Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

[ratsoalbion]

I think it's still understandable that someone would choose a version of a game on a platform that it actually runs worse on. If there are other reasons to pick that platform that outweigh any problems with the performance, then that makes sense to me. Like is you want to play it with friends or you prefer one controller over the other.

And I know that bit you're talking about later in the game. I found that to be a pretty cool moment too. I think it was so good for me because it actually took me a little while to work out exactly what I was supposed to do at that moment. I was kind of stumped, then a moment of revelation came and it all made sense. I do have a brother myself, but I don't think that really had anything to do with my enjoyment of the game. I'm not really close with him. But the way they used the mechanics to tie in to the story at that point was just brilliant. It was so simple, but it signified a lot.

Yes, agreed on both fronts Scrustle.

I had the exact same thing as you (and many others no doubt), "How the heck do I do this now?" ... "Ohhh, of course!"
Followed by the swelling of emotion.

[dezm0nd]

As the game resonating for siblings point, I didn't really feel that attached to either of them and I think it's largely down to the pingu type language they speak in and the important story beats I saw coming a mile off.

I really appreciate the idea but on the whole, it just felt a little flat to me. I did enjoy playing it, I just hoped the story would hit me harder than what it didn't.

It looks phenomenal, mind!

[James]

Started and finished this today. It's a beautiful game, with some great ideas, but I didn't quite feel as emotional as the game seemed to suggest I should.

The game I kept thinking of whilst playing Brothers was Papo Y Yo, itself a puzzle platformer that has a personal and emotional story at its centre. Unfortunately for Brothers, its story didn't resonate as strongly with me as Papo Y Yo's did. I'm the eldest of three children and have (thankfully) never been in or subject to an abusive relationship (alcohol-fuelled or otherwise), so I can't fathom why that should be the case.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy Brothers, I really did, but I was more impressed by certain aspects rather than taken in by the whole experience.

[Alex79]

I just finished this. I played it mostly last night, and the final twenty minutes or so just now. I wish I'd played it in one sitting though, but even so, I loved loved loved it. It's easily one of my favourite games I've ever played. I loved the art style (huge fan of the first two Fable games), and I'll go out on a limb and say I think it's one of the prettiest games on the PS3. I think the whole thing about the game is whether you can connect to the characters or not, because there's not really much of a story to speak of, and the gameplay elements are simple at best. There wasn't one puzzle in the game that made me think. The solutions were there right in front of you every single time, but it was the way you did them and the cooperative problem solving that I really enjoyed. Every puzzle, every interaction with the scenery or other characters along the way was utterly charming. And I did connect to the characters. Despite the title, as I played through the game I think I projected myself and my son to the two characters, and it felt like we'd gone on an adventure together. There was so much that this game did right, so many things that were fun to do, the hand-gliding, the rope swinging, the goats, the running around in the ball near the end (trying to avoid spoilers) - all these things were super fun, and lasted exactly the right amount of time. The game may have been short, but every single second of it was a pure pleasure to play. There wasn't one part of this game that I didn't enjoy, and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it to anyone. Yeah I'm going to say it - my game of the year.

[Cass]

Just finished this. In pieces. Thoughts to follow once I've stopped crying.

EDIT: So. This game is a beautiful experience and everyone should play it.

The puzzles are easy but I feel like that's to the game's benefit - they're simple enough to figure out that they become small moments of achievement rather than serious obstacles, and are often quite visually striking while they do it (the rope-swinging section putting a ridiculous smile on my face). I like how the slightly mindbendy control scheme made the puzzles more challenging without being overly complex or frustrating, because in a game like this (ditto something like Journey) the momentum of the trip you're taking is the whole point, and to put significant roadblocks in the way of that would kill a lot of the joy to be found in this game. Besides, it's not your journey, it's theirs - so while the puzzles might not be that challenging for the player, I certainly got a kick out of watching the boys "figure it out".

The game does a good job of making you feel responsible for the boys - when the younger brother floundered in the water, I saved him because I wanted to, not just because I had to - and while there was no dialogue, there was really no need. The relationship between the two brothers

Spoiler: show

not to mention the themes that wrap up the game - including the final moment where the younger brother deals with his fear of the water

has the kind of universality that makes the best fairy tales, with an emotional impact that could only ever really have been delivered through this medium, and that makes me incredibly happy.

[DomsBeard]

Just noticed I didn't have any achievements pop whilst I played this. Weird.

[Scrustle]

Yeah, all the achievements in the game are all for optional stuff. Things you have to go out of your way to do. A lot of them don't require you to do much though. They involve the benches quite a bit.

[Roy42]

I would have preferred there just not be any achievements in the game at all, honestly. Nothing ruins a good game quite like an achievement notification popping up in the corner that didn't need to be there. See also: Shadow of the Colossus HD. The heavy emotional weight of slaying each boss is completely evaporated because "You got a trophy!"

[DomsBeard]

Yeah I would've preferred the achievement system the walking dead followed or none.

[Donk]

Just finished last night, damn how good does that game look. Loved it. Clever puzzles, good pacing, great minimalistic story. I get the feeling a regular studio might have crammed 10 hours of platforming in there to fill in for content but Starbreeze decided only to bring us the choice bits and they were delicious.

[Cass]

I think that's what I appreciate most about indie games. Their narratives and pacing tend to feel a lot snappier than triple-A games, which too often seem to feel as though they have to deliver a lot of content to justify their price tag. Brothers has a story to tell, tells it, and ends. There's no fluff you have to wade through in order to get to the good bits - it's ALL good bits.

[Roy42]

I've played plenty of indie games that have narrative, pacing and gameplay issues, and I think it's worth pointing out the misnomer there: indie games are just as fallible as AAA games; the difference is that you only ever really hear about the better indie games, whereas AAA games will get shoved in your face regardless of quality. But just as for every Last Of Us, you get one Call of Duty, one Aliens: Colonial Marines and one Walking Dead FPS, for every Brothers, you get one Bridge, one Kingdom Rush and twenty Greenlight/Early Access games that look like they'd blue screen your PC if you coughed at them loud enough.

[Cass]

I meant in general, since I tend to only play the games (AAA or indie) that get some sort of buzz behind them. But you make a good point. I just think that when it comes to narrative/story-based games, indie titles tend to feel less of a need to be huge to justify a price tag, and it results in a much punchier experience. As I get older, the less tolerant I am of playing through a 40-hour game for a story that could be told in 8.

[Alex79]

Yeah, I prefer shorter games these days. Unless its something like a huge open world RPG (like Elder Scrolls or Fallout 3 etc) I'd sooner be done in ten hours max then move on to the next game. Same with difficulty. Unless I'm playing something where the difficulty of the game is the integral part of it (Dark Souls) then I actually don't want to be challenged. I want to play through, enjoy the story and the gameplay and finish it.

[Flabyo]

Skyrim was the last '40+ hour' game I played, I think you'd struggle to find many AAA console games with a single player component longer than about 10 hours these days. They're becoming the exception rather than the norm.

[Scrustle]

I don't think that's strictly true. It depend what genre you look at. Shorter games have gotten more common, and genres that tend to be shorter have gotten more popular, but there are still a lot of really long games out there if you want to find them. Like pretty much any RPG for example, or an open world action adventure game. And there are some games which can be as long as you want them to. Like Monster Hunter, or a lot of racing games or sports games, or score hunting games, which can take many forms. A lot of multiplayer games are like that too. MOBAs, strategy games, or even some online shooters.

While the 10 hour (or maybe even half that), linear, set piece ridden, "cinematic" game may be the biggest thing right now, longer games are still pretty prominent.

[Electric Crocosaurus]

Just finished Brothers in one go and I have to echo some of the voices here by saying it's fantastic. The art style is beautiful: it clearly isn't 'cutting edge', but some of the atmospheric effects applied to create a depth of field are wonderful. Music, great: I'm just listening to the title screen as I type this and I know I'm going to be downloading the soundtrack imminently.

I found the whole two character, one player mechanic was interesting both from a gameplay perspective, and also in connecting me to the game's themes. None of the puzzles were that challenging, but that helped to keep the pace of the game up and allowed me to explore the environment more without getting bored or frustrated.

Spoiler: show

The tone of the game got me from the start. I was concerned at the opening, as it was a bit cheesy showing the mother dying in the opening moments. Yet throughout there was a constant sense of melancholy, that this was a world resigned to death and pain, and I found myself really connecting with and rooting for the brothers by the end. I didn't cry, but the game got to me in the way that the best stories do. Giving the little brother the ability to use the big brother's action button at the end was really clever; up to that point it really did feel like losing a limb after a few hours of wielding both sticks.

The visual story-telling throughout was superb too. It's a linear game, but even so I always felt I was moving where I wanted to go, rather than being forced down a defined path. The visual queues reminded me a lot of Bioshock; little vignettes that aren't fully explained, allowing you to draw your own conclusions.

Just a really impressive piece of work, and easily up there with the Last of Us and Bioshock: Infinite in the mature story-telling stakes of 2013.

[JaySevenZero]

Issue 122 of the Cane and Rinse podcast will see Leon, Tony, Josh and Karl discussing Starbreeze's Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Please share your experiences, opinions and anecdotes of the game for potential inclusion on the show in this here thread*

*This thread will be merged with the other Brothers thread was the show is in the bag.

[Nekemancer]

I picked this one up when there was a lot of noise surrounding its arrival on PC. I was very impressed; the game is gorgeous, the characters and events are compelling, single player co-op will turn your brain to mush. It very much deserves all the awards and acclaim it received. I'll remember it fondly, but I don't really have it in my top games. It's very good, but, from my perspective, that's all it is. Just very good.

Don't know if it was overhyped or I just didn't get into it, but the game didn't really make a significant impact on me. There were parts where I really got into the game and really loved it, but there were also parts that took me out of it. I felt that it was clear where the story was going, so I was not surprised by the ending, just a bit saddened. The single player co-op was very well done, but I found myself doing a lot of the same sort of thing pretty quickly. I had hoped that they might've gone bigger with it, maybe a segment where one brother is being chased and the other one has to complete sequences in order to slow down/stop the bad stuff from catching up. I wonder if allowing a segment where they got split up so much so that a split screen would have been used might have broken the immersion and feeling of the game.

The story's interesting, it's well told, it's a fun experience, it's cheap, it's flippin' beautiful. Buy it, give it a shot. The worst that'll happen is you'll have a couple hours of decent fun. On the other hand, you might just find a game that you'll keep in your mind for years to come. I don't regret my time with it in the slightest, even though I was on the lower end of the spectrum in how I enjoyed it.

[The_reviewist]

I'd heard the lauding of Brothers from various games writing outlets, and wasn't surprised to find that a game which apparently moved the player as well as providing a unique control method, was getting a lot of love. I missed it at release and ended up playing it in a single sitting at a mate's house a few months down the line.

I found that despite the cleverness everyone had ascribed to the game, Brothers was quite a facile experience. Although, in being facile it still managed to express a lot of intelligent design in game-play and in toying with player understanding of the world. the plot was fairytale simple, and the fact that the game was filled with archetypes was both slightly disappointing but understandable, as this is a game trying to convey a lot using as little as possible.

The dual control method was a great move, although it was far too easy to end up walking the wrong brother in a direction as they moved around the screen. Learning to use the skills and advantages of each brother to accomplish tasks was cleverly done, and by the end of the game felt almost second nature, although it never quite got there for me. Still the controls were part of the experience, and part of the narrative itself, as each brother could be seen interacting with the world in unique ways.
This was especially true at the game's ending, with the subtle moment of revelation where the player has to use the controls on the now dead older brother to cross the water. That simple mechanic was a wonderfully simple but effective method of tugging the player's heartstrings, and conveying the idea that the younger brother was drawing on what he'd learned from his sibling, as well as on his memory to overcome his own fears.

While it was a very enjoyable game, it's not one that lends itself to repeat playings, but for a gaming experience, it's a fascinating little tone poem that fans of artistic expression in games as a medium should try out.