The Game Awardswere held only a few days ago, to the thunderous “meh” of gamers everywhere. I’ve already givenmy thoughts on the show as a whole, and in those musings I mentioned that I only remember a few of the world premiere trailers. One such trailer was the literal first trailer shown off at the event, which is half of the reason it stuck with me.
The other reason is just that I simply adoreBrothers: A Tale Of Two Sons!
Spider-Man 2’s Game Awards Snub: Is Console Exclusivity To Blame?
Did Peter and Miles deserve better?
A Puzzle Game, But A Good One
Let’s cut this announcement, and my reaction to it, down into two different categories. The first iswhyI love this game, as it’s in a genre I usually don’t care too much for: Narrative Puzzle Games. The puzzle game genre is often made up of just brainteasers and crosswords; maybe a hidden object game if you’re fancy.Thesepuzzle games, I like. There’s something rewarding about finding all the words in Boggle or a few rounds of Microsoft Mahjong. It’s when the creatives decide to have players push some boxes around and jump correctly while telling an existential story that I lose my interest.
Call me a philistine, but these games usually end up pretentious. Getting my brain to think of the world around me is nice, but contemplating your navel is a clear-cut “Oh no, you think no one else has said this before.” I’ll get heat for this one; why exactly do we praise the stories of Inside and Limbo when the titles give their twists away?
Brothers, however, is just a plain, linear story; two young boys go on an adventure to find a cure for their father’s illness. That’s it. You can wrap up the basics in a short sentence. The further complications, such as the younger brother still struggling with the death of their mother, are important for character depth and growthbut there’s no deeper exploration of the human psyche by delving into yadda yadda yadda.
I’m notwithoutmy snobbery though, and my real love for the game shows through there. The game is not in a real language; it’s all made-up words that you start to understand the more you play. For example, the boys refer to each other with “Naiee” and “Naia”, which you notice only after a while. Then the gibberish suddenly becomes recognizable. These are either the in-universe terms for “older/little brother” or their actual names. Paying attention to the character interactions makes you learn about the characters and their world, which I like a lot more than deeper meanings thatconvenientlycan be applied to anything.
The puzzles themselves are environmental, often just “move that thing here with the odd controls and don’t die,” but I much prefer that to puzzle games where I’m just stumped the whole time, wondering which version of human logic I was supposed to be thinking with. Not only that, but being forced to interact with bits and pieces of the world, again, helps clue me into how this world works. It’s a basic fantasy with trolls and moving trees, but as the game progresses, you see more and more of the dark fantasy the world is. The beyond-eerie battleground of slain giants always comes to mind as a haunting backdrop, and the game doesn’t over-explain this war — you just have to wonder why it happened, because all you see is the aftermath from who knows how long ago.
When I want something deep, this is what I mean. Worlds that explain enough that I’m not lost,andso little that I have intrigue left over. Characters that I watch grow, and who won’t be afraid to leave me an emotional wreck afterward. If you don’t know the story, you’re in for something, and that’s all I should say.
But What Should Be Different?
So we only have this premiere trailer to go off of, and as someone who’s played through the entire game twice, everything did look likejusta remade version of the same scenes. I did not see any hint of new additions or additional content; everything just looked like a prettied-up version.
Which is fair to criticize. I recently wrote about my wish forDead Rising to get the REmake treatment, so I’d be hypocritical to suggest that another retro game getting a remake doesn’t need changes. It’s a little harder for me to pinpoint any control changes, as I got used to them and even aced them on the second go, but those controls are a bit strange, and tweaking of some kind would be a great idea. You moved each brother with a different analog stick, meaning the PC version doesn’t have mouse support, and it’s also definitely not a game to play with Joycon Drift. I just found out from research there was a Windows Phone version, and I’m dying to know if that played well.
The real elephant in the room is whether Brothersneedsa remake. I may be excited, but I completely understand this sentiment. Like withDead Rising 2,Brothers came out on the Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3, but then got a remastered port for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.Plusthe IOS, Phone, and Switch versions. It’s readily available, looks good enough, and isn’t so full of glaring issues, so why is it getting one?
That’s an issue I have too. That’s why I lead with possible changes, as I won’t lie: I’m still excited, but this needs to have at least afewdifferences to feel the remake is worth it. The graphics in the trailer look stunning, and I’m hyped, but it’s currently nothing more than the prettiest version of a game I already know I love.
