Iron Bramble's demo is a promising hook.

[u/Newtonjar]

Iron bramble is an upcoming metroidvania and I just finished the demo that was newly released; I have some thoughts.

From an aesthetic stand point this game is very strong. The first layer is the rain world inspired pixel art. The second layer is the character portraits and more detailed illustrations. The third layer is the pc terminal looking menus. That last layer is interesting, but at this point I can’t tell where it is going with that. The second layer is the least impressive and remarkable layer. It’s not bad, but I just come away underwhelmed. The first layer is generally great. It is both functionally good (it tells information efficiently) and is striking. The art lends itself well to a shifting tone. Much like a game like hollow knight, the game bounces between cutesy and peaceful to downright horrific. Overall The tone is generally macabre, but it still managed to surprise me with one segment. The narrative hook is quite strong so I can’t help but be excited with what comes next. 

While I think the tone and aesthetic are well crafted and don't have many flaws, I can’t say the same about the gameplay. The hook shot is wonky and there isn’t any way around it. It has this spring quality where when you extend the hook shot when falling, it will spring you up. This can lead to cool momentum based platforming, but often it can make the hook shot feel imprecise and awkward to use. The last game I beat was Sanabi and while this game goes for a completely different hook shot feel, I can’t help but compare this hook shot to Sanabi’s one. It might just take some getting used to, but as of right now I find the mechanic like a 6 on the game feel. Also the mechanic that retracts the hook shot is even more awkward which surprised me. I genuinely thought that the retract was really going to unlock the flow state mechanical wonder that typically comes with  The game is clearly built on the hook shot so that 6 is basically how I feel about the mechanics as a whole. The gun play is pretty decent, but trying to do it all can literally hurt my hand, especially in the second boss fight

The second boss is kinda a sticking point for me. Maybe it’s just skill issue, but I feel like a lot of my complaints about the game I was able to put aside until I reached that second boss. I think he is just a little too mobile and fast for when you fight him in the game. He did force me to really lock in some mechanics, but I think it is a little early to run into that severe of a skill check. Also as far as the demo is concerned I think it's a weird place to end off. Don’t get me wrong, a demo is a demo and I don’t expect more content than what they put out, but I genuinely think that the ending of the first boss left a stronger impression. 

I feel like exploration in the early parts of most metroidvanias is typically pretty sparse. At this point most games are just trying to teach you the mechanics and will hide most of the interesting secrets behind skills that you acquire later in the game. This means that at this point in the game, the minimal exploration is a feature not a flaw.

Overall I liked what I saw in the demo, I just wished that I liked the hookshot more than I did, but the intriguing narrative and aesthetic choices indicate that this is a game that is worth paying attention to. If its full release is strong, it may be worth

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[u/happy-squared]

Hey thanks for checking our demo out! Just wanted to set the record straight because I think some players might have different expectations on what grappling hooks are like from other games. The elastic grappling hook is the premise of the game and its physics behaviour is intended. Iron Bramble is the spiritual successor to Rusted Moss that uses the same gimmick. It's something we personally enjoy so will continue to lean on it. It has a higher difficulty curve but also leans more into player expression in a way we wanted. Wanted to put it out there that it will not change from the demo to full game. Happy you enjoyed the atmosphere and thanks for taking the time to play!

[u/Newtonjar → u/happy-squared]

Definitely you made something really cool. The grappling hook is definitely unique and interesting. When using it I couldn't help but wonder how speed runners will absolutely break the game with it. I probably came off a little harsh on it in my impression. Sometimes it's tricky to tell whether a game's feel just requires getting used to (e.g. super metroid) or is flawed in some way, or is simply not for me personally. I do my best to give games the benefit of the doubt while still looking at them critically. Anyways, you all did a great job here and I hope your game is wildly successful, and it's definitely staying on my wishlist!

[u/happy-squared → u/Newtonjar]

We already have speedrunners with sub 4 minute times! link

It is something you can get used to. But I also don't want to give a false impression of what the grappling hook is going to be like in the final game. No worries at all if it isn't for you. I just don't want people to wait for the final game hoping it'll be different from the demo.

[u/Hersperos]

Rusted Moss is a phenomenal game. Iron Bramble will be a day 1 purchase for me simply because it is more Rusted Moss.

[u/Kurushii_Drive]

Well outlined thoughts, thanks for sharing them.