Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake Guest Review by Ellery Woods Parker III

The following review for Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake, is a guest review by the very talented Ellery Woods Parker III. At Complete Xbox, we always welcome your views, and we love to share and promote them within the wider gaming community.

Bottom Line Up Front

I immediately thought of Bramble: The Mountain King—a dark story immersed in a visually stunning and whimsical environment.  There is no doubt that this is a painfully tragic adventure, but one well worth your time, clocking in at around 4 hours to complete.  The carefree atmosphere baked into the game at first felt disconnected, but as I ventured deeper along, made me realize the game would not be as good without it.  Be warned, the game touches on some sensitive content, but the Devs did a great job providing a detailed warning before the start of the game.  Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is one of my favorite linear adventure games to date!

BLUF: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 

Description:  Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

NOTE: I never had the chance to play the original game, and therefore I’m approaching this review as if the game is not a remake (i.e. there will be no comparisons to the original).

The story has its foundations in navigating grief and we begin our journey after watching a tragic scene followed up by needing to help our dying father.  So, it was only natural to feel a sort of cognitive dissonance when the mood immediately shifts to whimsical and carefree in the way the brothers interact with each other and the world, including the accompanying soundtrack.  I thought it a slim possibility that I would reconcile this mismatch in atmosphere; but it happened.  Not only did it happen, the game is better for it.

When I took a step back and viewed the game in the vein of children navigating trauma, the Developers choice became crystal clear.  The lightness of the mood and the playfulness (and at times mischievous demeanor of the younger brother) made perfect sense.

I’ve never liked the phrase: children are resilient.  But ultimately, resilience to your situation is a survival tool, and I came around to the fact that the brothers deserve as many carefree moments as they can get.

The adventure the brothers embark on is due to trying to retrieve medicine for their dying father.  This takes them through the world, experiencing different biomes and the creatures that inhabit them.  This is a visually stunning journey and provides, what I call, “lookout benches” that allows a bird’s eye view of the location.  Although, this only slightly eased the pain of not having a photo mode in a game so beautiful.

Gameplay Mechanics

There is a choice of single player or couch co-op (yay!) and your choice will determine, what I believe, is one of the best aspects of the game.  While my wife and I are finding less and less games we can couch co-op together, I would recommend the single player in this case.

Don’t let the simplicity of the controls fool you.  As a single player, you are tasked with controlling both brothers! Controlling them simultaneously will take some getting used to, but is what causes the mechanics of this game to shine!

Combat:

Although there is one combat scene in the game, if you value this above all else, this game most likely isn’t for you.

Traversing:

This game is an adventure at heart with traversing the world at its center.  Just when the gameplay starts to feel repetitive, the level changes and you are faced with additional puzzles and obstacles to overcome, so I never felt the game became stale.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Objectives: 

This game is less about objectives and more about the story it tells through the brothers’ journey.  As there is essentially no voice acting, the story is told through the environment.  There is much more than solely getting from point A to point B, as the brothers can interact with specific items in the world.  I found myself looking forward to seeing each brothers’ interaction and loved the evolution of maturity within the little brother.

Accessibility

There are too few games that have stellar showings in this category, but I want to highlight two accessibilities features I appreciated.

-If you are stuck on where to go, pressing the big brother’s interact bumper will trigger him to point the way.

-You are given the option to have items of interest highlighted.  There was a lot in the world I would have missed without this feature!

Other

• Replayability

I took my time exploring the world and immersing myself in its beauty.  After rolling credits, I saw I only unlocked 25% of achievements.  I think the majority of replayability will come in the form of working your way through the achievements (that is, if you didn’t use a walkthrough guide on your first playthrough).

• Art Style

Stunning.  What more is there to say??

A neat feature is that the art gallery will unlock concept art after you encounter it in the game.  This is something I quite enjoyed, along with the changing home menu background image depending on what level you were on in the game.

• Audio
  • Score/OST: I found this to be slightly above average. The music matched nicely with the environment and current place in the story, but didn’t awe me in any way.
  • Sound Design: I recently went back into the game and checked out all the levels (thanks to the chapter selection option). I didn’t realize this while working my way through the game, but the sound design is stellar!  It truly immerses you in the environment.
  • Voice Acting: There is very little voice acting throughout the game. Something I learned from the bonus feature video commentary (unlocked after completing the game) is that Josef Fares (writer/director of the game) did the voices of all characters/creatures because they didn’t have enough money to hire voice actors.

Summary:

The Developers created an immersive, emotional adventure placing a large focus on attention to detail.  This is a must play if you enjoy the genre, and at only $20, it’s an experience well worth the price.

Written by Ellery Woods Parker III