Analysis of Brothers Tale of Two Sons Remake

He has made few games and none is a great production, but the name of Josef Fares has been gaining weight in our industry and not without reason. Although his rogue style sells, the reality is that his speech is founded: the industry needs freshness, originality and, above all, use its own language to tell stories instead of only using that inherited from other arts such as cinema or literature.

When studying the figure of Fares, we will start with Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons . His philosophy is very clear in this adventure and puzzle game that, radically changing the control dynamics, will later be repeated in It Takes Two , considered the Game of the Year by this magazine and by the Game Awards. The Swedish creator understood a long time ago that game mechanics do not have to be only at the service of fun or the story, but rather the message of the work. That the famous and hackneyed ludonarrative dissonance occurs, above all, when these factors are not taken into account.

For this reason, he created a game in which controlling two characters, each with a stick, posed a challenge for the coordination of our thumbs. And, through this mismatch, also create the silent relationship between two brothers who, throughout the adventure, will understand each other better in the same way that we gain experience with control. It is these elements that narrate with mechanics that are so missed in an industry capable of creating the most spectacular video games possible, but incapable of making the game and story portion always go hand in hand; often, furthermore, burdened by the need to constantly include action mechanics to appeal to large audiences.

Brothers shies away from all this. It is an adventure and puzzle game in which two brothers embark on a journey in search of a cure for their father’s illness and, to do so, they must travel to a mythical tree where the water of life is hidden, the only thing that can make it heal. Under this simple pretext hides a more complex one: that of the trauma of the younger brother, who saw his mother die in the ocean and since then has had a phobia of water; and the responsibility of the elder’s role, of having the need to take care of his brother at all costs. If we add to all this a fantasy world almost inherited from the fairy tale with a few sinister drops at times, the atmosphere of Brothers feels unique.

Its atmosphere matters and even more so in this remake which, being an exclusively visual one, is in the design of its settings where it wants to give renewed strength. It’s not that the original Brothers didn’t have it, and it’s that with simple, almost cartoon-style graphics, well recreated for a 2013 game, it already managed to dazzle players. The work of the Italian studio Avantgarden , on the other hand, bets more on the realism of modern techniques and also hits it. From the beautiful places of the town where the brothers leave, passing through the darkest and most spectacular corners of the game, they have managed to give new life to the classic. Special mention for the fantastic characters such as the troll or the owl, perfectly recreated and with a great amount of detail.

A story that is lived at the controls

Although the soul of Brothers lies in its ability to transmit the sensations , synchronicity and coordination of the brothers through the controls, the puzzles are not, by any means, a mere procedure. Here Starbreeze , the original studio, since Avantgarden has only been in charge of graphically revamping the game, created an exemplary design; one of those whose original idea (in this case the asynchronous control of its two protagonists) is not relegated to a mere gimmick , but is perfectly expressed through the challenges that each scenario proposes.

They fulfill the maxim of all good puzzle design: they are interesting and never easy or difficult enough, although they perhaps fall more into the realm of accessibility. But it all depends on how much you are able, as a player, to split your mind in two to understand that you can be in two places in the room at the same time, each one with a brother. In addition, it also renews its puzzles according to the scenario, without repeating each of its mechanics too much and always taking full advantage of its physics system. Although the game is short (it lasts between 3 and 4 hours and does not need to be much longer) practically everything that can be done with this system is explored throughout its levels.

All in all, this remake is compliant although not much more can be said. Not because of demerit, but because Avantgarden’s work is ex officio, like Bluepoint’s with its remakes. Carry out a complete visual remodeling to return to modernity a work that deserves to be played by new generations and not only remembered by the previous ones. Perhaps it was not the most necessary of all the games to choose from the historical catalog, since the original work continues to hold up well over time; and, probably, this adjustment is due to the rise of Fares in the cast of video game developers. It is true that, in the PC version where I have been playing it, it would lack some polish. Not much, really, but at 4K raster the game has a hard time staying stable at 60 frames per second, when it shouldn’t with my test equipment, and I have had to rely on DLSS to achieve better smoothness and consistency in the adventure .

Returning to Brothers has been an experience that brings back memories of when I played it for the first time. And I think that is the most important thing of all, that more people can have the opportunity to discover a work that I don’t know whether to call cult or somewhat unknown, but that does deserve greater recognition and, above all, be discovered by more. players.

An unforgettable trip

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake

By: Alejandro Pascual

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake is a strictly visual revision of the original, which preserves all the playable elements of Starbreeze’s 2013 work that dazzled us. Avantgarden’s work has been, therefore, to revamp and modernize the graphics while fully respecting its game mechanics, for which it is so recognized and awarded. This fantastic story is more than just a puzzle adventure, since it is through the coordination of our actions with the controls that we know the relationship between these two brothers, using the language of the medium in a commendable way. If you haven’t approached him yet, it may be your chance.

Buy Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake

5 things you should know:

1. This is a strictly visual remake.
2. The game mixes adventure and creative puzzles using the two brothers.
3. It has asynchronous control, controlling each brother with a stick.
4. Its original creator is Josef Fares, director of the game of the year It Takes Two.
5. Remote control is necessary to correctly recreate the experience.

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