Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

[melmer]

Starbreeze the developers behind The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay and The Darkness have created this puzzle adventure game?

 

I question mark as i don't really know much about it other than a trailer i saw 6 months ago. It looked really interesting, and i remember wondering at the time if it would be just a cute little forgettable puzzle game OR SOMETHING MORE?!?!??!

 

Well the Polygon review suggests it is apparently something more...

http://www.polygon.com/game/brothers-a-tale-of-two-sons/4453

 

Brothers tests the limits of what games are capable of communicating and, in doing so, strengthens the medium as a whole, if only a little. The game's final moments moved me to tears in the act of pressing a button. Not because it triggered some heart-wrenching dialogue or sorrowful music, but by the implications of the mechanic itself. I'm not sure there's a better compliment I can pay or a better indicator of how important of a game Brothers is.

 

No release date booooo

 

EDIT: Lies, it's released today \o/

 

Xbox Live Arcade: 1200 Microsoft Points, released today (7th August 2013)

 

Thanks for buying Brothers!

Your game will appear in My Games on your Xbox 360 console when the download is complete.

 

In the bank!

 

Get all your info at the Neogaf OT

 

Release Date: August 7th (XBLA)
August 28th (PC)
September 3rd (US PSN)
September 4th (EU PSN)
Formats: PC (win only), PSN and XBLA.
Price: 15$/1200msp

 

Follow on the facebooks: https://www.facebook.com/BrothersTheGameOfficial

[melmer]

Trailer describing the game mechanics

 

[Thrik]

This looks really awesome. I thought it was some random indie thing at first.

I love the concept of controlling two characters at once using the same pad, I can't think of any game that's successfully done that before. Graphically it looks gorgeous, too. All they need are some deep and emotional moments that draw out feels like Journey and this will be a serious winner.

Too preoccupied with Skyrim right now but I'll definitely pick this up.

[Daniel]

I'm going to wait a little longer for the PC version, but I'm sold on this.

 

"So what is Brothers game you say?"

[colinp]

Yeah, I'm intrigued and will wait for the PC release, too.

[melmer]

So far so

If you do intend to play this someday I'd recommend avoiding reading/watching anything about it as the highlight for me so far has been the environments and the journey, which would have made less of an impact if I had seen a load of screenshots

[colinp]

So far so

If you do intend to play this someday I'd recommend avoiding reading/watching anything about it as the highlight for me so far has been the environments and the journey, which would have made less of an impact if I had seen a load of screenshots

Figured that would be the case. Guess ill skip the GB quick look then. Glad to hear you're enjoying it!

[Twig]

I remember this from six months ago, too! I'll buy it when it comes to Steam, because I am interested in it.

[melmer]

So i competed it shortly after my last post, you can get through it in about 3 hours maybe a bit more.

 

I would definitely avoid a quick look as you'll probably see a third of the game.

 

It didn't feel particularly short, it's kinda linear and you're constantly on the move so you do get through a lot of levels/environments and the puzzles although clever aren't particularly taxing.

 

One thing i loved about it is that there are no on screen prompts \o/ you learn the game by playing the game and trying thing like the good old days

 

It's like a mix between Limbo and Ico with Uncharted platforming. I'd say its actually quite a similar experience to limbo so if you enjoyed that game you'll find a lot to like here

[twmac]

This just shot to the top of my list of things to play this weekend. Cheers Mington!

[youmeyou]

Yeah I get suuuper strong Limbo vibes from Brothers. Which surprised me considering how cheerful and charming the game starts out. This is a really fascinating game. Mostly thanks to its inventive control scheme. The attention to mechanics and how they intertwine with the narrative clearly shows a level of though often missing from games. I love that it's 3 hours long and packed to the brim with unique and interesting events. The Polygon review brings up a good point about how its short length allows the devs to never have to rely on a gameplay mechanic to the extent that it becomes rote. (think Last of Us ladders).

[quantum_leopold]

Played the first half hour or so last night, and I'm definitely liking it so far.  The comparison to Limbo is definitely apt.  Very atmospheric and moody.  My only (admittedly kind of stupid) complaint: it bugs me when the characters speak in their kind of Simlish-like gibberish speak.  The gibberish is close enough to actual speech that I find myself straining to hear and interpret what they're saying.  And even as I'm writing this complaint, I still think there's like a 20% chance someone will reply and say "uh, actually, they're speaking English, something is probably wrong with your speakers."  Drives me a little nuts.  But it's a pretty minor objection, the start of the game has been a very nice experience.

[youmeyou]

Great interview that underlines a lot of the reasons why this game stands out.

 

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/197999/A_film_director_gets_video_games_right_in_Starbreezes_Brothers.php

 

It totally flies in the face of the standard dictum that film directors suck at making games and vice versa. In this case, the director's outside perspective actually helped the game. Whereas the conventional way to do it is to pad out content in the service of length, and have tutorials everywhere, Fares explicitly made sure the game does neither of these things.

 

"Variety in the game mechanics was extremely important," he tells me. One thing I get tired with in games is when they reuse the same mechanic all the time. The idea with Brothers was to change it all the time."

"Of course, that takes a lot of content to work, with code and animation and everything, but for me it was very important to keep the experience varied, instead of just reusing stuff. I know some people said the game is a bit short, but you know, we could have easily made a game that's 10 hours long, and reused everything. But for me, it's a fairy tale experience, and you should experience something once only, and then not again."

[Apelsin]

The director of Brothers is the brain behind this wonderful piece of Swedish cinema history:

 

[toblix]

Yeah, this is pretty good. It's short and sweet, it has a constant flow of new and varied content, it does some really interesting stuff with story and mechanics and it looks just amazing, especially with the environments (The frozen lake is among the most beautiful environments I've ever seen in a game.) You're moving across spaces that feel truly vast, as you traverse them in a crisscross manner, letting you see both where you're heading and where you've been. I remember the Half-Life games and Alan Wake doing this too, and I love how it makes locations feel more like real places, and not A-to-B traversals.

 

Brothers Protip: It might not grip you straight away – give it some time. It gets better and better.

[Erkki]

Wow, looks sweet and I hadn't heard about this at all. And it's coming to PC in a few days? Awesome.

[Erkki]

I guess the PC version was also delayed till Sept 3rd? Can't see it on Steam and the game's website's buy button only directs me to the Xbox marketplace

[Marek]

If you decide to play the game on the PC I highly recommend playing it with a controller. Some of the elements of the game (trying not to spoil) are really designed around the controller and will not work that well with a keyboard. 

[melmer]

Coming out on PSN and Steam today around 6pm CET

 

https://www.facebook.com/StarbreezeStudios/posts/10152746048458538

[Cbirdsong]

If you decide to play the game on the PC I highly recommend playing it with a controller. Some of the elements of the game are really designed around the controller and will not work that well with a keyboard. 

 

I was wondering how certain portions of this game would function at all without a controller, and as it turns out, the PC version requires a controller.

[Latrine]

Actually the store page is wrong, there is keyboard support in the PC version. It's a little tricky but workable.

 

It was a nice little game, and yes very similar to Limbo in its naturalistic puzzle design and macabre themes but of course more colorful and in 3D. While I liked both these games they don't really resonate with me that much, maybe they're a little simplistic. Also the ending here didn't really work for me as well as it did for others.

[Flynn]

The reason this game resonated for me was specifically the controls.  Half way through I thought they were neat but the game really ties it together at the end.

 

End Game Spoilers:

The first time the little brother acts alone it immediately feels wrong, the sense of something missing is so strong.

 

Later the stick is very unresponsive as he cries burying the older brother.  It takes ages.  

 

Finally at the end you have no choice but to swim which the little brother was never able to do alone.  I kept pushing into the water at different places trying to figure out what I needed to do.  By that point I was used to not using the left hand.  When it dawned on me to try pretending the older brother was still there, to do the actions as if he was still alive... I got a legit chill down my spine.  That was the moment of the game. I wish I could articulate how it worked -- it was like magic spell.  I was as surprised as anyone to have this little game hit like a load of bricks.  Damn.  

[Erkki]

I haven't finished yet, but I would compare the gameplay to Ico. It's like Ico where you control both characters, without fighting the shadows, and less boring.

[Twig]

WHOA ICO WASN'T BORING (YOU'RE CONFUSING IT WITH SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS (BLATANT TROLLING FOUND IN THIS POST))

 

I really wish I could play this game. Been looking forward to it since this thread was created. AHHH the downside of... not having a job! Heee.

[Erkki]

Ico on the whole isn't boring, my tongue was half-embedded in cheek when I said that. But Ico had a lot of repetition, especially beating the shadows. This game is almost completely repetition free -- it's really an achievement. Is it just me or are we finally starting to see a lot more mainstream game developers discovering that games without combat are a possibility?

 

Maybe people are starting to realize that they were wrong all these years when they artificially lengthened games.