Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons, in more ways than one.

Posted by admin on June 2nd, 2014

Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons is a PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 game that caused some stir when it was released towards the end of last year. I watched a few reviews which were very carefully written/filmed so as not to ruin the story which is key to the game. I liked the look of it and bought it straight away on Steam. Then like many Steam purchases it got left, a lonely desktop icon and nothing more.

At the weekend I was playing a different game on my PC using my Xbox Controller and that made me think about Brothers as it requires a controller, strange for a PC game. So I started it up and played through the game in a couple of sittings. It’s short but it’s not a full priced game and the game is a story, a very good story.

Please note I am not going to spoil the game for you so you can read on safely if you haven’t yet played it.

You play as both titular Brothers, one stick for each brother and you use the triggers to perform actions. It’s a very interesting control mechanic and takes a little getting used to but the game introduces you gently with some initial tasks. You then get into the story proper and I am not going to lie it’s a heart wrenching tale.

When I finished I posted my recommendation for the game on a Facebook group, one of the members who I know a little got back to me and asked if it was appropriate for his two sons as his eldest had asked about it. Initially I said yes and that the game didn’t have any bad language. Bear in mind here I have no kids of my own and so I unfortunately only think about what is suitable for kids in a very general way. As soon as I posted I realised I had made a mistake and so I contacted the guy directly and we talked about the game and it’s themes.

The game has themes about death, loss and loneliness amongst many others, there are some bright moments too where you help others but generally the story is, as I mentioned, heart wrenching. It wasn’t till after I’d spoken to my friend about the suitability of the game for his two sons (Brothers) that I realised how adult the game really is. It was interesting for me on two levels. Firstly it took me by surprise that a game could be unsuitable for children when it contains no blood and gore, my initial reaction was that the game would be fine for young people because of that fact. Secondly it was, in retrospect, great to have enjoyed a game as an adult that didn’t contain gratuitous violence. Don’t get me wrong here I enjoy a good adult game as much as the next man and that of course is where my expectations are when it comes to gaming. I expect blood, language, violence etc., sometimes I’m not that impressed and don’t see the point of it but it’s never so bad that I’ll stop playing.

Maybe video games are starting to grow up, I really hope so as I thoroughly enjoyed Brothers and hope that games like this continue to appear.

If you haven’t played it you can get “Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons” here:

PC: http://store.steampowered.com/app/225080/
Xbox 360: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Product/Brothers/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802584112a5
PS3: http://uk.playstation.com/psn/games/detail/item598039/Brothers-A-Tale-of-Two-Sons/