Game Review: Brothers, A Tale of Two Sons


Review: Brothers, A Tale of Two Sons


Brothers launched in August 7, 2013, but I only really got around to playing it recently; no thanks to my enormous Steam backlog. However, my decision to dust off the game from its proverbial shelf lies not in serendipity – even though it very well might be – but because I was regretfully intrigued. At E3 2017, during EA’s press conference, I witnessed the unveiling of a refreshing new IP titled ‘A Way Out’, a game which was hyped as being from the creators of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Now, I hadn’t played Brothers then, but had I already, I would have been objectively less intrigued by the concept and subjectively more excited for what the story might be and how this can lead to a more immersive puzzle solving adventure. Because, having already played Brothers, I can say without a doubt that Josef Fares and his team can tell a wicked good story, and that they have the flair to take simple, mistakenly clumsy, cooperative mechanics and make impressive, endearing set pieces out of them.

Before A Way Out, there were two brothers


If A Way Out is a leap forward, Brothers was the proof of concept. Following the misadventures of two brothers, players are needfully acquainted with a rather haphazard control scheme that resembled (to me at least) a tidier, far less vexing version of QWOP. Of course, with time, the control scheme would grow on you, but almost as quickly as you’ve become a master of simultaneous WASD and arrow key mashing does the game end. This, unfortunately, is my only gripe in what is a spectacularly well-paced and holistically well devised game.



The brothers, as you would control them, will move between one scene and the next so organically and effortlessly, you will be hard-pressed not to say this isn’t an achievement in visual storytelling. Each set piece beautifully drawn out and distinct from the other – from warm, carefree towns, to magical mountainsides, to ominous, haunting woods, and expansive, frigid ice shelves. You will remember the journey for the sheer impressiveness of these scenes, but at the same time not quite how many times or at which point you turned the page/chapter. It is this very strength that exacerbates perhaps what is the game’s only shortcoming, and that is its length.

For a game that rides hard on affective narration and particularly, the poignancy of it, the amount of time spent with its cast is key. Obviously, I am not encouraging drawing out the game for the sake of more minutes, but for what the game has already achieved, in creating this endearing world and equally loveable protagonists, it just seems like (in the spirit of extrapolation) a missed opportunity to make what I deem is a very good game, great.

A pedestal for A Way Out


If Brothers is an indication of anything it’s that A Way Out has the design principles and framework potential to be a great spiritual successor – even if the mechanics is going to be altered to accommodate a second (couch/online) player. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a great game that does more than merit a good score on all your traditional game-reviewing yardsticks: gameplay, art, story, and sound.


Before playing Brothers, I was looking forward to A Way Out. After playing Brothers, Hazelight Studios might have gotten themselves a day-one customer for A Way Out. 


A Way Out launches early 2018. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons was reviewed on PC and played with a mouse and keyboard. 

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