Quick Look: Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons [Switch]

Ah, Brothers, to this day it's the one and only video game that came close to making me cry, and it's done that in a way that only a video game could. So even though I don't think it's particularly fun game to play, I can't think of a better game to sell an argument for video games as a storytelling medium.

Figured Brad would have done this one

Will there be ten Quick Looks better than Brothers this week?

Man, I loved this game. One of the best examples of a game using its mechanics to convey emotions, rather than relying on dialogue and exposition in order to get feelings across. The use of gibberish didn't bug me because it's supposed to be a world where myth and folklore are real, so it's pretty divorced from anything we might be able to understand anyway.

This game looks graphically a bit barren, though. I'd be curious to know if this is what it looked like originally or if this is a consequence of being ported to Switch.

name me 10 switch ports better than brothers, you can't

"The little brother can't swim, by the way." [ eyes emoji ]

I would highly recommend anyone who's thinking about playing this in co-op to actually play it through on your own first. The way this game tells a story and conveys some emotions through specific control mechanics, especially towards the end, is better received if you have to control both characters.

I also highly recommend reading the interview Patrick did with Josef Fares, the lead director of Brothers. Be warned though since it contains both spoilers of the game, but also some very jarring personal experiences from Josef's own life which he used as inspiration for some of the most impactful parts of the game. https://www.giantbomb.com/articles/a-tale-of-one-game/1100-4736/

@alex Brothers: A tale of Two Sons was indeed the first game Josef Fares worked on. A Way Out was the second game he worked on, but first game from his own game company.

Before I watch this let me make 2 predictions: the Switch version is overpriced and/or looks & runs worse. Like every port they have been doing quick looks on there are so many other games out there why wast you time with these (I am not saying these games are bad) give us some Layers of Fear 2 and Nioh 2 beta gameplay.

Totally overrated, even more so going back to it. Love the sick burn at the end.

This game definitely gave me the feels when I played it back in 2013.

Totally incorrect statement, and will be disregarded hence forth. Have a nice day.

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wishes it was not reliant on the brothers.. it is the idea of the game to be reliant on two brothers

Brothers' season is back, baby!

I´m with Abby on the voices, I remember them really bothering me when I played it. Especially in the hangliding section.

Despite having you control 2 characters, the game is very forgiving about execution and almost never requires you to move both characters in specific ways at once or under a strict time limit. I noticed that when my mom played it. She has enough trouble controlling a single character in a game but she was still able to get through basically the whole game on her own.

Yeah.

Never cared for it but I sure thought it looked better than this?

Maybe it is just rose-tinted glasses, but this does look, graphically, a lot worse than I remember on the PC.

@nickr7: Within context, it's pretty clear that's not what she meant. The puzzles are puzzles in name only, because the premise of their challenge is predicated solely on your ability to control both brothers at the same time. She wishes the puzzles were demanding in other, possibly more interesting ways.

Everyone on the Beastcast is telling Abby to play the whole thing, but I really don't think she's going to like the ending.

Far too soon for a remaster IMO. Brothers was a good story driven adventure game with a good twist in the end. But now its dated. Only the few who still haven't played it might get the same impact many did back in 2013.

The lighting effect from that Torch is super obnoxious, would have been nice to see it look a bit better and not just a minimum effort port.

@fuzzylogic: I agree. She mentioned not understanding what the benches were for and not finding the characters or journey particularly interesting, but that's kind of all there is to the game. The benches, especially, are accompanied with fun visual pieces and are meant to act as a moment to enjoy the peace and form a bond with them. If you're not feeling some kind of connection with the brothers' struggles and actively looking forward to seeing the outcome of their journey, there's really no reason to see it through. The final moments only work with an investment in the narrative.

@the_nubster: I more meant that I felt the ending wasn't actually that good, and wasn't good in the particular ways Abby doesn't like. I mean the part where the older brother gets killed because he needs to make out with a girl rather than actually listen to the needs of his sibling seemed totally forced and sexist. It's just such an awful trope. See more examples here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheVamp

So from this quick look brothers is a game that looks like it was made on a game boy advanced and is about 2 characters who sometimes fall in water and sometimes come out of the water and there's a huge woman and Alex and Abby think sentient plants are more exciting to talk about than this game

@fuzzylogic: Oh, definitely, I look on that stuff more unfavourably as time passes. Especially intersecting with the weird need for video games to make all villainous female mythological characters into weird naked horny monsters, it doesn't hold up. At the time it was just an aspect of the Nordic folklore and mythology (that sort of siren-esque monster isn't uncommon), and the real meat of it was the genuinely touching familial connection that controlling both brothers brought to the player, especially with the realization of what you needed to do to get through the final few puzzles. The circumstances of the ending, along with Abby's general tepid response to the game, probably both add up to a future where she plays through it and actively dislikes the overall experience.

Looking at some let's plays, it seems clear that they used the mobile port as a base. The original looks gorgeous by comparison, and I didn't even like the game.

Grabbed a couple screenshots and threw them into a quick video. Switch is first: https://youtu.be/9K5tHQEV63Q

This game had a moment that not only gave me the "feels", I actually burst into tears. I don't think any media, video game or otherwise has done that to me. I don't know if it's because I have two sons or what, but this game hit me harder than any before or since.

Wait, Alex had a snake and a venus fly trap as a kid? Young Alex sounds dope.

What do you mean by "It runs absolutely fine"? The framerate looks awful to me.

@cmaciej: There's a slight, occasional hitch in the video, but the framerate is a consistent 60. Might be something on your end.

I felt this game was "fine," too, even when it came out. I enjoyed my time with it, but had it been longer, I would not have stuck with it. The gameplay was incredibly simplistic, and the central gimmick really just isn't that interesting or novel to me. I felt it practically played itself. Never once was challenged. And as for the emotional ending that others described, I didn't really feel much of anything. It felt abrupt and unearned, put in there only to wring pathos from the player at the very end. I finished the game and hardly ever thought of it again. I certainly wouldn't want to *play* it again.

The framerate looks terrible and the game's graphics also haven't aged well. Looks like a meddling port at best.

Also I just think this game was okay - nothing less, nothing more.

I never got the shock Brad and others had at the story of this. It's an emotional story called BROTHERS. There's only one way that ends.

Switch ports ladies and gentlemen

One of my favorite endings of all time. And the fact that the punch of it is through mechanics and not dialogue makes it even more special.

Alex declares that this naturally runs fine on the switch because the original wasn't too demanding neither, but then you see that this game looks & runs significantly worse here than on PC. Especially that torch effect is a hideous orange blob on the switch version.

I always thought the jibberish vocals were super important for this game given that they actually do convey quite some emotions with the vocals & it felt natural to the setting. The alternatives would be :

Option 1. Use english, and get away from the mythological / fairytale vibe of this game & weaken the story by having to include text & words instead of telling a story with solely sounds & visuals.

Option 2: Have mute characters and miss out on that emotional touch you get from these brothers laughing with eachother, crying & screaming in different ways.

I think it's pretty clear that they made the right call here. Words wouldn't have made this game better & mute characters would've weakened the emotional impact.

Looks like a lazy or bad port. The Switch isn't *that* underpowered

I love Brothers. One of only two games that have brought me to tears (To The Moon is the other) and it totally ruined my Christmas that year because I wasn't expecting to ugly cry like that on Xmas eve.

Shame that it doesn't run or look better on the switch.

I liked Brothers, Brothers was fine, and I'll never know how I'd have responded to it had I not known the ending ahead of time. I admire its ability to tell a story through mechanics, but I'm also a guy that would like to appreciate games that do that rather than someone who actually does think about games that way.

I also didn't find the emotional beats particularly emotional due to the graphical style and direction, I always felt like a sort of Godlike presence in the game due to the camera angles so the brothers came off a bit distant to me. I'm the sort of person that will shed a single tear watching John Wick 3 in theaters too so it's not some big ask for a movie or game to draw emotion out of me, Brothers just didn't do it.

All that said, it's a shame this is the way Abby's going to experience this game if she does play it through since the visual design, apart from the style, is frequently quite impressive and makes all the benches worth a sit (I also think she was misled about there being no achievement for the benches - you don't need to stop at every single one ala Ico, but you do need to sit at a single bench for over a minute or something, right?)

Bit of a rant: I think most games, where you hear alot about it then finally play it outside of the time period it was released and the less hyped background around the game at release, get mislabeled as bad or not just ok cause the person playing them is 1. forcing themselves to play it instead of discovering this neat thing no one else is talking about 2. Looking from minute 1 for the "IMPRESSIVE" part 3. Taking their own opinions on what a good game is before playing a game that likely (given the often uniqueness of games that are culturally remembered and relevant) not like games they played before. 4. Heard the big twist or gameplay mechanic already. Example: Gone Home, Brothers tale of two sons, shemnue, Half life, bioshock infinite, frog fractions, MGS (psycho mantis part), etc. These games were all well received yet playing them out of the context of when they were released and knowing the twist or hooking point leaves you unimpressed since today's era is use to action packed cooler looking games. Trust me in 15 years fortnite and PUBG will seem slow or just weird enough that most children will think its a miracle those games got popular.

Same goes with most media. Knowing the ending of Fight club, hearing how great citizen kane is then watching it 30 something years later, even knowing the end of avengers infinity war. Everything has its time and it up to you as a consumer to try place yourself in that head mind if you want to enjoy older media. Otherwise play newer stuff all the time but know that that newer stuff is based off old stuff people scuff at.

Abby doesn’t like gibberish, but she likes Björk...

@topcyclist: I take what i said back. I noticed its up to the individual person to decide what has meaning and what is BAD. I played portal years ago after the fever rush and though it was great. That said. everyone saying that it would change everything would make me excited and ready for something amazing. The game is amazing *playing it now. But people also hate it. My family thinks all games are bad besides tetris, solitaire, and bejeweled. Point. its ok to think brothers is bad. Overall every game is BAD. someone somewhere thinks everything is BAD. I appreciate you point and think your right.

Damn this has not aged well. I remember the animation being so much smoother.

here to echo oof this game's visuals seem to have aged a little less well than memory serves. Also did Abby say "forge the river"? Is that a phrase? Ford?? I cannot get over this.