Way back in 2013, the original release of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, developed by Starbreeze and now Hazelight Director Josef Fares, did something few games ever have.
It made me cry.
Video games are, for many people, an escape – a chance to live through adventures and activities we could never do in the real world, but I can count on one hand the number of games that have truly made me emotional. Plenty have made laugh, feel frustrated and even elated, but rarely something as deep as sadness, hope and gratitude.
Just in case you missed this game the first time around, developers Avantgarden have given the decade old Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons a loving makeover, so that you can enjoy this classic title all over again.
A Note on the Narrative
I’m not going to spoil the game, for those that haven’t played it, so fret not – but allow me to set the scene. Brothers is a primarily a single player narrative fairy tale-esque adventure where you take control of two brothers that set out on a quest to save their father. What was unique was that the player controls both brothers at the same time, effectively splitting the pad in half, with one brother on the right stick and right trigger for interactions, the other brother on the left.
This updated release brings with it the co-operative mode from the Switch port, but honestly, playing this in co-op, in my opinion, misses the point of the game’s design entirely. Yes, you’ll spend roughly 4-5 hours literally grappling with the controls as your brain tries to overrides years of muscle memory, but without that element of the journey, the emotional narrative would ultimately fail to have the impact it deserves. So if you’re reading this and have never played the game, do me a favour. Experience it on your own first.
A New Coat of Paint
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons has a fresh new look, and the visuals and revamped cutscenes really do look great. The soundtrack is noticeably improved, this time rerecorded with a live orchestra. There’s HDR support, some lovely lighting and texture work and depth of field throughout – its a really pleasant experience on console. There’s even a performance mode for those that really need 60FPS, though the game became noticeably fuzzier on my 86″ LG.
There’s also been a bit of an adjustment to the controls, but there’s still plenty of opportunity for your brain to really confuse you. For some reason, I always preferred keeping the younger brother on the right and the older on the left, it made more sense to my brain that way. Regardless, there’ll be plenty of occasions where you’ll accidentally let a brother fall to his death by letting go of the wrong trigger or find one of the brothers walking into a wall because your brain forgot what to do.
Throughout the adventure, the brothers will work together to overcome obstacles, climb, avoid and even help a few people along the way to make the journey and get the cure their father needs. There are giants, trolls and fearsome creatures to contend with, and like all good fairy tales, a few surprises await them.
The gameplay puzzles are relatively simple, and the interactions equally so – and for good reason. Juggling both characters on a single pad, despite however odd it initially feels is a deliberate design decision that I guarantee you, will absolutely pay off come the end of your journey.
Still A Journey Worth Taking
To say any more would delve deep into spoiler territory, but suffice to say, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake is still a journey worth taking, and remains a shining example of how gameplay and narrative can combine to produce something that only this medium can provide. However, fans of the original will find little new here outside of a very nice coat of fresh paint and some easy to obtain achievement points.
Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons Remake
Played on
Xbox Series X
PROS
- Emotional Story Telling
- It's quite pretty, actually.
- Solid soundtrack
- Reasonably priced
CONS
- Controls can still frustrate, even if they're necessary for the design to work.
Fares is the boss!
Nice review!
Quite a nice price indeed! Loved it back in the day.
Good review!
I wouldn’t mind playing this game again, but can’t really justify buying it again since I doubt a second playthrough can live up to that first emotional journey.
Great game.
I still don’t think any game has told a story through gameplay better than this. I wouldn’t recommend anyone play this in co-op the first time.
I bought the original on sale a couple of years ago and enjoyed it very much. Will definitely check this out as it looks beautiful.