Brothers - A Tale Of Two Sons
Adventure/Puzzle
Steam Link

I really had no idea what I was getting into when I loaded this up, since I'd forgotten how I wound up with this game to begin with and I didn't know anything about it. What I got, however, was a beautiful little atmospheric puzzler that really feels like an interactive art piece more than anything - and not in the obnoxious "Braid" sort of way.

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This game is pretty and atmospheric; like a storybook come alive. And yes, there is a story. It's sparse and simplistic, but that's the point. One neat thing that this game did was make it so the characters speak a fictional language. And since there are no subtitles, the entire story is told through inflection and gestures. But it's really well done.

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On to gameplay: this is a game where a controller is very much recommended, and for good reason: the entire game depends on controlling two different characters simultaneously, and this is somewhat more intuitive with a controller. Most of the puzzles revolve around character co-operation or taking advantage of the (very few) differences between the two brothers. In this way, a lot of the puzzles feel fresh, such as this one where I had to dodge an angry dog by "ping-pong"ing his attention between the two characters.

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As you progress across the story, you come a cross a helpful giant troll or something, who proceeds to add some new puzzly mechanics to your gameplay while he's around.

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And then I wound up in some steampunk Dwemer ruins or something.

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Anyways overall I was happily surprised by this game; I've played so many indie puzzlers in this list so far that I was kind of hoping this wouldn't be Yet Another Indie Puzzler but this game pulls it off better than most of the others. The puzzles feel organic and intuitive, so instead of sitting around scratching your head forever you can work them out pretty quickly and then be on your way. And there are a lot of little touches and characterizations to the brothers that fit in with the story and give you a surprising amount of feels.

Also you can pet a cat:

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THE VERDICT:

  • Gorgeous and relaxing to play
  • The perfect game for if you want to lean back and chill with a controller
  • Brilliant way to tell a story (IMO)
  • Neato mechanics
  • Short and sweet
  • Well worth a play through