Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake Review – A FAIRYTALE FLOP?

I’m sure you’ve all heard of It Takes Two and A Way Out from a certain someone who doesn’t like the Oscars—with a passion. But before these co-op-only adventures arrived on the scene, Josef Fares first made a short and sweet, 3-hour adventure called Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons that focused on the relationship between the titular brothers and how people persevere through grief and tragedy. Now in 2024, the game has received its long-awaited remake treatment just over 10 years later.

To Be, or Not To Be…

Being a near 1:1 recreation of the original release, this version’s new coat of paint looks visually striking… for better or worse. It features a rousing, reorchestrated soundtrack and a more realistic, yet faithful depiction of the two brothers, with all the bells and whistles of modern graphics and effects. Even though the cast still talks in their Sims-like “Blah-yeah-nah” type of language, it’s a lot easier to gauge a character’s specific emotions and feelings than before. Not that it was back-breaking in 2013. But in Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake, some cutscenes have been altered to show extra camera close-ups and angles. Letting you witness more true-to-life human expressions, as opposed to two little dots on a head. Big difference.

However, regardless of whether the visuals are ‘technically’ superior in terms of fidelity, the gloomy, desaturated, Unreal Engine 5 graphics make certain elements stupidly difficult to locate at times, as objects don’t stand out anywhere near as much as they used to. I was a bit unsure about what I could physically interact with in the original, but this remake has only made it worse. Like Obi-wan said to Anakin, “You’ve become the very thing you swore to destroy.” And you know what? I couldn’t describe it any better.

Now you’re probably going to hate me for saying this, but I always thought that the original story was way too overrated… Alright, alright, don’t pitchfork me yet. It’s not the worst thing ever. I do enjoy the bond that develops between our tall and small broskis, though I just felt that the characters and scenarios they come across mostly feel like filler content until the very end of the story. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “It gets good after Season 2” you’ll know exactly what I mean. But believe it or not, I got the same feeling from this game, even though it’s barely 3 hours long. Go figure.

Removing the Nostalgia Goggles

When it comes to the gameplay, however, this remake has stayed as true to the original as possible. Although, that doesn’t mean nothing has changed. The brothers’ movement and responsiveness feel a lot more fluid, plus the janky transition animations have thankfully dropped off of a cliff somewhere. Good riddance. I only wish returning fans had something new to look forward to. ‘Twould be swell, I say.

The puzzles themselves are okay, but they don’t hold a candle to A Way Out or It Takes Two’s level of complexity. There’s no doubt that this was the proving ground for Josef Fares—and it shows. Some gameplay scenarios require you to keep the brothers from falling to their doom by alternating button presses, whereas others need you to simply coordinate as a team to progress. It was pretty innovative for the time, especially with the 1-brother-per-analogue-stick control scheme which felt like your brain was going to explode at first. Albeit, I didn’t enjoy these sequences anywhere near as much as I did back in 2013.

Speaking of controls, this remake also allows for 2-player co-op, so each person can move an individual brother independently. While it definitely does make things easier for casual game fans and from an accessibility standpoint, I can’t help but feel as if the game’s artistic intent has been taken out back and shot. This remake’s developers clearly thought so too, since you’ll get a big-time warning screen saying “This isn’t the intended way to play, you heathen!” if you venture out with a friend. Yikes… I added that heathen bit at the end, in case you didn’t realise.

Decision

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake has largely kept to the original’s one-analogue-stick-per-brother action, with only subtle changes to some animations and their fluidity. That being said, the updated graphics make it noticeably harder to distinguish between the environment and the game’s interactable objects, while the 2-player co-op feature feels like it’s been tacked on just to appease fans of Mr Fares. The story only starts to get good toward the end too, unfortunately. However, there are a few decent set pieces and puzzles to solve along the way. The reorchestrated soundtrack confidently nails the emotional beats of this 3-hour journey as well, but it won’t move mountains for those who were already apprehensive about this remake in the first place.

By Anthony Culinas – Reviewed on PC

Good

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake has polished up in some key areas like fluidity of movement and better animation, but has also taken a minor step back in distinguishing interactables from the environment. Even so, you owe it to yourself to experience the advent of Josef Fares’ cooperative game style, with Unreal Engine 5 graphics and a glorious reorchestrated soundtrack in tow.

Game by Starbreeze Studios and Avantgarden Games. The Beta Network uses affiliate partnerships, however, this does not influence reviews or any other content published. The Beta Network may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links that are on the website.

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