First off this is not a review. I will wall off spoilers below, but this is a discussion of the complete game.

Brothers got a lot of good press and is showing up on top ten lists. It's very cheap on XBLA right now so I finally picked it up and played through it today while off from work.

Brothers has a lot going for it. The aesthetics are fantastic. I loved the music and while I wasn't impressed by the graphics in the beginning, as the game got more fantastic (as in based in fantasy) I became more impressed until by the end I felt it was one of the best games I've ever played from a graphical design perspective. The game also chooses not to explain its world at all, leaving it for you to explore and inhabit, and that is a choice many more games should make. The game goes further down this path by using a nonsense language, which helps for immersion but damages characterization.

In addition to these aesthetic choices, Brothers features very little combat, has an unusual (though not unique) control scheme, and gameplay primarily consists of traversal and puzzles. In a world of endless modern warfare and space marine shooters, Brothers stands out. Not having combat, in particular, is an excellent design decision that other traversal games could learn from. Brothers is a short, focused, experience without much padding, and is unlike almost anything else out there (though The Cave tried something similar)

So what's wrong with it?

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For one thing there's not much game there. The puzzles are generally extremely easy, not requiring much brainpower or dexterity, and the traversal tends towards the easy and obvious. Mechanics like the rope tying the brothers together are introduced and discarded rather than being built upon. Partially this is a function of length, but the game also just doesn't seem very interested in being a game. It wants to tell a story and show aesthetics. I get that. The level where you traverse the battlefield of the Giants is truly spectacular and is a world I would love to spend more time with. But without good gameplay, Brothers has to fall back on its aesthetics (very good) and its story...

About that story...

A lot of people have been saying they were deeply affected by the story, and I get that, but for me it has some serious problems. The simple tale of two boys going to get medicine for their father is a fine framing device, but there is almost no character development along the way. The younger brother has a hallucination, the older one a flashback, that's about it. The sights you see are spectacular, sure, but you are just tourists. No meaningful relationships or deepened characterizations. That makes sense given the nonsense language, but leads to my biggest issue with the story.

The older brother's death is unearned. The brothers free the spider woman from what appears to be an angry horde, they follow her, reasonably, and while the older brother starts to romance her, pulling away from his younger brother, and pushes them to enter the den, he has no reason to suspect what she really is. When he is then punished after the boss battle (and from a gameplay perspective it's kind of cheap to have her strike the mortal wound right after you defeat her, there's some ludonarrative dissonance there) it's unclear what he's being punished for. And yes, it can just be random, but that doesn't seem like the kind of story Brothers is trying to tell. If the story did more to flesh out who the older brother is as a person and let his attributes be his downfall it would be closer to the fairy tales its world draws inspiration from, and, in my opinion, more satisfying.

Without gameplay or story to drive the experience what's left then is a bunch of good elements and ideas put together into something adequate but not great, which is what Brothers is. Perhaps, somewhat ironically since most games are too long, it could have benefited from being a longer experience, giving the player more time to identify with the characters and doing a better job of characterization, with more interesting side stuff like the achievement tasks (a nice touch) and even an opportunity to develop the spider woman. I could easily have spent another 3-4 hours in that enchanting world. But without that, with what's there, I'm left with a few striking memories based on aesthetics, an appreciation for what the mechanics were trying to do, and not much more. Is that enough to make it a good game? Sure. I don't regret dropping $5 on it. Is it one of the best of the year? I don't think so.

There's just not enough substance.

I also grabbed it today. This is not a review but this is a block of text from my collection list (part 6) which I put a 3/5 next to. It's like a review in a few ways I guess but unlike a review it doesn't tell you what the game is. It does not review the game, only appraises it.

It's alright. It's got a very realized world with great mythological ecosystems and mythological environs. It has some emotional stuff which, if you understand it's based on the real life of the guy who made it, is hard to shrug off. But the part where it's a game is kind of bad. It's the gaming equivalent of going cross-eyed. There are parts that are pretty okay but it continues to be a annoyance right up to the part right before the very end. Spoilers.

I think my issue is the opposite of yours. I kind of wanted it to get to the point the whole time. Like come on, when is big brother dying? Hurry up. Oh well this is a cool location, okay. Oh hey okay we're getting somewhere, that's the spider lady. Alright it's happening. That was less cool than I expected but okay. Heh, this kind of reminds me of The Last of Us. "Can you walk? Then fucking walk!" Man, that Winter transition... now that was a shocking turn of events that was really effective. Mind you this was pretty good too though I think Brad upsold me on the ghost trigger thing. It was kind of goofy how the controller shook as I held it down. Like a ghost was inside it something. Still, it's pretty sad that this happened in real life to the real guy. That helps the game a little.

I think that game is okay. It's okay. I think the controls don't work as well as they need to. I understand that it was needed for the death to be meaningful mechanically, I think that's cool, I also think it doesn't make for a good game right up to the part before the very end.

I loved everything about it except actually playing it. I'm just not good at coordinating the two characters separately and made most of the experience frustrating.

I pretty much agree with you, though I didn't particularly think the art style or musical score were all that great, either. I'll just quote myself from a previous thread:

There was a point early on when I thought "hmm, I wonder how this would play if I split the controller with a buddy..."

Nevertheless, while there were some moments where I had lapses and got a little confused, I don't think I ended up too frustrated. My playthrough ended up being clean, surprisingly, and I don't consider myself well coordinated.

Also, for @bigsocrates: have you read Patrick's interview with the developer? I think there was some insight that captures its substance very well and kind of addresses some of your gripes.

As someone who's usually all about video games with combat and not so much about games that are puzzle-y, I actually loved Brothers. I ended up loving how deliberate they were with the controls, and I think Alex actually mentions this in his Top 10:

Others have commented on how every piece of this game feels vital, how there aren't needless extra puzzles or gameplay segments that don't service the main progression of the game, and I wholeheartedly agree. [...] Gorgeous to look at, gorgeous to listen to, and yes, it even plays gorgeously. I loved the control design even before I realized what those learned mechanics were eventually building toward, and once I got there, I was floored. For me, no other game stuck its landing so perfectly this year.

There was a moment in the middle that was really satisfying (the flight one) and another moment in the Epilogue that brought all of the above home for me. I ended up actually putting it in my Top 10, too. Not all good "tales" need to be character-driven (I think the substance of Brothers essentially lies in dealing with loss, and there's a lot of different moments where it's either hinted or outright in-your-face (rescuing the giant's wife, dreams and visions of the mom, the man that is trying to hang himself, etc.)), the way I see it, and I think Brothers is a great example of how deliberate controls and a poignant story can make for an amazing, cathartic experience. Different strokes for different folks, though, I'm not necessarily trying to dissuade anyone from disliking it, I just can't help but talk about how much I loved it.

I was pretty sad about how predictable the game was. Had I never read a book, seen a movie, or played a video game before then the plot twists would probably have been great...but sadly I am 28 years old and have experienced a lot of fiction in my day and nothing in Brothers worked for me: the Sim-ish language, the predictable plot, every twist shown a mile away, and the not fun controls. People can love Brothers and I think its an OK game but I also think its 2013's Most Overrated Game of the Year. As a side note, I don't think the art direction or music are that standout either so I couldn't even give it "bonus points" for those.

The death of Big Bro didn't hit home with me, but I thought everything else was pretty good. The flying segment and that awesome part where you have the dodge the Tree Men while hanging against a rock face? Truly adventurous.

@bigsocrates: I just played this game today and I thought it was great. I do agree that the gameplay can be a bit lacking at times. The puzzles are fairly simple and I almost felt a bit burnt out by Chapter 2 (I wanted to play it in one sitting) and I almost stopped at least for a bit, but it picked up in Chapter 3.

The main thing is, I wanted to address the point that there's no character development of the brothers. I sort of disagree with that. While there are no major character-story plot points and relationships to build on, the brothers each have their own quirks. Fairly early on you discover that the little brother is terrified of water and he can't swim. This leads to the older brother carrying him on his back, showing a protective and sympathetic nature. Also, I noticed throughout Chapter 1 and various other points, interacting with villagers and objects elicits different responses from each brother. For example, next to one of the houses there's a flower in a pot. The older brother will stop and smell the flower and appreciate the smell while the younger brother will swipe the pot off the table and smash it. Further down they can interact with a woman sweeping in front of her house. The older brother will offer to help sweep for a bit while the younger brother chooses to balance the broom in his palm. It's little moments like these that sort of eliminate that need for spoken word and give you insight into who these two boys are. It's not much, but I guess for me it was enough. Though I do think that the whole "older responsible brother and troublemaking younger brother but oh they love each other" is super cliche, but the story is meant to be minimal to begin with. It's about the brothers love for each other and that need for family and moments like when they embrace after nearly losing one another in the waterfalls and comforting each other after the baby griffin thing(?) carried them from the castle drove that home. That really told me all I needed to know about them and their relationship.

You praised the game for being a focused experience without much padding, but it sounds like you kind of wanted some of that padding. But that's where personal taste comes in. Some people would agree that the story is as minimal as it needs to be and that adding more would ruin that focused, poignant story. Others, like yourself, would argue that it's not enough and desire a more fleshed out experience.

I do disagree about the older brother's death, however. I don't think it needed to be "earned" over the course of the game. For me, his death did seem random and unfair, and I think that was the point. For a lot of people, the death of a loved one can be completely random, happening in almost an instant without warning. The older brother didn't need to die, he didn't deserve it and the narrative didn't hinge on it, but it happened and you're left to deal with it. I think that's what this game is about. It's about loss and losing a part of yourself. I don't know, maybe it just struck me in a different way

I was liking the game up until the brother's death because of the fact that it felt so out of place and unearned. I understand that the developers wanted to tell a story about loss and all, but I feel like they could have come up with something much better to carry out that plot point. Having the older brother basically turn into a sociopath and try to murder the spider-lady felt completely idiotic. Yes I understand that she was trying to kill them and in a real life situation any normal person would be distraught and wouldn't be themselves, but the developers went out of their way to show that she was totally powerless with only 2 legs left. At that point the brothers would have been able to escape easily, but the game gives you no choice but to revenge-kill her in a way that feels completely unnecessary other than to serve to kill the older brother.

I agree with you that his death didn't need to be earned, but I think they still pulled it off. I disagree that he didn't need to die. That moment when I realized I had to use his controls, even though he was no longer there, was a powerful moment for me. I wouldn't have had that without that loss.

I think Vinny said it best when he said that the story itself isn't particularly original but it's the execution that makes that game what it is.

I also thought the gameplay was pretty interesting as well

I do feel the simplicity of the story is something that people will project their own emotion they want to. Since there's much to really go on except for "I noticed each brother did different things when I went to different people." Like noticing the man sleeping, the youngest would yell at him and laugh at him, while the other older will tap on his shoulder ans ask for direction. It's not much of a characterization but that's the most I've seen. But even that can be skipped and even then it could be considered a waste of time unless an achievement is unlocked. It's an odd game and very difficult to recommend.

I enjoyed hearing Patrick in the past complain about a game like Heavy Rain being "emotionally manipulative" but then loves Brothers story...which is attempting to be incredibly emotionally manipulative.

@sergio: Yeah I should've phrased it better. I can see how one can argue that his death served no narrative purpose other than to have that moment with the controls, but I just meant the abruptness and method of his death is irrelevant. He absolutely needed to die though to have the moment that the epilogue had.

I don't think that this is really consistent with what the game does. Ironically I would have preferred something extremely random and unfair. A rock falling on him, he slips and falls during a jump, or whatever. Instead the game introduces this female character, has you follow her for awhile, has the older brother start to romance her while the younger brother tries to get between them, and ultimately has her be an evil spider creature who was luring them into her lair the whole time. This is a good fairytale type setup and is well executed in the game, but it's not 'random.' If older brother had listened to younger brother he would have lived. It's a very old morality story (having to do with the wickedness of women as temptresses as well, which is kind of a crappy theme). If you just wanted a random death then, well, heck they could have just encountered a spider creature instead of your girl companion turning out to be one. If the intent was to show the random cruelty of the world then the way it was done was poor.

@bigsocrates

I just got the game on sale on XBL and just finished Brothers too. I loved the art design and music, and I really liked the controls, unlike many. But I mostly wanted to play it to find out about this great payoff in the story. It just wasn't there for me. I agree the game's too short. More character development, instead of the super meager hints about these two boys would have helped a lot. Maybe real words for god's sake. The brother's death was cheap, or unearned like you put it. It just became a devise for the emotional burial and 'epilogue', and was not too hard at all to see coming after the way the game started. They could have developed the spider girl more, or had the big brother perish in an attempt to protect his brother from all the environmental danger in the game. I guess overall, the game was too short and simplistic and took away from the overall gravity of the story that was trying to be told, and for the emotional payoff to really work well. Generally not enough substance in the story telling mostly, but also in the gameplay systems, agreed.

As far as how this game has gotten so much praise and support from the GB dudes, I'm not sure what they are really thinking in terms of putting it up there with(and above)some other really big and deserving games. After my experience with Brothers I felt it was good in some ways and had some cool ideas but it's not a great game, and especially not great in terms of any game of the year discussion.