izigame.me

--- BRAMBLE: Ivy Climbing Simulator ---
In a similar fashion to many other Little Nightmares fans, I went searching for similar experiences.
Bramble caught my eye as a potential winner, and I really wanted to like it, but it falls short on several levels.
First off, the visuals and soundtrack are excellent, there is no faults there and I commend the work done in that regard with the highest praise.
That being said, unfortunately the gameplay is downright boring at best, and tediously infuriating at worst.
- Movement is far too sluggish to keep pace with the environments sprawling areas.
- Do you like CLIMBING IVY? YOU'RE IN LUCK BECAUSE IT"S OVER HALF OF THE GAME.
- There are pointless quicktime-like events and input presses when just letting the player control the character normally would've served the immersion better.
- The constant camera angle switching is disorienting and not in a good way for horror. Too often the environment is not readable, the camera is always cutting out important information, and the constant camera switching becomes a nuisance rather than a desired effect.
Overall, it feels like they would've been better off at making a movie rather than a game.
Side Note: Stopped playing at the 4th chapter due to the really bizarre and lazy insertion of occult/satanic imagery and ritualistic ideals. I understand the games inspirations, but it still feels incredibly dated and absurd to see these things in horror nowadays. It's overdone in horror and it breaks immersion; it's comical at best and spiritually bankrupt at worst. Neither serve game play or world building well.
5/10
Bramble could've been something special but is drastically held down by the intrusive camera, molasses game play and stereotypical uninspired horror tropes.
Bonus Note: The gnomes sound design is literally just a pitched up baby crying and throwing a tantrum and it's pervasive whenever they're around. I don't know what doorknob thought that was a good idea.