King are unforgettable. The Butcher, The Troll, Näcken, Skogsrå, Kärrhäxan, and the final confrontation with King Nils, the Mountain King himself, form a dark procession of mythic trials. Each fight demands focus and patience, but my poor hardware made it harder, especially the aiming segments. Kärrhäxan was particularly intense, both visually and psychologically. Her presence disturbs you not just through horror but through the feeling of something ancient and unclean pressing against the edge of reason.

Puzzles are simple and confined to small areas, yet they require sharp observation. The story rewards memory and attention to detail. Many locations reflects earlier moments through symbols, carvings, or murals. I found myself pausing to study the scenery, not just to solve puzzles but to understand the story told in silence.

One of the most emotional points in the game comes when Olle retrieves the light stone after saving Lemus from the pine cones. The light becomes his guide and weapon, both a symbol of moral strength and literal survival. I was confused why something so significant could be found simply lying around on a random mushroom. Still, I believe this light stone, not the sunrise, is what truly defeats the Troll.

The music deserves special mention. The soundtrack carries the emotional weight of every scene, rising and fading like breath. Blomstertid (Reprise) featuring BJOERN is my favourite. It plays at exactly the right moment, where the game strikes hardest. The sound seems to reach inside you, cold and warm at once, like northern wind on bare skin.

Despite my frustration with the controls, I was completely absorbed in Bramble’s world. The visuals, even on low quality, created a sense of ancient terror and quiet beauty. Some moments were deeply disturbing, but they taught the player to keep moving forward no matter what. I pity killing Skogsrå at first, but when she taunted me using Lillemor’s image during the boss fight, pity vanished. The game knows how to test you emotionally as much as mechanically.

I did not collect all the wooden figurines scattered through the game. These include the Gnome, Lillemor, King Nils, Pesta, Lemus, Lyktgubben, Skogsrået, Troll, Kärrhäxan, Näcken, and Tuva. My system could barely handle the game, so I focused on reaching the end instead. But one day, with better equipment, I will return and find them all.

In the end, Bramble: The Mountain King gave me goosebumps. Some scenes are unexpectedly gory, others breathtakingly beautiful. It may be simple in gameplay but it carries a profound weight drawn from real northern folklore. The combination of myth, music, and tragedy makes it memorable. After finishing, I watched the walkthrough again just to relive the atmosphere.

This game leaves you both haunted and fulfilled. It reminds you that even the smallest light can survive the darkest forest.

Labels: Game, spooky

Older Post