So you lucky people, here's your chance to experience this much-loved story with a gorgeous visual overhaul. The original Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons was a good-looking game, but this remake has really pushed the boat out and redesigned every scene, character and backdrop, while maintaining the core story and gameplay that made Brothers such a critically-acclaimed hit.
If you missed Starbreeze's Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons when it launched in 2013, then I urge you to seek it out (and it's now on Game Pass), because while the games play in an identical way this visual update makes them different enough to justify playing the game through twice‐in fact, it's a shame they didn't give you the option of flicking between new and legacy graphics in the same way as the Halo: Combat Evolved remaster did, but maybe the gameplay isn't absolutely identical. As a bonus, on completion you can watch a developer walkthrough of the original game with commentary.
After a tragic intro, the Brothers’ sad tale gets even sadder. Their father is taken deathly ill, and after taking him to the nearby doctor (learning the controls along the way) they set off to find the only thing that can save him; an elixir which can be found inside a magic tree, far, far away.
The gameplay mechanic is simple, yet it can get complicated, because it's a single-player “co-op” game! You control big brother with the left stick and little brother with the right. It's a tidy, instinctive control method that still manages to mess with your head on occasion. The shoulder buttons rotate the camera in certain situations and the left and right triggers make the brothers interact with objects–like hanging on, shimmying along a ledge, grabbing each other etc. A fun addition to the remake is a local co-op, allowing a second player to control one of the brothers. If you don't own a second controller then you could even try sharing one!
The game's levels and puzzles vary and are never less than enchanting and clever. It looks like a storybook come to life, and its locations are full of life, with many locals to interact with (the Brothers speak their own strange language), massive Trolls, sheep, goats, birds, turtles and orcas, oh–and one particularly angry dog…
The original music by Gustav Grefberg is played by the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra. It is simply magical, cinematic in quality, and anyone who doesn't think music adds much to a game will have their opinion corrected by playing the Brothers Remake.
Brothers is almost perfect, but has a few small flaws that I think could have been sorted at the beta stage. For a start, the game has some very dark sections where it's difficult to see what's going on, and I recommend you turn up the gamma in the options at the start of the game-the option is there for a reason. Secondly, the game's camera gives you some limited control over its position but it doesn't automatically swivel back to give you the best view of the action–a small thing but when you're already controlling two characters you don't really need to be worrying about the camera as well. Without going into spoiler territory I'd also have liked a different ending, maybe an alternative ending depending on in-game events determined by you–whatever, I just don't like the ending.
I think it's worth stating that Joseph Fares' story is full of tragedy, loss, bravery, redemption, more than a little gore, a lot of peril and more loss. Although the game may look like an enchanting fairytale, it plays as a semi-tough platform-puzzle adventure with survival horror elements, with a story that is very much in the style of The Brothers Grimm! Amazingly it still manages to be both fun and funny!
Regardless of a few gripes I'd rate this as "Highly Recommended" if it were the standard full RRP, but at only £15.99 (£12.79 with Game Pass) Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake is an unmissable journey that you will never forget.
Many, many thanks to Avantgarden Games, Diva and PressEngine for the review code.