I picked Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons up during the Steam summer sale, after remembering hearing good things about it when it came out last year. The very day after I bought it, I lost internet for almost a week. This was my opportunity to play through some offline games, and this was top of the list.
The game opens with the younger brother remembering witnessing the drowning death of his mother, leaving him bereft and ever after fearing water. The shouts of his older brother bring him back to the present — their father is ill, and to save him, they must journey to the Tree of Life and bring back some of its health-returning sap.
Developers Starbreeze Studios calls Brothers a “single player co-op game” — you control both brothers independently at the same time. They must often work together to solve puzzles, using the older brother’s strength and compassion together with the younger brother’s speed, agility and small stature.
The world through which the brothers travel is one torn apart by war and ruin. Trolls and giants battle, normal people devolve to savagery, monsters stalk the frozen lands. Love and compassion are the only weapons the boys have.
The game is short, the puzzles fairly easy (only one gave me any trouble), the landscapes breathtaking, and the emotion is real. If the ending doesn’t leave you in tears, you have no soul.
Highly recommended.
