The premise isn't something extraordinary and feels pretty down to earth. It tells the story of two brothers whose father is sick. They must travel through the lands in search of the item that will heal their father. The story is told through cutscenes in which the characters speak gibberish, you understand what is happening through their body language. It is a sad premise as the brothers' mother had already passed away at the start of the game and the first action you do is carry the sick father to help. The unique selling point of this game is the controls, you control the older brother with the left stick and the little brother with the right. You interact with the environment with the trigger buttons, once again, left for the elder and right for the younger. You will often get confused when you're trying to move both brothers at once, wondering why one is moving this way when it turns out the stick that is controlling their movement is not the one you were thinking. The controls will take a short while to get used to.
The game play involves traversing through areas (mostly linear) with some light puzzle solving. It was initially boring at first and makes you wonder if that was the game, just walking around. However, it slowly becomes more interesting, especially as the fantasy elements come into play such as trolls. It grows on you to the point where you keep thinking "okay, just to the next checkpoint", again and again. It helps that the puzzles constantly change keeping things fresh. Whatever comes up next is different to what came before, the solutions are intuitive but that also means the game is fairly easy. There were a few sections where it is not immediately clear on what to do but you'll figure it out in no time. A slight flaw with the game is that it often stutters for a second when you reach a checkpoint and the game saves. It's really noticeable, even though it doesn't impact the experience too much. The minimalist approach to the control scheme, music and cutscenes reminds me of Ico, especially in the puzzle solving and exploration. There are even benches for you to sit on and admire the view.
There is limited music, or at least, you don't notice it all the time. There are some sections where the music stands out such as when you are flying. The design direction is great, it makes the game feel like a fairy tale. While the environments looks great, when the game zooms into the character models, they look blocky and fuzzy and not in a good way. The models feel low res which stick out when the rest of the game looks so pretty. Once the camera zooms back out for gameplay, it's all good again. The story will take a bold turn near the ending, it tries to be sad but doesn't quite succeed. It feels like such a shame and you don't want to believe it. Interestingly, the game also has some bloody scenes, such as hanged corpses and rivers of blood. It adds to the surreal feel of the game and there are some sweet moments to balance it out such as reuniting a pair of lovers. The trophy set is easy. There are no trophies for completing the game, rather, they are all optional side activities that are quick and easy to perform. The game is short; you will finish it in about two to three hours, just the right length. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a decent, relaxing and soothing game that doesn't make you regret playing it.
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