Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
I don’t have a brother. I’ve never understood the kind of friendship a pair of brothers form growing up together. The kind of bond that remains through the tussles and bouts of anger that erupt between two boys. A relationship where the older brother knows what’s best, and the younger hopes to some day be as strong as his elder. I haven’t lived through that kind of childhood, but I have experienced a small piece of it in Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.
Brothers is an adventure game that tells the tale of two sons (duh!) and their sick widower father. The two boys must travel to a far off land for a cure, and you must control both of them to make it there. This mechanic will be the hardest part since most people who have played games for years were only controlling one avatar at a time. The older brother is controlled with the left analog stick, and the younger is controlled with the right. You interact with the environment, characters, and each other using the left trigger for the elder, and the right trigger for the younger. Thankfully this is a well crafted game, and after only a few minutes I was easily moving both of the brothers around the screen. Yes, there were some hiccups, but never total frustration. Through this you’ll solve many puzzles without any kind of hints as there is no dialogue or written text in the game.
That’s right, there is no text in the game beyond the title screen and pause screen. There isn’t even a HUD since there are no health bars or collectibles. Nothing is named, and no one speaks a real language. But it’s easy to understand the brothers and other characters from the inflections in their strange speech. When combined with an enchanting soundtrack, the emotional tone rises and falls easily. It’s rare to play a game that can weave such a wonderful tale without the help of spoken exposition, written words, or the best graphics. It has a simple style that looks akin to a child’s storybook , but don’t let that fool you. This is not a sugar-coated, Disneyfied fable.
At it’s core Brothers is about life, family, and death. It’s about leaving the familiar for the sake of saving someone you love. It’s about sacrifice, and how life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. There are dark moments, and we must be brave to get through them. No other game delivers this kind of message, and certainly not in the simple way this game does it. Without real words or text this game made me feel excitement, wonder, loss, fear, and even admiration.
You may think I’m deriving too much from a $15 adventure game available on Xbox Live Arcade as part of the Summer of Arcade promotion, but you’re not me. Where most may find a fun distraction that can last between 3-5 hours, I’ve discovered a beautiful experience that brings a smile to my face, and tugs at my heartstrings. It’s a coming of age story, it’s a fairy tale, and it’s a journey I won’t soon forget.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is now available for download on the Xbox Live Arcade.
Available on Steam August 28, 2013 and PS3 September 3, 2013
About the Author
Keith Hanson is a podcaster currently residing in New Jersey. He can be found weekly on Sidecast where he rambles on about video games, wrestling, movies, Muppets, and other very important topics. If you want to find him right now, he's probably posting something to his Twitter.
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