One Life Left: Brothers

As this semester’s new videogame columnist, I will cover games ranging from small indie releases to big name games like Halo and Call of Duty. I want to start the column off with a review of a game I picked up this summer called Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

Brothers was released on August 7, 2013 by Starbreeze Studios and was made in collaboration with award-winning Swedish filmmaker Josef Fares. Starbreeze Studios is a small company based out of Stockholm, Sweden with fewer than 100 employees. The game is centered on the adventures of two brothers who set out in search of a magical herb needed to heal their dying father and the only family they have left. The game takes you through a breathtaking world that looks like something straight out of a children’s fantasy novel. Along the way, you encounter all sorts of creatures like griffins, giants and even the occasional mad inventor. The story, however, contrasts this environment beautifully. There are surprisingly dark moments throughout the story that you would never expect from such a seemingly innocent world. There is little to no dialogue in the game so it is these moments that the writers use to develop the characters. You watch as the younger brother confronts the issue of death again and again in the story and how he changes as a result of it. Meanwhile, the older brother does his best to protect his younger sibling from the harsh realities of the world.

You play the game from a third person perspective looking down onto the two brothers. You can play the game alone or experience the incredibly deep story with a friend. The play style of the game is very simple. The only controls are walking/running and an action button that you use to interact with each other or the environment. When I began playing the game, I was worried that the minimalist controls would become boring and dry as the game went on. However, the creators of the game mixed in several enjoyable mechanisms across different levels to prevent this from happening, such as goat-riding and glider operating. In combination with the game being a relatively quick playthrough, I never found myself tired of the controls. While I enjoyed the fresh and original style of controlling both brothers at once, I found myself frustrated trying to keep from getting the controls confused. Often, both characters would be running straight into a wall or a corner instead of going where I was trying to direct them. As you can imagine, my summer roommate got more than a couple laughs in at my expense because of this.

By far the game’s best feature is its environmental art — and the game creators knew it. Most likely, this came as a result of collaboration with the filmmaker Fares. To better enjoy all of the hard work they put into making such a picturesque world, the developers placed benches along the brothers’ paths. The player can walk up to these benches which overlook the breathtaking world they are traveling through. There are no rewards or achievements for doing this other than a great view. However, the benches are not the only way to take a quick break from your journey in the game. If you look hard enough and travel off the beaten path a little, there are several side activities to do like helping a sea turtle find her young or sounding a giant horn. I was a little disappointed because during my time playing the game I only found about a quarter of these things — they are a little more hidden than I would have liked for the laid-back style of play that the game showcases.

With a captivating story and a pleasant playing experience, I found Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons to be well worth the three hours it took to beat the game. I would definitely suggest that you pick it up off Steam, the Xbox Store or Playstation Network. Grab a copy and play it with a friend so that you don’t end up running the brothers into walls for minutes at a time and making a fool of yourself like I did. Overall, I give Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons a 9.0 out of 10 for its story and its gorgeously rendered world.