Brume (2019)

Brume is a cute little Souls ripoff developed by Sokpop. And it's actually really good. It's like if you took all the good bits of Dark Souls and boiled them down into a neat little chunk of creamy enjoyment.

The game uses low resolution, limited colour palette and a letterboxed 4:3 aspect ratio. It feels a bit weird at first, but after 5 minutes it works really well, it sets the tone and it's rather charming. So you explore this little island full of looping paths and shortcuts and unlockable gates and such. Each tiny zone has a different feeling: there is a forest, a shoreline, a swamp, a castle. It's all highly condensed and there's about 6 bosses and a bunch of smaller enemies to encounter. There are about 6 weapons you can collect, and you can level your character up using these consumable plants you find along the way. There are bonfire checkpoints places throughout which reset the enemies and fully heal you. There's a shield, a dodge-roll and a stamina bar. And it's all done in a simple manner, but it works really well.

I love this game to bits. The visuals, the sound, the mechanics. I've played it through around 6 times now. It has various challenge modes, hard mode, permadeath mode. I'm quite addicted to just picking it up and fiddling around with it every morning. I'm still trying to beat it on stick-only mode (no weapon upgrades). This thing is definitely worth checking out, and I think it's a more-successful souls-influenced game than most of the high budget attempts (like The Surge or Code Vein etc). Incredible that this thing was developed in only two weeks. I was surprised and delighted when I realised these devs also made Bernband, another game I was completely obsessed with a few years ago. This whole experience has prompted me to sign up to the Sokpop patreon (they make a new game every 2 weeks).

• Brume can be found on itch.io and Steam.
• Bernband is a free game available here.

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