Once upon a time ... it is the most common way to start the story of a fairytale, whether it is on a splendid album, a book, a film, or the most classic animated films for children (and why not, even for adults). This time a classic fairytale has become a video game, and landed both on PC on the 2nd of this month via the platform Steam, and even before on mobile devices, making it immediate and direct access to all. It is about Little Briar Rose, a very nice and light reinterpretation of the story of Rosaspina (in this case Aurora), the sleeping beauty, waiting for the charming prince who with the kiss of true love will break the spell that holds her prisoner. We would like to point out that the independent development studio that created the game, Elf Games Works, as the publisher, Mangatar. What exactly does this imaginative title look like? Let's find out together!
The kiss of true love
The plot of Little Briar Rose is clearly inspired, as we said, by the tale of the Brothers Grimm, while the graphic style and the settings were created taking as muses the stained glass windows present in "Beauty and the Beast". After a short prologue in which, through a narrator and the windows, we are told the first part of the story, we will find ourselves in the role of prince charming, ready to face an immense expanse of brambles in order to reach the princess in her castle, and break the spell that imprisons her in an eternal sleep. The gameplay takes place as a graphic adventure with very simple mechanics, chosen to say the least perfect, specifying that the title is proposed to an audience of all ages, and above all also on mobile devices (mainly tablets). The adventure will take place in a few scenarios, which will each symbolize the home of each species, such as gnomes, newts, fairies and goblins. The prince's aim will first be to restore harmony to the forest, solving the problems of each species by recovering essences and slowly freeing the forest from cursed brambles. Is bankruptcy contemplated? Absolutely yes. If your prince fails in a certain task, he will be the victim of a spell and… um… he will change. Obviously we will find him around the map in his new role. In this case, a new prince will juggle the enterprise, picking up exactly where the other prince left off (thanks to a nice fairy who will tell him everything that has happened and who will give him the objects of the previous prince).
What if he fails too? No fear! There is a real army of principles that will follow one another to complete the enterprise! In any case, once one of the principles fails in its task, it will be easy to deduce what to change in order not to fail again. As already said, the difficulty of Little Briar Rose is not very high, and it is enough to have good deductive qualities to complete the various riddles. The game is in fact sprinkled with mini-games and puzzles that, in addition to making you proceed, will also amuse you. Of course it is also possible to save the game, again with the help of the aforementioned fairy. In case you fail to continue, there is a mini puzzle on the main screen that serves to unlock a little help that gives you the push in the right direction. But be careful! Although simple, the game can also turn out to be deceptive and you will often find yourself making some deductions… which will turn out to be totally wrong! So be careful and don't stop at the first logical solution you will find. The total game experience is around two hours, which, apart from some very small backtracking for the change of scenery, will not be uncomfortable at all.
Colors on glass
As you can see from the numerous images that I propose, the graphic style used in this little gem is totally unusual: all the details that you will find yourself admiring are entirely handmade, with a very particular effect that recalls, as already mentioned, the style adopted for the colored stained glass windows of the churches. This is not all it makes the chromatic variety alive, but infuses the images with that fairytale touch which, of course, is necessary. The audio sector defends itself well, of course, not giving a form of dubbing further to that of the voice actress's initial narration, but with the use of a soundtrack in the background that is not cloying. Small applause also to the sound effects, hoping to hear as little as possible a certain… "crash"!
Small game, big audience
Certainly Little Briar Rose is not a title that will keep you busy for more than a couple of hours, but we can assure you that it's not bad, for more than one reason. First of all, it is a title suitable for a very large audienceranging from the little child who wants nothing more than to have fun, to the boy who wants to spend some time while commuting, or to adults in the waiting room at the post office. All because Little Briar Rose keeps company effortlessly, without weight and, above all, fun. Concealed, but not too much, there is also a lot of irony, which varies from the single line, to the bizarre characters, to the particular surprise ending. Are you achievement hunters? Those are also available, some of which will have you replaying the title again. The price of the title is absolutely honest, which further increases its appeal: you can get it on iOS and Android devices for only € 2,99, while on PC via Steam it is available for € 7,99.
Modus Operandi: the review you just read was written based on the version PC of the game, after completing the entire story and comparing the gameplay with the mobile version.
