Developed by Starbreeze Studios by a staff led by Josef Fares – who would go on to type Hazelight Studios and direct the likes of A Method Out and It Takes Two – the unique Brothers: A Story of Two Sons nonetheless holds a particular place within the hearts of many, greater than a decade on from its launch. From its distinctive gameplay premise of controlling two characters concurrently to the concurrently heartwarming and heartrending story it informed to the distinctive, nearly-worldless method by means of which it selected to inform it, the charming journey recreation made plenty of followers when it launched again in 2013, and its timeless high quality has solely endeared it to extra folks as time has gone on.
That timeless high quality is a tough factor although, as a result of writer 505 Video games has now come out with a remake of the sport developed by Avantgarden, one which very faithfully recreates the unique. That, after all, signifies that all the pieces that made the unique recreation nice is current and accounted for in Brothers: A Story of Two Sons Remake as properly, whereas some issues have even seen minor but noticeable enhancements. On the identical time, given how faithfully the remake sticks to the supply materials, the query goes to be price asking- is it price selecting up if you happen to personal the unique recreation?
“Brothers’ setting, which is one in all its strongest factors, is dropped at life to nice impact within the remake. Environments have a vibrant, fairy tale-esque look to them, and with a higher degree of element within the environments and on character fashions, all the pieces feels simply that rather more alive and stuffed with character.”
The areas the place Brothers Remake makes probably the most noticeable enhancements are, as you may think, the visuals. The unique was by no means a graphical behemoth, and neither is the remake, however there’s no doubting that the latter represents fairly a step up when it comes to pure visible high quality. The unique, after all, nonetheless seems to be fairly nice, due to the truth that it was at all times a gone that derived most of its visible strengths from its charming aesthetic and artwork design reasonably than any main technical accomplishments, however the technical upgrades that the remake does introduce enable that sturdy aesthetic to flourish that rather more.
Brothers’ setting, which is one in all its strongest factors, is dropped at life to nice impact within the remake. Environments have a vibrant, fairy tale-esque look to them, and with a higher degree of element within the environments and on character fashions, all the pieces feels simply that rather more alive and stuffed with character. Whether or not it’s the extra nuanced animations you see on characters’ faces that enable the sport’s extra impactful narrative moments to have extra of an influence, or sequences the place the digicam zooms out to point out bigger environments and their mystical, pure magnificence, Brothers Remake seems to be constantly spectacular, and is ready to do a fair job of transporting gamers to its settings than the unique recreation did. That’s to not say it’s a very spotless expertise – I did often run into some visible bugs, like objects and property shimmering within the distance, or textures taking a pair additional seconds to load in – however barring some intermittent hiccups, it’s a visually nice and charming recreation.
On the gameplay entrance, Brothers Remake makes little to no modifications to its supply materials. From the controls to all the pieces that occurs all through the 2 brothers’ journey, all the pieces that you simply bear in mind from the unique recreation is right here, with the sport hitting the identical beats and providing up the identical puzzles, platforming sequences, environmental interactions, and extra. Fortunately, most of it nonetheless works in addition to it did again in 2013.
“On the gameplay entrance, Brothers Remake makes little to no modifications to its supply materials. From the controls to all the pieces that occurs all through the 2 brothers’ journey, all the pieces that you simply bear in mind from the unique recreation is right here, with the sport hitting the identical beats and providing up the identical puzzles, platforming sequences, environmental interactions, and extra.”
The puzzles are by no means too elaborate, however they do get more and more advanced and interesting as you’re tasked with concurrently coordinating the 2 brothers’ actions in tandem, culminating in some notably well-designed sequences. A number of the gameplay additionally depends on the 2 brothers merely interacting with mundane issues of their environment, from objects mendacity round to animals milling about to folks going about their enterprise and extra. Seeing how every brother behaves in these solely elective interactions by no means will get previous, and simply as within the authentic, you’ll be rewarded – narratively, if not mechanically – for continuously looking for out these small however memorable moments.
One challenge that I do have – and it was one which many had even with the unique again when it first launched – is the controls. On paper, Brothers seems like a really merely recreation to control- you management the older brother with the left stick and set off, and the youthful brother with the precise stick and set off, and people easy, easy inputs govern each single motion you’re taking all through the whole lot of your roughly three-hour playthrough. In a short time, nonetheless, you understand that concurrently controlling two characters could be a little bit of an unwieldy expertise. Even if you’re merely strolling by means of environments and never doing a lot else, it’s greater than probably that you simply’re going to be struggling to only get the 2 brothers to maneuver about like, , regular folks. It could actually get fairly irritating at instances, and although these frustrations had been simpler to forgive within the authentic recreation, the place the very idea of controlling two characters concurrently in such a fashion was a novel one, right here, on this remake, that novelty is passed by default, and in its wake, the frustrations really feel a bit extra pronounced. Fortunately, Brothers Remake has the choice to play the sport in co-op, and it does turn into a a lot smoother expertise that manner, even when it loses a few of its moment-to-moment uniqueness.
The sport is simply as trustworthy of a recreation from a story perspective as well- which, contemplating the truth that the unique continues to be one of the heartrending and successfully informed tales in a recreation even now, works in its favour. Characters in Brothers’ world do converse, however they don’t do it usually, and once they do, they converse in a fictional, made-up language. The overwhelming majority of the story is informed by means of worldless interactions and thru the surroundings, and from its lighthearted moments to the darker and extra harrowing sequences that characterize the sport’s latter half, it hardly ever misses the mark. This can be a brief recreation, clocking in at nearly three hours (or thereabouts), however in that brief time, it positively leaves a long-lasting impression.
“The controls can get fairly irritating at instances, and although these frustrations had been simpler to forgive within the authentic recreation, the place the very idea of controlling two characters concurrently in such a fashion was a novel one, right here, on this remake, that novelty is passed by default, and in its wake, the frustrations really feel a bit extra pronounced.”
However once more, we come again to our authentic question- is that this a remake price spending your cash on if you happen to already personal the unique? Should you haven’t, the reply is a straightforward sure, due to the wonderful storytelling and setting and the easy however pleasing gameplay mechanics. If in case you have, nonetheless, a purchase order will get a lot more durable to justify, not solely as a result of that is such a standard and trustworthy remake, but additionally due to the truth that the unique recreation continues to be very simply accessible in fashionable {hardware}, and at fairly low costs in addition (to not point out the truth that that is fairly a brief recreation). Mileage will differ on whether or not the visible upgrades are sufficient to justify that buy, however there’ll invariably be caveats to any choice you make right here.
By itself deserves, the unique Brothers was a superb recreation, so a remake that faithfully brings all of its strengths ahead into an expertise that makes noticeable visible upgrades will retaining the expertise’s core unchanged is certain to be good. Even when returning followers might not have as a lot of a purpose to double dip right here, for many who’ve by no means performed the unique, Brothers Remake is one of the best ways to expertise one of the impactful narrative experiences in gaming in years.
This recreation was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.
