Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is tough review. It is a relatively easy and enjoyable-to-play adventure game that has a novel control scheme. The story, however, focuses on heavy themes of family bonds and perseverance after grief and tragedy, and it lingers long after the player is done playing. Spoiler alert: The game does not end happily ever after. That said, there’s good reason why this game has been extremely well-received among the gaming press.

The player uses a single control device (a modern gamepad with twin analog thumbsticks) to move two brothers independently around a medieval fantasy world. The feeling is as if the player’s own hands are two separate actors playing a co-op game. The player controls the two brothers during a long journey to find healing water for their ailing father. Along the way, the brothers make friends with and help out various fantasy creatures, avoid nasty guard dogs, and solve many environmental puzzles. Some of these puzzles are mechanical contraptions that seem designed explicitly for two people to operate in tandem, making me wonder if the people who designed them always travel in pairs. Ultimately, the player is compelled to guide the brothers through to their journey’s end and save their father. It’s powerful and emotional.

A game with an interesting control scheme that starts as only a novel interface/mechanic but then turns out -- brilliantly -- to be a perfect metaphor for the game’s story and themes.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is the perfect example of how video games can be powerful literary stories that serve to broaden our understanding and increase empathy. It is emotional and, if properly supported, could provide deep context for mature discussions around death and grief. It offers strength and perseverance as ways of dealing with these topics by emphasizing cooperation in both its control scheme and its story. While each brother is controlled independently, both can only progress through working together on the same obstacles. The older brother can swim and move heavier objects while the younger can squeeze through tight spaces, but both of them are needed for many of the game’s well-designed and well-thought-out puzzles. In the end, the player realizes that the strength of one brother is assumed into the other even after death.