I decided to speculate a little about the gameplay "Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons". How it came to me, of course, you. Criticize you and dispute you. And I only modestly offer you my thoughts realized in the form of several sheets of text, to read.
Caution, there are spoilers in the topic!
I want to ask you a question right away: did you think why the video game industry is operating for the most part, the usual ones, and some people who even filled, are gaming mechanics and control schemes?
Who conceived and found an answer that can be formulated with one single word “convenience”, absolutely right. Next towers, icons on the map, WASD-offering, etc.p. – not an indicator of creative impotence of the developers, but familiar, understandable and, most importantly, convenient game solutions.
There will be people who will say that you can do without them, find more sound solutions, and these people will be unconditionally right. Be sure, the industry will still pave the way to the best solutions. But now we are not talking about the future and better decisions, but about the present (or, or rather, about the past) and bad decisions.
And, honestly, to give the player of the player two brothers at once is a bad decision.
Management seems to be the most flawed element of the whole game. Although there is nothing complicated in him: the left stick is the movement of the older brother, the right – the youngest, the left trigger – the actions of the elder, the right trigger – the youngest. The management is elementary.
But the inconvenience is that you need to manage for them at the same time. In three hours that are necessary for the passage of “Brothers – a Tale of Two Sons” from the beginning to the very end, the player is unlikely to have time to get used to managing to such an extent as not to experience dissonance and not stop from time to time in order to restore orientation in the space. The brothers, under the control of the player, run into the walls, fall, clutch not for those objects, etc.p. No matter how dramatic the situation is, clowning is often on the screen.
It would be possible to add a cooperative or a bottlenecker with the possibility of changing heroes to the game, but this would destroy the author’s idea, which, in theory, properly reveal the topic of fraternal relations in the game, but it does not do this at all. Why? I will answer a little later.
Interactions
The main idea of game design is simplicity and understandability at an intuitive level. This is where the player’s interaction with the in -game world, objects and characters in it is built. As I wrote above, in the game we can move or perform actions.
Using sticks, for the movement of heroes you just need to choose the direction. Climb into small hills, jump over the pits, lean against the walls on narrow ledges and hold balance, overcoming clefts, the brothers will be automatically.
Earlier I wrote about the inconvenience of management at once by two heroes, and I do not refuse my words, but we must pay tribute to the developers. Certain places at the levels are quite spacious, and (somewhere clearly, somewhere not very) they are divided into two parallel paths so that the player can keep his older brother on the left, and the younger one-on the right, and thereby not getting confused once again.
The commission, unlike the movement, requires large labor costs from the player, but not much. In order for any of the brothers to talk with an off, touch the subject or grabbed it, you have to press and hold the trigger. And there are no complaints about the interaction with non -game characters.
Both brothers can chat in their personal manner with every non -wiper character that they will meet during their journey. A scientist, drunkard or red girl – all the characters of the game were awarded special animation from both the older and younger brother. Whether the player will see them all, depends only on his desire.
But with inanimate objects, a different situation. But before that a small retreat.
The main idea of game design is simplicity and understandability at an intuitive level. And in order to follow this idea, it was decided to get rid of complex mechanics and interface, while to replace it with the intra -game objects that are obvious to interaction, which at the same time are not isolated from the world around them.
So, with inanimate intra -game objects, a different situation. Unlike nonsense, the player cannot interact with every subject he met. And as I wrote earlier, objects do not stand out in any way against the background of the world. Understand exactly for which subject there are animations, and for which one is not, it is impossible, which is a serious problem.
On the one hand, when the player approaches a certain object, interacts with him and receives a reverse reaction, he is easier to plunge into the virtual world, because he himself wanted to approach this subject and do something with him. Receiving a response, the player remains satisfied. But on the other hand, interacting with objects not intended for this, the player does not receive any reverse reaction. That is, in the chain “he wanted, made, received an answer” does not get the last final and most important link, without which, the connection with the hero and the world collapses.
The developers simultaneously immerse the player into their game by an intuitive gameplay and at the same time reject, mixing a working environment with cardboard decorations.
But, again, it is worth paying tribute to the developers. Whenever there is no object for interaction next to the hero, the hero is not lost and decides to indicate the right path or scratch the back of the head. Does this save the game in the game? No, but at least it smoothes the corners with "ascent".
In the game "Brothers – A Tale https://cryptowinscasino.co.uk/ of Two Sons" we play for two brothers, two sons of the same parents. At least this can be understood from the name and even from the silent story, but not from gameplay.
During the gameplay, two blanks give under the control of the player. One of them is the bore of Dylda. He is always serious, correct, restrained. Recognizes the road forward, helps with work and asks for help. The second blank is Malet. Fold, breaks objects, dirty, laughs at people. Frivolous wretch who is not caring for the opinions of people around.
They are revealed through interaction with objects and non -game characters. And this is the problem. Disclosure occurs only through interaction with objects and non -game characters, and only each brother separately. The interaction of one brother with another in the game cannot be seen.
If your brother is not a person for you, but (step, porter, inflatable circle), then you are a bad brother.
Such a joint work, which does not reveal the heroes, but gives an additional gameplay in the next situation that happened to the brothers, the game is practically limited.
Here, for example, is the situation when the older brother is at death. Everything that the trigger retains at this moment gives a simple clarification about a tree. No care or attempts to bandage the wound.
According to the author’s idea, we play at once for two brothers, but in reality – for two blavons, which go separately along the same path, and who do not care about each other’s tricks. Do human relations work like that? Of course not, but between loved ones – all the more so.
But we are not talking about life now, because after all?! We are talking about a game that tells about the adventure of two brothers, but does not reveal their relationship, and we are talking about a game in which the game design does not correlate with the idea. Replace the brothers with the drunkenness of Genka and African -American John, who, by pure chance, went together to the source of the holy moonshine, nothing would have changed.
But to bury drunks to Genka, who did not reach his goal very little, it would be much more sad. And without jokes: a good example, when the game design throughout the game hurt the perception of the climax. I do not feel sorry for Namba Uan’s blank from the word "completely". You just think "this well done is this very deceased, it no longer requires unnecessary trouble".
I would like to pay tribute once again to the developers, but, alas, not in this case. I wrote at all in vain at the very beginning, that management seems to be the most flawed element of the whole game. It only seems so. In reality, the most flawed element is the relationship between brothers, who are not even at all.
Bloody God
The game, no matter how they talk about her, is not a puzzle (although you can break the head of a giant with an arrow).
There are no difficult tasks with several stages of solution in it. Everything is too obvious and trivial to such an extent that it seems that even very young children will not experience difficulties. Therefore, there are no special tricks for training in the game, excluding some cases.
For example, in the battle with the troll, the player clearly shows that all the chains present in the arena need to knock down, using the troll itself, which crashes into the walls with a way.
But during the battle with Arachnid, no training is provided. The player himself must understand that a hollow ball from an almost weightless web can bring down a huge boss from his feet.
Having explained some points, I finally want to talk about the best moment in the whole game in terms of game design.
Pretty in meaning, but an easy -to -performance by the player the task: a group of cultists, worshiping a bloody god, are going to sacrifice the young girl, and the main characters should save her, and they have to do it, pretending to be a bloody deity himself.
Agree, a rather difficult task. It would even be verbally discussing an action plan in such a situation to be a long process. Discuss how not to defeat the cultists, how to pretend to be God, how to cover yourself with blood, what pose to accept. Silent game offers a brilliant solution.
Firstly, a little earlier, until the task itself, the game accidentally demonstrates that when they get into the flow of blood, the brothers are covered from her head to heel.
Secondly, it demonstrates rock drawings and a statue with the deity of the cultists, focusing on its significance attention.
And thirdly, it provides the player with the site to solve the problem.
Bloody streams on the left and right, in which brothers are completely placed. The emergency panel requires to stand. And the image of the bloody god, which coincides in size with two brothers. Lower part with the older, the upper with the younger.
A difficult task becomes simple and understandable due to the correct approach. If there weren’t a luminous panel, a light panel or a proportionate image of a deity with the heroes of the image, such a trick would no longer work.
Brother is always there, two sons
The whole game, with the exception of the stage after the climax, the player has to manage two brothers at the same time. After the death of an older brother, management is maintained only to the younger for obvious reasons. And at the same time, a new interesting detail appears in the gameplay, which can even be called a puzzle.
If you remember, I wrote about this above, in some points the younger brother uses the elder as an inflatable circle in order to overcome water obstacles. The brother died, the circle was also blown away, accordingly. But the water barriers remained. And how our hero will cope with them? The answer is simple, but you have to think a little. The answer is to use the older brother again. Clutching the left trigger, the younger brother will still be able to overcome water and get out on the opposite shore.
Even after his death, his brother remains in the heart of the younger and helps to overcome the fear of water, to become stronger, more intelligent and agile. Beautiful move, both in essence and in the gameplay plan.
Only now … Remember the most flawed element of the game. Why the elder brother remains significant for the younger and helps him with the solution of difficulties – it is strongly not clear. After all, during the game, he did not teach anything the younger, he did not scold or praised anything, even the slap did not give the head to the ball thrown into the deck.
In general, an excellent game design, worthy of a more holistic good game.
And if we accept the idea that the older brother continues to be next to the younger and gives the younger strength to overcome difficulties, then it is quite possible to think about what pushed the heroes forward and helped to cope with various difficult situations on the way? Ali is not parental mental presence nearby? Weren’t their experience that they conveyed to their children?
Again, an interesting find worthy of a better game
The topic of death
I would like to write separately about the topic of death in the game.
In the game we fully kill the troll and arachnid. We save or leave the suicide to the faithful death. Chop and hole the dead giants. We will save the red girl from the sacrifice. We break the frozen people to death. I bury your brother. Surrect a poor innocent ball in a collod!
And one cannot fail to mention that some stone ledges, crossbars, boards collapse after the interaction of the heroes with them, which also carries the idea of frail and death.
The story itself is devoted to death and it is wonderful that the developers allow the player to touch her during the game, and not just observe from the side.
The theme of the brothers did not reveal, but the topic of death is fully.
“Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons” – a banal, but quite pleasant story, a rather instructive fairy tale, a beautiful exciting cartoon, but a bad game. And although there are good gameplay ideas in it, yet they cannot block serious gamemeraduer problems, which you have to put up with all three hours of game. You cannot close your eyes to these problems, they are egregious, they are outrageous. With their presence, they question the validity of the decision to realize a fairy tale as a video game.
For why, if the management is uncomfortable, the immersion is not complete, and there are no fraternal relations?!
The only thing that works in the gameplay, based on history, is the topic of death. But it would be disclosed visually and without gameplay through the death of the mother, the possible death of her father, the death of the hypoprit, the death of the giants and the death of his brother.
A gameplay that does not even give up a call to the player, this project does not need.
At least he does not need him in this form.
Thank you for reading.
Leave your comments, I will be sincerely glad to see them.
And do not hesitate to point out errors. Correction of these gradually improves my Russian language.