Bramble: The Mountain King, a game that most folks have likely not played, has hands-down one of the most captivating final boss battles of 2023.
While I was playing Bramble: The Mountain King, I kept trying to figure out its title. “The Mountain King” is a very specific sub-title to give a game, especially for those who have spent any amount of time listening to classic music. It immediately evokes the idea of Edvard Grieg’s seminal work “The Hall of the Mountain King,” arguably one of the finest pieces of music ever composed. It’s grand, terrifying, frantic and proud, captured in just over 120 seconds. As it just so happens, it’s also the backdrop of one of the best final boss battles in 2023.
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Setting the stage with grimdark apblomb, rolling into the final boss of Bramble feels like a death sentence. The King sits on his throne, looking like the manipulated Théoden from Lord of the Rings, clutching a knife and fork. He’s intent on eating Olle, this small child that is simply asking for mercy. The scale is intimidating as the King takes up 95% of the screen. The drums start to pound and his attacks begin. It’s a genuinely horrifying sight; Dark Souls has many challenging bosses but the site of mad king trying to consume a young child is genuinely upset. So it’s weird that I spent most of the fight beaming with sheer delight.
Now, I’m not some kind of monster. At least, that’s what the doctors have assured me. Despite its horrifying premise, Bramble delivers a final boss that perfectly captures the sheer bombastic energy of its namesake by playing “Hall of the Mountain King” over the last encounter. Granted, that doesn’t sound all that impressive. If anything, it’s almost obvious. So what actually makes it good? The way it’s presented, that’s what. Because sometimes, even the most plain bowl of salad is made all the more delicious simply by the effort put into making it look great.
Back to Bramble’s Basics
Before going any further, let’s get the essential stuff out of the way first. Developed by Dimfrost Studios and published by Merge Games, Bramble is a narrative platformer in the vein of Little Nightmares and Inside. Players step into the role of Olle, a young boy who takes it upon himself to rescue his sister Lillemor who has been kidnapped by a troll. Mechanically thin, it’s a game that sells itself on the kind of atmosphere it builds. Presented as whimsical fairy tale adapting many of myths and legends of Scandinavian folklore, Bramble slowly devolves into a grim experience of murder, torture and rampant death.
For all intents and purposes, it’s a small game. It takes a couple hours to complete and outside of a few reaction videos on TikTok, I’ve seen virtually no one talking about it. Granted, it’s on Xbox Game Pass but frankly, given the amount of obscure indie titles that make it onto the service (bless their souls), I’d hardly count that as a metric for reputation. This is all to say that most folks, whether you’re big into your video games or not, have likely never heard of Bramble. Which is what makes its final boss all the more impressive, in a sense.
Those of you have have discovered Bramble know what I’m talking about. I briefly touched on it above as the last battle in the game sees Olle stare down King Nils. It’s not especially challenging nor difficult but what Dimfrost has done better than most developers this year, I believe, is understand that presentation, not complication, is often the key to impressing an audience. It’s presentation that’s both subtle and grand and it’s best exemplified by the use of “The Hall of the Mountain King.”
Knowing about the sub-title, I started Bramble ready to hear this song used as an opening track, the many games would like do. Instead, over the course of my playthrough, I forgot all about it as I became more and more wrapped up in the game’s fairytale world. So much so that during the fight against King Nils, I completely missed what the game was doing.
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The fight starts off slow, as the King uses his knife and fork to try pierce Olle. The drums thunder in background, giving the sense of looming dread you’d expect. It seems fairly standard until you do enough damage. Out comes the sword and scepter as King Nils becomes angrier, smashing his way towards you. The music picks up speed, echoing his rage, his frustration.
It was only then that I realized that “The Hall of the Mountain King,” the composition which gave Bramble its name, was playing over the chaos. Rather than the music serving as a backdrop the fight, the fight was a reflection of the music, building in tempo with the King’s every action until it reaches a point where you’re simply trying to stay on the beat like some gothic Hi-Fi Rush. The attacks syncs to every hit, the brass blares onward, further pushing the frantic energy of the encounter until, eventually, it peaks and comes crashing down alongside the boss, the titular Mountain King.
The final boss of a video game is possibly one of the most daunting challenges a game designer faces. So many fall flat because they don’t understand what makes them special. There’s no “one size fits all” solution to this problem. Oftentimes, a boss needs to challenge the player’s understand of the core mechanics. But in the case of a game like Bramble, where the mechanics aren’t the selling point, how do you make the final fight memorable? Presentation. Saving the best for last. Giving players what they’ve been wanting since the start of the game, having allowed them forget what it even was in the first place.
Bramble: The Mountain King is a game that’s worth playing outside of the final boss. It’s intentionally designed, all killer with no filler. It’s occasionally rough, sure, but it knows how to play to its strengths. Case in point is King Nils himself. How do you take a concept as ethereal as a piece of music and make it memorable? Well, in the case of Bramble you make it literal and deliver a head-banging battle that easily rivals the euphoria of overcoming a Bloodborne boss or toppling a rival in Pokémon. If you haven’t checked it out, I highly recommend doing so as we get to the time of year where people start to ask about the year’s best games. It’d be a real shame if an experience with as much confidence as Bramble wasn’t recognized for the achievement it is.
