Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Released: September 3, 2013
Game Length: 4 Hours
Grade: C
Expectations: This game was another one that was thrown into one of those giant humble bundle packages that I never really looked into. Yet time and time again I see it recommended. The weird part is I see two characters but the game clearly defines it as a single-player game. Do you switch between characters and what is the ultimate goal of the story? I guess there is only one way to find out.
Reality: My opinion of the game constantly shifted as I played through the story. The way you control both brothers with two control schemes, I must say, is a very unique way of playing a game. If you are using a controller, that means that you use the left analog stick and trigger for one while moving the right analog stick and trigger for the other. You can potentially play this as a co-operative game with both at the keyboard or a mixture of both controller and keyboard. Your goal is to find some ancient tree across the land to get some miracle water for your dying father. The young one is afraid of water ever since their mother drowned which makes the older one responsible for making sure things move smoothly. Amusingly, I scrambled to find some language settings or subtitles when they started talking. In reality, not understanding what they say was a creative choice.
Adventure: There is a specific part of the game when you explore an old mine where I would have thought the game was awesome. The interactions between the boys were very charming, up until the mischievous one pulls a prank on someone. I must say that the first half of the game was really neat when meeting up with all the trolls. Then certain things in the second half soured my experience. You navigate through a bloody field of dead giants and masquerade as some sort of god to distract a bunch of blood-worshiping tribesmen to save a girl. And that's when they hit you with a bunch of curve balls that eventually leads you to a sad ending. Setting up benches and telescopes to view the beautiful world was a nice decision since they properly built-up interesting locations to explore. But because I hate sad endings, I cannot recommend this game to anyone.
11-17-2020