Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons is sad at the start and at the end, but it’s the sheer joy and visual spectacle of everything in-between that makes this game remarkable. It took me on an emotional journey I’ve never felt in a video game before, and I know it’s going to be a significant period of time until something affects me like Brothers did.

It‘s a story about two boys whose father is sick and they must race against time and travel far away to find the right potion to cure him. Brothers is only a 3 hour long game but, trust me, you will not be able to put down the controller until those 3 hours are up. You will be sitting at the edge of your seat and engrossed in this beautiful, fairy tale styled game for every second and wonder how something so short can have such a dramatic impact.

Getting to grips with navigating the brothers throughout this world is a challenge in itself as you can control each brother independently using your controller’s analogue sticks. This is the game’s key element that sets it aside from other games and it works brilliantly. Yes it’s difficult and yes you will find yourself making mistakes, but it gives the game its uniqueness and separates it from everything else. This challenge though is what gives the games’ puzzles so much more value. The dozens of puzzles you will come across throughout the game are not particularly hard to decipher mentally, but it’s the challenge of performing the task using two analogue sticks completely independently, controlling two different people, that gives it the extra degree of difficulty. These puzzles can range from one brother having to grip onto a wire whilst the other rotates a cog to get him to the other size of the screen, avoiding obstacles along the way, to climbing and swinging across castle walls whilst tied to each other with rope. The latter proves particularly difficult as when you swing from point to point, the brother appointed to each analogue stick switches to the opposite side of the screen, challenging you to keep note of who is where, otherwise you could fall and have to start the puzzle again.

Throughout the game there are numerous stone benches that overlook this world’s incredible landscapes and when both brothers sit upon them the world around them stops and we, as the player, get to look out at how beautiful and diverse this game really is. This also gives the player time to breathe and just take everything in and wonder ‘Why am I almost crying again?’ After I sat on my first bench I wanted to explore every inch of this Nordic inspired world so I could find the next one.

The brothers themselves are put through challenge after challenge in this very short game, but what makes is so memorable are the vast array or characters you meet along the way, ranging from trolls to drunken villagers. It’s also the varied and beautiful landscapes and the evil creatures you have to overcome that gives the game that little extra something. This only strengthens and reinforces the bond that the brothers have with each other and the emotional tie you create towards them. This entire games does an amazing job at enveloping such a broad range of emotions and it is all created without a single word of real dialogue (imagine The Sims language).

Brothers: A Tale Of Two Son’s isn’t a hard game and it won’t challenge you like other games will, but it is a game that can melt even the iciest of hearts and evoke emotions that I never thought games could. You will grow a strong bond to each brother and want them to make it to the end of their journey in one piece. It is a game that you must experience for yourself and a game that I couldn’t recommend any more.