Near the water’s edge, a gnome riding atop an adorable saddled hedgehog is waiting to ferry us to the opposite bank. In the background, a waterfall cascades into a pond dappled with lily pads, and a doe stands like a gentle sentinel, keeping watch over her fawn. As we traverse a verdant hillside blanketed by delicate, white wildflowers, a poignant rendition of “Den blomstertid nu kommer,” a Swedish summertime hymn, plays amidst quiet birdsong.
Our protagonist is Olle, a boy who is tiny in comparison to the world around him - there are mushrooms large enough for him to walk across and butterflies with wingspans that seem nearly as long as he is tall. The opening sequence was not at all what I expected… and I’d count it among the most enchanting moments in gaming that I’ve ever experienced. The prospect of delving into some fascinating folklore as well as the keywords “grim” and “dark” were more than enough to pique my interest, and I launched the demo without viewing any of the game’s promotional content.
I watched several trailers and sampled a couple of demos before stumbling upon Bramble: The Mountain King, a “grim adventure set in a world inspired by dark, Nordic fables” created by Swedish developer Dimfrost Studio. With over 100 games sporting the “dark” and/or “horror” tags in the current iteration of Steam Next Fest, 2023 is off to a similarly promising start for those of us who prefer media that’s thematically and aesthetically on the more sinister side, which leads us to Bramble: The Mountain King. 2022 was a remarkable year for video games within the dark fantasy and horror genres, bringing us highly anticipated titles such as Elden Ring and A Plague Tale: Requiem, in addition to an abundance of indie gems like Signalis and Burnhouse Lane.
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