Finished Bramble: The Mountain King.
Through the last stages I went through two thought processes: first thinking that "Overall, I did not enjoy this game, I do not recommend it" to thinking "Okay, that was pretty decent.". And I think I can tell what the problem was: it is a game that at several instances prioritizes aesthetics over being able to read what you can and cannot do. I've already relayed how I got stuck at a section because I forgotten about the ability to crouch. This time the opposite happened: there was a segment where crouching was standard operating procedure to stay hidden in the presence of hostile enemies (think of them as zombies), and there was a segment where I couldn't figure out how to stealth through them; as things turned out I was supposed to use the ability to jump. An ability that felt counterintuitive given that I tried to stay hidden and which I could not read that jumping would help from the level layout. This section also made me think the game was made of edgelords since it, and the intro to that section, was so grim.
I fought the Skogsvrå boss, thought it was okay, and then trodded along to what turned out to be the game's two final bosses. And here's where I thought it got decent. And I know why I thought it got better, and it is very much a me-thing; other people might enjoy this game more. The camera in both the last two bosses remained at a fixed distance with a fixed arena where the boss battle took place. Only when I needed to make an attack did the game zoom in over protagonist Olle's shoulder ala Resident Evil 4. That way I did not get simulation sick; the aforementioned Skogsvrå battle involved circle-strafing behind trees around the boss, with trees whisking by as you moved sideways which made me feel queasy.
The other thing that made it get decent was that we got some backstory. The final section laid out what the story was behind the final boss and I thought it was affecting, and we got the conclusion to the story of the game itself.
There's a part in me that want to say that I think this game could be improved if the player character wasn't a one-hit-kill. Yes, I'm aware that it part of the aesthetics as a grim and dangerous environment and Yes, I'm aware that if you fail the game takes you back to earlier in the same level just a tiny bit so you get back to the challenge, but it still kills the momentum and the final boss had background music that I wanted to listen to through til the end instead of having it constantly interrupt by me failing an attack.