Maybe this is embarrassing to admit, but I had no idea who Josef Fares was before It Takes Two (2021) came out. A game I played, thought was fun despite some terrible writing, subsequently stopped thinking about, and then was hit by surprise as it won game of the year at The Game Awards. This is how Josef Fares first got on my radar. And if you’ve seen that man anywhere before, then you know that, for better or for worse, he sticks in your mind. Since I didn’t love It Takes Two (2021) the way others did, I can’t say I was exactly dying to play his previous games, but Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (2013) is a game I kept hearing about, and it sounded interesting enough that it went on the infinitely long backlog. So when the remake was announced, it was a no-brainer that this would be the best chance to finally play this beloved gem.
It’s worth noting that, as far as I’m aware, Josef Fares and Hazelight Studios have nothing to do with this, as the IP is owned by 505 Games, the publishers of both the original and the remake, and as such, the remake was developed by AvantGarden Games. This doesn’t matter too much, though, since Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake is largely just a visual upgrade of the now 10-year-old adventure game without any real changes to it beyond that.
And you have to give them that; it is a visual upgrade. At least in terms of pure graphic fidelity, but I also do think that unlike some other remakes, this one does manage to keep the spirit of the original alive in the transition. The most notable upgrade has to be the lighting, which is much more dramatic here, whether it is sunlight poking through foliage or a torch in otherwise complete darkness. The water, too, really stood out to me. Any time I came across a river or a small stream—which happens a lot, by the way—I was struck by it for a second. I only wish the color palette was a little less of just brown and a hint of green for so much of it. Along with the new visual flourishes, they also rerecorded the music, which is fantastic. The whimsical nature of the adventure comes through here perfectly, but it also delves into the deeper sadness and gritty brutality of it all when it needs to. With an epic scope to the music, it at times almost reminded me of music you might hear in a game from the Legend of Zelda franchise.
What supports the visuals is the, honestly, rather impressive camerawork. While you can control the camera yourself if you need to, the game, for the most part, does a pretty great job of framing the right things for you. But it’s not just that you see what you need to, but the framing is in many cases simply gorgeous. This isn’t just thanks to the camera but also to the design of the levels, which works perfectly to create some breathtaking blocking between backgrounds and foregrounds and overall different layers of depth. It’s something often taken for granted, but Brothers really stands out in that sense, making very efficient use of its camera and what it is able to show.
As the name would suggest, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake is about the story of two brothers who are embarking on a journey to find the Water of Life so they can save their father from a deadly illness. On that journey, they come across trolls, giants, crazy inventors, weird cults, and much more. It’s a joy to have a feeling that anything is possible and be excited about whatever new fun fantasy concept waits around the corner, and I was glad to see how dark they were willing to go given the fairy tale nature of it. Individually, they’re all sound as little adventures, but I’m not quite sure how they’re meant to come together as a whole in the bigger picture. It’s not like the brothers really learn any lessons from them that would help them on their way, or that there’s even really any thematic resonance that guides you through them all. Maybe that’s also why the emotional beats the narrative heavily relies on at certain points left me cold for the most part. Nevertheless, it’s impressive how much they fit into such a short timeframe; I’m just not sure what to make of it all.
On the gameplay side of things, it’s most obvious that this is from the guy who would later go on to make It Takes Two (2021). First of all, because everything is built around having two controllable characters, except where It Takes Two (2021) requires two players, Brothers is designed as a single-player experience—although you can play it in multiplayer, which seems nonsensical to be quite honest—with the two brothers being controlled respectively by one joycon each. This is a little irritating at first and requires some multitasking from you, but you get the hang of it quickly. And this isn’t just a gimmick; the game makes a lot out of it, and it feels like it sometimes even plays with the disorientation of the controls by forcing the character controlled by the left joystick on the right side of the screen and so on.
The other reason this feels like a spiritual successor to It Takes Two (2021) is because, like that game, Brothers comes around with a new little gameplay idea at every turn. In one moment, you’re climbing a mountain, then you’re flying a paper plane, before you have to swing the brothers around on a rope that connects them, and one of them gets trapped in a ball of silk that you have to control. For a game that’s already short, this creativity ensures that Brothers never drags or feels tedious to play, which can sometimes happen with these cinematic puzzle-focused adventure games.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake is a whimsical little package that manages to fit a lot inside. But while the individual elements are no doubt competent, the way they’re put together doesn’t entirely work for me, and with emotional beats that don’t quite hit Josef Fares, it leaves me hanging on the narrative side once again. But despite all that, it is undeniably fun from beginning to end and makes for an exciting rollercoaster ride, as long as you don’t take a step back and think about it too much.
Nairon reviewed Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake on PC with a review code.
