Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake Review (PC)
Summary: A remaster of the all-time classic game Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Brothers Remake is perfectly passable, but its many flaws mean it misses the point by a few metres.
2.9
O brother, why art thou?
2013’s Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (“Brothers”) easily makes the list of this writer’s top ten videogames of all time. Developed originally by Starbreeze Studios (also known for The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay and 2007’s The Darkness videogame),you would be hard-pressed to find another game that weaves together its narrative with its gameplay to such artistic heights. I frequently use it as one of my go-to best examples of video games as art.
One would think I’d be excited, then, when I discovered that a remake, spearheaded by Avantgarden SRL, was in the works. Instead, I was a bit skeptical of the aptly titled “Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake” (hereafter “Brothers Remake”). 505 Games seemed to be trying to generate quite a bit of hype around it – but remaking Brothers would be akin to doing a shot-for-shot remake of Jurassic Park: when the original was so well-regarded in its own right, it calls into question the merits of a remake. Not to mention, the original game had had a re-release on Switch and Amazon Luna not all that long ago which brought new features to the table, such as a local co-op mode. An “enhanced” QoL update to bring the original up to modern standards (as it was with Doom, Quake and Half-Life) would have been more than enough – Now that I have at last got around to playing it, it seems that my concerns were to an extent founded.
Don’t look down.
Before I say anything else though, I should make it clear: Brothers Remake does do some things right. It includes a new co-op mode, originally exclusive to newer re-releases, as well as trigger warnings at the start for those for whom the game’s themes might understandably be traumatic. There’s under-the-hood improvements as well, including but not limited to a full complement of graphics options (something the original notably lacked), complete with the buzzwords of the moment, AMD FSR and Nvidia DLSS. That and, when all is said and done, it’s still Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons at its core, with its quirky control scheme and poignant storytelling intact.
Now onto the bad.
Despite being touted as a remake, Brothers Remake is actually more akin to a remaster in the vein of the Crash, Spyro and Katamari Damacy remasters of recent years. The rationale for those was that the original games weren’t really broken, so all they really needed was a new lick of paint. Fundamentally, the plan seems to have been the same here: Avantgarden has spruced up the graphics, recorded a new musical score with a proper orchestra and zhuzhed up the cutscenes with new pre-rendered animations, not to mention the QoL additions mentioned above. Unlike Crash, Spyro and Katamari’s carefully touched-up facades however, I’d compare Brothers Remake’s new look to that garish botched restoration of a statue of St George back in 2018.
Just the two of us/We can make it if we tryyy…
The new graphics look nice, as do the cutscenes, and the new music is, in isolation, very good as well. However, these new bells and whistles bring with them tonal dissonance. The alterations to these key elements of the game are so drastic as to be jarringly dissonant from the original. The graphics look realistic and colourful compared to the deliberately muted and stylised look of the original, the new cutscenes (presumably for a more “cinematic” vibe) feel overdone compared to the more subtle pacing of the original, and the new orchestral score feels too lively too; it doesn’t quite capture the ethereal atmosphere that the original soundtrack cultivated.
Final Thoughts
Something is missing from this remake, and it leaves a big hole behind. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a milestone of artistic achievement in video games which has more than earned a spot in my must-play list. With Brothers Remake on the other hand, Avantgarden SRL have ostensibly “improved” on Brothers by giving it a short back and sides and dressed it up in an ill-fitting suit. The new graphics look out of place over the original game’s ethereal atmosphere, the new orchestral score is even an even more stark contrast in that regard and the new cutscenes, while well-done, feel too overproduced and bombastic for their own good. It better resembles a Disney/Pixar movie than the original – whether that’s for better or worse is down to individual taste. In my humble opinion though, despite the dev team’s best efforts, this remake ultimately comes off as overdressed and overproduced to the point of diluting what made the original so good. For what it is, the price is also a bit steep at £15.99, but owners of the original can snap up this version at a slight discount. You won’t miss much if you pass this one up though, and even if you haven’t played the original, I’d still recommend that over this misguided remaster, ahem, remake.
About the Author
Edward Gosling Ed has been playing games since he was in primary school, and now has a Steam library of over 2000 games, only a fraction of which he has actually played!
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