The themes in ‘Chevalier’ that still ring true today
Kelvin Harrison Jr, Samara Weaving and Lucy Boynton discuss the universal themes presented in Chevalier. The film premieres in theaters April 21st.
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Kelvin Harrison Jr, Samara Weaving and Lucy Boynton discuss the universal themes presented in Chevalier. The film premieres in theaters April 21st.
Depressing fantasy worlds are nothing new, yet Bramble: The Mountain King surprised me with its dark Nordic folklore. Instead of sanitizing these fairy tales like a classic Disney film, Dimfrost Studio openly embraces its most disturbing elements, presenting a twisted world brimming with atmosphere. Calling this grim adventure a horror game isn’t quite right, though after a lengthy hands-on preview on PC, I’m finding this a captivating yet creepy tale.
Before jumping in, Bramble warns you about its heavy subject matter, which covers themes like suicide, infanticide, and animal cruelty. Original fairy tales often find young children in dangerous situations, so this isn’t surprising, but it’s worth noting for anyone unaware. Playing a young boy called Olle, this tale begins innocently enough with a nighttime trip into the forest to find your older sister, Lillemor. That soon turns into a rescue mission as you traverse this twisted forest.
While many games incentivize going beyond the beaten path, Bramble keeps exploration strictly linear from A to B. Going forward is often your only option with no backtracking, sometimes breaking this up through climbing or light platforming segments. You can look over a few highlighted objects on your journey, like pinecones and storybooks, and that’s about it. One occasion involved turning a matchbox upside down to release a hidden key, but aside from the game’s opening, I didn’t find any similar interactions across three hours of playtime.
Exploration feels basic and simplistic events that break up these moments, like playing hide and seek with gnomes, feel more distracting than meaningful. What keeps Bramble interesting is its narrative, and Dimfrost strikes a delicate tone with its environmental storytelling that never truly leaves you at ease. I also can’t shake the uncanny valley feeling when looking at Olle and Lillemor. Yet, the dark forests and beautiful meadows create a strong presentation that keeps this haunting world intriguing.
However, it isn’t long before Bramble’s unpleasant elements counter these pleasing sceneries. Seeing a giant severed animal head thrown to the floor upon entering a butcher’s cave made me quickly realize the bleak realities of this world. Watching Olle walk through a disgusting pile of guts with flies surrounding the rotting flesh just feels wrong, and this sequence eventually leads into the game’s first battle. Sadly, that fight never gets more interesting than dodging a cleaver and throwing rocks at this gargantuan foe.
These depressing lands hide many terrifying beasts; some encounters require a stealthier approach. One incident involves running away from a giant at night, hiding in tall grass whenever it shines a light towards you. Another saw me encounter Näcken, a lake creature whose enchanting music draws people to their deaths. Escaping Näcken means hiding behind whatever cover you can find while his music played at regular intervals. These moments keep the game exciting, illustrating Olle’s struggle well, and Bramble is very much a David and Goliath story.
Visiting Skogsrå’s Grove was a major highlight during this preview, as Olle fights a Forest Nymph known for luring men to their demise. Taunting him with visions of Lillemor, this encounter was my only boss fight during this preview. Split between three stages, I found myself attacking targets strung up against the trees, former victims whose beating hearts gives them power. Thanks to some brutal one-hit kills, you can’t cheese combat. Though the Nymph’s hollow back would typically signal an obvious weak point, it took several attempts before I realized how to weaken her. Frequent checkpoints thankfully minimized my frustrations upon dying.
It’s the most intriguing fight I’ve encountered so far, and what followed after besting her has me questioning my actions. Bramble prompts you to stab her dead body through a repeating quick-time event, gradually covering Olle’s face in blood. I went along with it, falsely believing this was necessary before realizing I never needed to stab her. I don’t know if this affects the story later, but I wondered whether I’d done the right thing. She was undoubtedly wicked, yet Olle’s raw emotions got the better of him.
Bramble does plenty of things right with this intriguing story. By refusing to shy away from the disturbing elements of Nordic folklore, Dimfrost Studio could be onto something special. While gameplay feels like it could be more innovative, these memorable sequences make it one of 2023’s more unique adventures. Bramble: The Mountain King arrives on April 27th on all major platforms. A demo is available now on Steam.
Discord is finally giving you the power to customize its desktop app’s interface with various themes for its latest beta test. The messaging app has introduced Themes — one of its most requested features — with 16 pre-made options to choose from. The not-so-good news? You’ll only be able to apply them if you’re paying for Nitro, its most expensive subscription option.
Nitro does have other perks, including a bigger file-sharing limit, 4K and 60fps streaming, as well as the ability to send messages up to 4,000 characters in length. But if you don’t really need any of them, it’s a matter of deciding whether it’s worth paying $10 a month or $100 a year for the subscription tier just to be able to access Discord’s themes.
In case you have been waiting for the feature to drop and do decide to pay for Nitro, you can choose from the available color schemes by going to Appearance under Settings. You’ll now see a new Color section under the existing Light and Dark themes, where you can find the main 16 choices. There’s apparently another hidden color scheme you can see when you click on the Preview Themes button to test out each option before applying one. Thankfully, Discord is allowing you to use the preview button even if you don’t have an existing Nitro subscription, so you can at least check out what’s available before you make a purchase.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/discord-themes-nitro-subscription-100135630.html?src=rss
Discord is testing out themes that let you change the app’s UI, giving you the choice of 16 (or maybe 17?) premade color schemes. It’s a long-awaited feature for the app, but the catch is that you have to pay for Discord’s $9.99 monthly Nitro subscription to access it — themes aren’t included in the $2.99 monthly Nitro Basic plan, according to the company’s feature comparison chart.
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Brendan Fraser’s performance is legitimately award-worthy, but the film is an act of hate disguised as tough love
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^Stay tuned after the ad for some beloved TV themes being murdered by our video producer
Trombone Champ is the gift that keeps on giving. Somehow the gimmick of classic tunes being mockingly rendered in the shrieking tones of a poorly synthesised brass instrument never seems to get less funny over time. Until now, probably, because I’ve gone and tried to play along with some classic TV themes in the free play improv mode.
That’s it. That’s the write-up. Can I just leave it there Tom? What else is there to say? I can do a write up of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s best musically inspired episodes if you like. Well I’m doing it anyway.