Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Developed by Starbreeze Studios, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a poignant adventure that combines dramatic and fantastical elements to tell a captivating story. With a simple control scheme that’s brilliant in the way it reflects the relationship between the main characters, A Tale of Two Sons fails only at one precise moment: the twist that leads to the climax, besides being predictable, feels disjointed from the story’s core themes.

Its first minutes are marked by successive tragedies. After a boat accident, a boy tries to bring a woman back on board, but his weak muscles are unable to hold her for long. Years later, he finds himself on the edge of a cliff next to a tree, contemplating his mother’s grave, when his older brother comes begging for help: their father is gravely ill and needs to be taken to the village elder. The wise man, however, explains to the boys that he cannot begin the treatment because the only cure lies in a faraway magic tree. The brothers, then, leave immediately in search of it.

A Tale of Two Sons’ control scheme is unique, simulating the dynamic between its main characters. Each brother is controlled by an analog stick – the oldest by the left and the youngest by the right – while the left and right triggers serve as their respective action buttons. This arrangement results in a game that is at the same time single-player and co-op, as our left hand is working together with our right one to accomplish the main goals, both controlling different characters simultaneously. Our first task, for example, is to move their father around in a wheelbarrow with the brothers holding each end of the object, meaning we need to move them in tune. Then, after arriving at an elevator whose activation lever is located on an elevated platform, we must position the older brother near the edge of said platform to give the other a boost to reach it.

The game’s challenges are all designed around cooperation between the brothers and even the eventual boss battles follow suit: a troll, for example, requires us to use the youngest as bait, running from side to side attracting the monster, while the older one activates a trap at the right time – actions that, again, we perform simultaneously. The logic of these puzzles follows each brother’s physical traits, too: the youngest, being thin, can pass through bars, for example, while the oldest can jump higher and push heavy objects.

Their personality, meanwhile, is built by how they interact with the environment, as pressing the action button makes each of them react to the same situation differently: the older brother, marked the color blue, is always centered on the main goal, showing his map to the people he comes across, asking for directions to the tree. He’s also attentive, helping strangers whenever he can, sometimes sweeping the floor for a girl or stopping to take care of the plants for a gardener. The youngest, however, is defined by a warm orange, being unpredictable, and feisty. The kid only wants to have fun: he tries to balance the girl’s broom in the palm of his hand and even slaps the gardener in the ass. But there’s more to him than meets the eye: it’s he and not his older brother the one who decides to open the cage of a bird to free it, and is more skillful at playing the harp, leading a musician to clap his hands enthusiastically. In other words, both can bring happiness to those around them, but each one in their own way.

But the most fascinating part of this control scheme is how it mirrors the relationship between the brothers, serving as its physical manifestation by suggesting that they are different – each with their own analog stick and action button – but invariably united – by the same controller. So, when we lose control of one of the brothers in a certain scene, the game physically imparts to us a sense of loss, as a part of our controller is now useless, and one of our hands is not doing anything anymore. Similarly, there’s a moment when the character arc of one of the brothers reaches its climax when we get to use a specific, and unexpected part of the controller – one already tinged with meaning and significance. When Charles, the snob, reached this moment in the game, he cried tears of joy, realizing videogames have matured as an artform, being able to leverage their own bespoke elements to better tell a captivating story, tying gameplay with narrative in ways never seen before.

Benefiting from is short duration, A Tale of Two Sons has impeccable pacing: it mixes the whimsical moments when we have to interact with NPCs with the more engaging platforming sequences – the brothers have parkour skills almost as advanced as Lara Croft’s – and exciting set pieces, such as a sudden descent through dangerous rapids, which help keep the more adrenaline-dependent players invested.

It’s also fascinating to notice how the fantastical elements in the game become increasingly more prominent as we advance in the story – the initial village contains no fantastic aspects, while the climax takes place in a completely magical environment – marking how the story is gaining an allegorical nature: the violence present in the adult world is translated into the actions of giants, for example. Death, meanwhile, is the theme that binds all events, being present at the beginning, middle, and end of the brothers’ entire journey: the scene in the rapids, for example, takes place soon after they crossed a cemetery, and in the waters there are mourning candles accompanying them throughout their descent, creating a beautiful visual metaphor.

So, it’s a pity that the events that lead to the game’s climax are the most problematic part of its narrative. By placing a woman as the main element of conflict between the two brothers, the game – besides walking through questionable territory, monsterfying female seduction – makes the last turning point of the story thematically displaced from the rest of the game: the scene is not about loss and mourning anymore, but… simple jealousy. It’s artificial and foolish, almost ruining its heart-wrenching ending.

But, despite this problematic moment, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons remains a poignant adventure that easily stands out for the way it makes gameplay and narrative just like the brothers: inseparable from one another.

July 28, 2025.

Review originally published in Portuguese on June 08, 2016.