Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons

One of the most heartwarming gaming experiences I’ve ever had. You control two brothers on a quest to save a dying father. The fairy tale journey to the tree of life takes you from the cozy home village to the deepest caves and highest peaks. Along the way, you encounter beautiful vistas, haunting locations of grander times gone by, and strange and magical creatures–which are sometimes friendly and sometimes evil. The tale also teaches us that big and scary creatures may have a kind heart while seemingly kind and friendly characters hide the biggest evil.

The mechanic of controlling two brothers may be weird for the first couple of minutes, but it quickly becomes second nature. The core of the gameplay revolves around puzzles that are always solved in pairs using both brothers. It’s impressive how the puzzles aren’t repetitive at all, and it’s unlikely that you would get stuck anywhere for a long period of time, but this doesn’t take away from the satisfaction of completing them. In fact, I was often impressed by how ingeniously constructed the puzzles were. In short, the game is not particularly hard, but I feel like it was never supposed to be. It’s a story-driven game that focuses on the relationship between the two brothers.

The gameplay is accompanied by a beautiful soundtrack that tugs at your heartstrings, and will no doubt be joining your playlist once you complete the game.

The only minus I can think of is that the game is quite short. It takes around 3-4 hours to complete, depending on how much time you take to explore the world. But it’s such a densely condensed and rich experience, filled with emotion, that I can’t really fault it for its shortness. The Steam version of the game includes 12 achievements, and I encourage you to try to get them.

PS: I completed the game twice: once alone and the second time in pair with my GF (so this can definitely be played as a co-op experience on the same device). Both times I played on a keyboard–despite this game being made for a controller–but didn’t have any difficulties.