Dimfrost's second game introduces the players to two siblings, big sister Lillemor, with a thirst for adventure, and her little brother Olle, who despite being easily scared, loves his sister very much. These two children have grown up with various stories, one of which has left a mark on their minds, and this story is about a little girl who left her
home one night to play in the woods. But the forest was not the same as the one the little girl saw every day and as a result no one saw the little girl again. This fairy tale was intended to prevent the children of families from running away at night.
After a terrifying nightmare, Olle wakes up in the middle of the night and notices that his sister is not home and that the window in their room was open. Worried about his sister's fate, Olle, with the help of the players, goes into the forest in order to find her. At the top of a mountain the two siblings meet and decide to play with a strange luminous stone that Olle
found in the forest. The two siblings after having fun on top of a mountain with Olle's stone, fell as the top suddenly collapsed. After the initial shock of the event, the two get back on their feet and decide to explore the beautiful world (Bramble) as they meet different forest creatures such as gnomes and frogs. But the same area, as calm and peaceful as it is during
the day, is more terrifying and dangerous at night as the two will soon discover. Eventually a troll kidnaps Lillemor and Olle will have to find and save his sister who you find at the top of King Mountain before it's too late.
The horror game by Dimfrost, once again shows its direct influenced from Tarsier's "Little Nightmares" by mimicing its gameplay. In both games we control heroes who are trying to survive in a world where everything you do can put their lives in danger. In both games the characters can't do much beyond the common movement abilities, as the gameplay consists of stealth and puzzle areas.
Where Bramble stands out is the addition of the phosphorescent stone which you can open paths with, scare some enemies and use in combat.
The world of Bramble is divided into different regions based on the story. When you advance from one area to another, you cannot go back as the game is of a point of no return style. Each region adds its own different gameplay element that helps it stand out. For example, one area requires you to pull a rope to get close to land, another area requires patience to avoid danger, etc.
The game's main focus is manuvering around in 2D/3D areas and stealthy avoiding the dangers whilst also solving puzzles that will help Olle move forward. Some puzzles require more thought process whilst others are child's play. Same rule applies to the platforming of the game. Some maps are easy to mve around whilst others not as much as dangers and even timing should be considered.
Bramble includes different Boss battles/sections which are very different from each other. Initially, the creators let you fight the "monsters" in a simple way, while the more you progress in the game, the more complex and interactive they become. Each boss is based on a story/myth and each one is a ruler of their area. Each boss similar to the areas, add new gameplay elements or take advantage
of existing elements you have or tiems you might have aquired during your survival. For example, during a certain boss fight you have to scare the monster away in order to avoid it attack, whilst on other you have to take down its minion in order to attack it with a certain object.
Dimfrost's horror game creates a scary environment using various camera angles, distorted areas and various "horror elements" such as eyes and shadows watching you, background noises, lack of light in some areas and more. As with other games, the sense of horror comes from the setting and your imagination with which the creators decided to "play". That's not to say the game doesn't have gore
spots as it does have alot of it, but ti doesn't rely on them as much. The exact opposite is true during the day, where bright colours and cheerful music are more pressent. While the sun shines high in the sky you can enjoy the wonderful colors and designs of some areas that will not be the same later. Bramble's world during the day and night are too completely areas, warm and cheerful in the day and scary/ creepy at night.
The designs of the heroes as well as the villains are based on the illustrations of the books of legends such as Nokken, Pesta, etc.
The audio department "comes" and combines with the imagery like cheese with wine. The sounds and sound effects used by the creators add to the element of horror during the night as not much can be heard other than the blowing of the wind, the rustling of leaves, the sound of footsteps and others. During the day, once again the game takes a sharp 180-degree turn, as the scary sounds are replaced with chirping birds,
smiling children, the sound of water, and more. The game has no dialogue exchange between heroes, but it has a narrator who does a very good job of "preparing" the scene that will follow or explaining what happened or how the hero feels in the current scene. Finally, the world of Bramble offers books based on these legends in the form of collectibles, which the narrator will read to you.
Despite the nice things that the game offers with its graphics, its plot and its gameplay, there are few small problems.
The first problem comes from the use of the camera. The camera uses angles that creates unique shots that in turn adds to the atmosphere of the game, whether they are shots from above, behind a window or from inside a house. Cinematography wise it looks great, but this creates gameplay issues like falling off a cliff you didn't see, or failing a simple jump because the camera angle was off.
Eg You want to jump from tree to tree and because the camera is from the side while looking straight, when you jump Olle jumps to the side. This issue is only an issue in some areas or pieces of gameplay.
Another small problem that Bramble has, comes from the glowstone and the combat mechanics. Simply put, the problem is the hit-boxes. For those who don't know hit-box is called the region in which collision points are defined which check if their object came into contact with another. These weird hitboxes can cause various deaths where the game may sense a collision that wasn't there
(mostly in battles) or cause you to miss a jump because the game didn't calculate where Olle hit the wall. You can justify the game by the fact that it is an "indie game" made by a small team and by the fact that these phenomena are only found in certain regions. It is also something that the company can improve in future updates.
Then game only has two types of collectables. These are:
