We have returned to the Nordic lands of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, following a familiar journey, but capable of surprising once again thanks to the excellent work done by Avantgarden, the Italian team that took care of the remake (here is the interview with Brothers team at Tale of Two Sons Remake). We are talking about an important work for two reasons: it demonstrated how to exploit production limitations to one's advantage, but above all it generated endless discussions on what it means to communicate through video games, and not in video games.
Like it or not, remakes have become increasingly important over the years. From the simple remastered to the actual remake, it is a tempting opportunity not only for publishers, but in particular for those players who have never had the chance to get their hands on those titles. Starbreeze's work was published in 2013, in the wake of games like Limbo and Journey which, although distant on a conceptual level, share their ambitions. As we will see shortly, it is a remake made in full respect of tradition, enriched by a local co-op mode and a series of graphic improvements that enhance the technical and artistic sector (here is the review of the original Brothers A Tale of Two Sons).
A little introduction
The history of art is dotted with critical schools and currents of thought that have altered its development. When we talk about cinema, for example, it is important to remember how the critical discourse on the medium has evolved thanks to the contribution of Russian formalists and French impressionists, leading cinematographic art to develop in relation to determining aesthetic and structural criteria. Video games have also been influenced by multiple schools of thought, but there are two in particular that inflamed the debate in the early 2000s: that of ludologists and narratologists.
As explained by Valentina Paggiarin in Video games: narrative models and technological remedies, (IULM Free University of Languages and Communication, 2009) ludologists are those who “focus their attention on the system of action and response that exists between video game and video gamer”. Narratologists, in complete antithesis, place emphasis on the narrative plot and the characterization of characters, using a more classic but not necessarily wrong approach.
Looking at the most successful works published in recent years, it is clear to us that narratologists have prevailed, despite the fact that the academic debate on the topic has long been exhausted. In clear contrast to the model of ludologists, time and resources are invested to ensure that the message of the story is transmitted through dialogues and cinematography, generating a series of thematic paradoxes that weaken the video game intended as an interactive medium.
Among the many productions published monthly, it happens every now and then to glimpse a spark, works destined to leave a mark in the hearts and minds of the public. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is one of them, and the Avantgarden remake only raises its production value.
A long time ago, in a distant land…
To anticipate the events that follow one another over the course of 3 hours would be an unforgivable crime, so let's limit ourselves to a brief synopsis: in an attempt to save their dying father, the brothers Naia and Naiee set off in search of the Tree of Life, inside which flows a healing substance.
The narrative plot has not undergone any changes, with Avantgarden limiting itself to reviewing some directorial choices without affecting its structure: the use of Unreal Engine 5 has allowed us to obtain cinematic quality shots and films, highlighting above all the work carried out on the character facial animations. This has the effect of amplifying the drama of the story, always respecting the intentions and work of the original authors.
The controls have also remained unchanged: with the trigger and the right analogue you control the younger brother, while with those on the left the older one. The narrative power of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is due, among many things, to its controls: rather than moving one character at a time, the player establishes a connection with both avatars.
It is a purely interactive bond – see the approach of ludologists, in fact – which is used to address the themes of the story: the need to grow, to overcome the obstacles and difficulties of life. In fact, it will be essential to have the two brothers collaborate, taking advantage of a series of unique skills that will allow us to carry out some actions: Naia, the older brother, can count on greater muscular strength and therefore activate heavy levers, while the smaller one can pass through the metal bars that block the passage. As mentioned above, this allows the player to create a bond with both characters, understood not as individual entities but as a single digital prosthesis. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is above all a work about death, mourning and guilt, themes that the original studio was able to communicate not only on a purely visual level, but especially on an interactive one.
Exploiting the uniqueness of the medium means leaving an indelible imprint on the player's mind, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is perhaps one of the greatest exponents of this philosophy.
A feast for the eyes and ears
On the technical and aesthetic front, the work carried out by Avantgarden is commendable: the lighting system creates suggestive plays of light and the color palette used for the scenarios is always refined. The impression is that the developers have been able to exploit the potential offered by Unreal Engine 5, offering a graphic rendering on the border between cartoonish and realism.
Continuing the adventure, the artistic direction will take an increasingly darker turn, adapting to the dramatic tones of the story: the warm and lively colors will leave room for cold and desaturated shades, an artistic work that of Avantgarden capable of enhancing the game themes and the the way they are told on screen.
As already mentioned, the use of Unreal Engine 5 allowed the creation of scenes with a strong visual and cinematic impact, perhaps one of the less functional aspects of the original work due to the limited budget. If the 2013 videos gave the impression of being faced with a somewhat dated game, this remake can boast a certain scenic and directorial dynamism, with cutscenes rethought from top to bottom, from camera movements to depth of field. This allowed us to create emotionally intense sequences, even with the total absence of dialogue and only musical accompaniment in the background. As for performance on PC, the game seemed well optimized, with a stable 60 frames per second easily achievable in 1080p and with DLSS set to Quality. The music was entirely rearranged by the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, while remaining faithful to the sounds of Gustaf Grefberg, original composer of the Brothers A Tale of Two Sons soundtrack.
Speaking of sound design, Avantgarden made sure to give greater linguistic coherence to the characters: where the 2013 title was based on conversations with gibberish (nonsense) sounds – inspired according to Fares by the Arabic language spoken in Lebanon – the Italian team he readjusted the dialogues to make them more compliant with the characters' actions, a sort of imaginative vocabulary that offers linguistic coordinates to the user. Finally, we would like to point out the presence of localization in Italian, an element that is not essential for a work like this but which will delight those who can't wait to get their hands on the game on February 28th.