• Add Review
  • Subscribe
  • Nominate
  • Submit Media
  • RSS

A rose by any other name.

  • nhubi
  • 07/04/2014 06:11 PM
  • 1040 views
This review is for the IGMC 2014 version.

Little Briar Rose is a point and click adventure game based on the Grimm fairy tale of the same name which itself was taken from an earlier Perrault tale and was the basis for the story of Sleeping Beauty. In this visually stunning adventure you take on the role of a Prince, bent on rescuing Beauty from her curse of enforced sleep and freeing the castle and surrounding woodland from the grip of the forest of thorns that has sprung up around it.


Simple, stunning intro.

The game begins in a cathedral, with the story of Aurora, the beauty of legend, told in a poem set to a simple rhyme scheme as windows of stained glass glide past visualising the tale being told. Once the legend is established you venture forth past the forest of thorns and are confronted by mystical and magical creatures that have made the enchanted woods their home, and just like Aurora and her castle have been sundered from the outside world for a 100 years. In order to proceed deeper into the forest and closer to your goal you must aid the denizens so that they will let you pass and grant you the wish of their people, without which you cannot proceed.


Good advice, but I do wish the lovely font of the opening had been used for the dialogue.

The visuals in this game are all custom, and they are gorgeous. The developer has used stained glass as their template for creating the imagery and it works beautifully, not just in the vibrant colours and vivid illustration but in the fragility that it embodies. Aurora has been asleep for over a century and many hundreds of suitors have come to try and rescue her, all have failed and their bodies are within the grasp of the forest, never to return. Life is fragile, as easily broken as a stained glass window and you are reminded of that in every scene of this game.

Your own mortality is also strongly emphasised within the game play, as one misstep or miscalculation in the tasks you undertake can lead to the failure of your mission and you joining all of those who have come before in ignominy, but as this tale is one of the immortals, that is not the end of the story. For each time a Prince fails, another rises to take his place and the quest continues.

The game has an autosave feature that activates after each significant event, like fulfilling the needs of a group of forest dwellers, or as each part of the forest opens for further exploration. In addition there is a save point centrally located where you can manually save your game before venturing onward. I would suggest doing so, though as the game does not end if you fail, simply replaces the Prince it's really only there to prevent a loss of progress.


Save is via mushroom...of course.

Just like the graphics the music is custom, suited in most part to the tale, though a little loud in some regions and from a small but impressive range, I believe there were three tracks that were used throughout the game, though one was predominant but they were of sufficient length and interest that the repetitiveness wasn't an impediment, though I would have liked more variety.

The myriad denizens of the forest all have distinct personalities, from the gruff but hard working gnomes, to the nature conscious eco-warrior merfolk and the fashion victim fairies with their preoccupation with getting the perfect look for their dancers. Even the crow atop the mushroom has a few less than charming personality quirks.


Don't annoy the Gnome King; he's got a mouth (and a mind) on him.

There are a few misspellings and grammatical errors, but I believe the original developers are Italian, so some errors are to be expected, however I would suggest giving the game to a native English speaker to look through as most of the errors aren't spelling, they are word placement or suitability.

There is lovely little addition to the game, achievements. Depending on what you do and the level of success or failure you exhibit, different achievements are awarded during the game and at game's end. From "Charming Prince" for making it through with Stephen, the first hero, to "Long Lineage", for dying many, many times, as well as ones for aiding the fairies and a few others you'll have to play to find.

The fairytale format is a perfect vehicle for a short game, after all most of the original tales were spread via the oral tradition, they had to be something that could be told of an evening by the fireside before heading to bed with tales of princesses and heroes spinning in the mind of the listeners. This game left me with much the same feeling, an old tale brought to vibrant and joyful light by a new medium and a new story teller.

Go and play. Just go.


and they lived happily ever after