You’d expect Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons to follow closely in those footsteps, as the digital release’s development is being headed by acclaimed Swedish writer/director Josef Fares, but instead it seems his debut release has much more in common with Journey or Papa & Yo. The moviemaker is stepping away from established game storytelling tropes like dialogue and cut-scenes, with a world which is ripe for exploration, experimentation and interaction.
”Games have their own way of storytelling,” he told us. “Interactivity is the most important aspect of games, for me honestly. I think this interactive art is going to be bigger than films, music, everything!”
Personal investment will be key to this process and that’s something Brothers has in spades with the two young vulnerable protagonists looking for a cure to their father’s soon-to-be fatal illness. A cheery subject, then.
The premise sounds dark, but visually and tonally, Brothers is actually rather light and familyfriendly, with jibberish-speaking characters and an identifiably Nordic setting actually channelling a lot of Fable’s cute fantasy charm.
Where Brothers is really set apart from its peers though, is its control scheme. Players control both brothers at the same time, with the older sibling controlled via the left thumbstick, while the younger, cheekier relation is guided by the right. Initially this control scheme seems daunting, especially as the camera’s dynamically controlled by a AI director. Soon though, this scheme becomes second nature and oddly feels similar to a first-person shooter with your mind adapting to manage both brothers in tandem.
Interacting with the environment is delegated to the trigger buttons – left for the older brother and right for the younger. This simplicity is echoed by the game’s puzzle design and environment interaction, with our 20- minute demo seeing the brothers tour around a local village, and meet a crying troll who helped them get closer to a magical cave which may or may not hold their father’s cure.
On the way there were ample opportunities to interact with villagers, including a girl playing netball, a elderly lady swaying back and forth in her rocking chair and a man practicing his harp skills. Interactions in this environment are limited to two responses, with the older brother doing the more responsible thing like helping a villager sweep their front porch, whereas the younger brother would play the broom like a guitar.
It’s these moments that faithfully communicate each character’s personality, and there’s plenty of scope for players to think outside of the box – for instance, chucking the girl’s ball down a well or everybody playing catch together. These moments feel organic and encourage experimentation in a really rewarding way.
Essentially a puzzle game in an attractive adventure game mould, Brothers boasts a visual style and an atmosphere which is absolutely its own. This is something Josef told us he wants to keep up throughout the entire campaign, with the slender three-four hour running time punctuated with environments and gameplay challenges that’ll only be seen once. “Game designers re-use too much stuff,” he told us.
Yosef and Starbreeze are holding back a lot of content in order for it to be a surprise when players sit down and actually play Brothers, but we’ve seen enough to be excited about the prospects of this charming release.
The games industry isn’t short of its share of wannabe movie directors, so it’s fascinating to see a filmmaker leave his own industry to have a go at our favourite craft. No doubt the results of Josef’s work will be similarly intriguing.
PUBLISHER: 505 GAMES
DEV: STARBREEZE STUDIOS
LAST GAME: SYNDICATE
PLATFORMS: PC, XBOX 360, PLAYSTATION 3
ETA: MAY 31ST
