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    bwatter8's Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC)

    [January 21, 2017 02:48:33 AM]
    It all comes to an end. Even though the game was a mere 3 hours long it packs an emotional punch. You come to see the two brothers dependence on one another. Then when they have finally reached the end of their trials, tragedy. I should have expected as much from a game that begins by showing a young boy struggling, and failing to save his mother from drowning. I didn't expect to care about the two brothers nearly as much as I did, and certainly not over the course of 3 hours. Ultimately they succeeded, but the cost may have been too high.
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    [January 20, 2017 12:19:01 AM]
    This world is filled with countless tiny interactions that alone don't seem like much but all together they paint a picture of the personalities of our two protagonists, the two brothers and of the world that they inhabit. The older brother is more serious and frequently asks for directions towards the tree they are heading towards when interacting with people, however he does have his softer and playful moments. The younger brother is a playful, cheerful, and occasionally mischievous little guy, as likely to play rock, paper, scissors with a stranger as he is to spit into a well.

    I did notice that throughout this session, which was significantly longer than the last, there was a common theme between some of these tiny, and not so tiny, interactions. The issue of freeing various different creatures from confinement is something that comes up enough that I think it warrants mentioning. The first instance of this that I noticed was entirely optional and would be easy to miss. That instance being the simple act of opening a cage door and releasing a small, colorful bird. This simple act doesn't help or hinder the brothers adventure. Later on, in the bowels of an ancient underground fortress that is in a state of disrepair, but currently inhabited by some ogre type creatures, you must free an injured female ogre from a cage in order to progress. Finally near the end of this play through within a giant tower (not simply large but giant, like jack in the bean stock giant) I released a bloodied owl griffin type creature who had clearly been mistreated but was affectionate and kind, which carried the brother further towards their goal.

    Each of these interactions with imprisoned creatures of various shapes and sizes led me to wonder if the creators of this beautiful game were subtly making a statement without saying a word that it is wrong to imprison living beings. I'm left contemplating if and when it is justifiable to hold or cage a creature against its will. Is it right to do so to a small bird, to a man or woman, or an elephant or any other living thing in between. Why would some argue that is it wrong for certain creatures but not others?
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    [January 19, 2017 12:29:07 AM]
    This game says so much, without any of the characters speaking any understandable words. Two boys whose lives are colored with tragedy must work together to find something to save a man they both care for deeply, who I presume is their father. Before all of this we see that a woman who was very close to them, who I assume was their mother, drowned as the younger brother tried to save her but wasn't strong enough. This event has left the younger brother with a terrible fear of deep water. Working together the boys cart their clearly ill father to a healer of some sort. Once they arrive they are told that in order to save their father they must set out on a dangerous journey.

    Immediately after leaving the healers house the boys run into their first obstacle. Another boy from the village who is wielding a quarterstaff blocks the bridge they need to cross. Rather than fight they boy the brothers seek an alternative route. The brothers swim across the gently flowing river under the bridge to reach the other side, but in doing this the younger brother must confront his fear of water. Relying on his older brother to help him the younger brother is able to confront his fear and enter the water. This tidbit of information is important because it adds more weight to the brothers choice to swim rather than fight. On top of this the brothers are presumably in a hurry to reach their destination to save their father, thus making their passive approach even more noteworthy. There was another way besides violence, and even though the path of non-violence was scary they were able to achieve their desired result.

    This tiny encounter that takes place in the first few minutes of the game brings up an interesting ethical question and provides one possible answer to it. Should you respond to violence with violence? The brothers show that, at least sometimes, the answer is no.
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    Status

    bwatter8's Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC)

    Current Status: Finished playing

    GameLog started on: Tuesday 17 January, 2017

    GameLog closed on: Thursday 26 January, 2017

    Opinion
    bwatter8's opinion and rating for this game

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    Rating (out of 5):starstarstarstarstar

    Related Links

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    See info on Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

    More GameLogs
    other GameLogs for this Game
    1 : Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC) by Andrew_Herrera (rating: 5)
    2 : Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC) by andycho7 (rating: 5)
    3 : Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC) by Barnes (rating: 4)
    4 : Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC) by dkirschner (rating: 5)
    5 : Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PS3) by jp (rating: 5)
    6 : Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC) by Kaz (rating: 5)
    7 : Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC) by Kaz (rating: 5)
    8 : Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (XBONE) by Mafumofu (rating: 4)
    9 : Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC) by Miraiart12a4 (rating: 5)
    10 : Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC) by mwhitmer (rating: 5)
    11 : Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC) by Raven (rating: 5)

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