Bramble: The Mountain King

Bramble: The Mountain King is a dark fairy-tale adventure inspired by Nordic and Scandinavian folk tradition, in which a boy named Olle heads into the forest to find his lost sister, abducted by creatures from local legends. The game combines platforming exploration with simple puzzles and stealth sections that require avoiding dangerous creatures such as trolls and other figures drawn straight from European folklore, often portrayed far more terrifyingly than readers of children's fairy tales would know them. Without a classic combat system, the player is forced to rely mainly on quiet movement, hiding, and improvised escape routes through the forest.

Visually, the game feels realistic and dark, with elaborate lighting and atmospheric forest environments that contrast with the young hero's childlike perspective. The music and sound design skillfully alternate calm, almost idyllic passages with sudden horror, letting the game catch players off guard. On Xbox Series X|S it launched day one on Game Pass and makes use of the console's power for detailed lighting and dense forest vegetation without major technical compromises, which lets the nighttime passages lit only by moonlight and torch flame really stand out.

At launch, Bramble was praised especially for its bold treatment of the darker side of Nordic fairy tales and for its atmosphere, though some critics pointed to uneven difficulty in places and technical shortcomings. Even so, it became an interesting entry in the fairy-tale horror adventure genre, drawing on lesser-known folklore and offering a somewhat different take on classic fairy-tale motifs, which in most games tend to be presented in a far more sanitized way. It's precisely this uncompromising depiction of violence and the horror of folkloric monsters that players most often remember long after finishing the game.

Why play it: For players craving a darker, uncompromising take on Nordic folklore, though you should expect uneven difficulty and technical rough edges.