Josef Fares became an icon in the video game industry after the critical and popular success of It Takes Two. The cooperative adventure left many speechless, but in many ways it was a title almost a decade in the making, with Fares already showcasing his creative talents in 2013 with the heartbreaking game Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. In 2024, the same adventure game returns as a remastered experience with modern graphics and a few additional extras.
But before we get into what these modern improvements are and how they improve or affect Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, let me first mention that the elements that have been retained hold up incredibly well. The story is fascinating and heartbreaking, the gameplay systems are inventive and unique, the level design and settings are amazing and confusing, and the additional exploration opportunities are a delight that adds charm and heart to what is usually a very, very tragic story. Regardless of how the new improvements and features affect the actual Brothers experience, if you’ve never had the opportunity to play this game, this remake is a great opportunity to do so, and I recommend you do so due to its short length do that you can complete the game in a few hours.
But let’s take a look at the new elements anyway. First, there are the visual and performance improvements. You only have to look at the trailer to see that the remake of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a graphical delight. It’s stunning and beautiful on almost every page, and it’s clear that the decision to remake this game and not just remaster it was a very wise decision by the Avantgarde team. The levels seem more vibrant and realistic than ever before, the colors are more intense and vibrant, it’s easier to connect with the characters and as the chapters progress you fall in love with the world more and more thanks to the great graphics. Performance-wise, it’s usually very good on the PS5, but I did notice a few framerate drops here and there, and I even had occasional glitches where I’d get characters stuck in places where they shouldn’t be during platforming should be. which resulted in me having to return to the main menu or restart at the next checkpoint.
If we look at the gameplay, I find Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake much more contradictory. To be clear, the puzzle design and platforming elements are very well handled and implemented, but it is the control scheme that is more difficult to understand. Given that this remake offers the ability to play cooperatively with different controllers from the start, one might wonder why almost all game mechanics are offered with an analog stick and a trigger, and why the developers didn’t think about including more buttons for example, to alleviate the strange feeling that comes from using the same trigger to grab onto one edge while jumping to another. Likewise, the way you can control two characters at the same time with different sticks is a mind-blowing thing, and as far as the single player elements go, I personally wouldn’t have minded being able to switch characters when necessary so that the one that wasn’t being used otherwise it would continue automatically. It would be an improvement that would make the game easier to control at times.
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Since it’s a very short game with a very linear design, not much else has been optimized. It is mentioned that NPCs and enemies have been improved with better and more challenging reactions, but I personally didn’t notice much of a difference in this regard. The soundtrack has also been re-recorded with a live orchestra, and while I won’t deny that the game’s music and atmosphere are excellent, they don’t make as much of an impact as the graphical upgrade.
In short, the most important thing about Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake is that it is still a great adventure experience, except that it now uses graphics that match its fun gameplay. This is as pure a remake as you can call it. It doesn’t differ much from the original product, nor does it add much worth mentioning beyond the visual and performance improvements. If you have never played this title, I recommend you do so as the story is fantastic, albeit very sad. However, if you’ve already played the original, there’s not much reason to go back to it.
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