Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons screenshot 1Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons screenshot 2
ActionAdventureIndieAtmosphericStory RichControllerEmotionalPuzzle

Playing nowFewer than 10

Updated hourly · Source: Steam

Peak in the last 7 days: 13

Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons Steam store

Game description

Guide two brothers on an epic fairy tale journey from visionary Swedish film director, Josef Fares and top-tier developer Starbreeze Studios. Control both brothers at once as you experience co-op play in single player mode, like never before.

Basic info

DeveloperStarbreeze Studios AB
Publisher505 Games
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateSep 3, 2013
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows XP SP3
Processor2.4 GHz Dual Core Processor
Memory2 GB
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce 8600 /ATI Radeon HD 2600
Storage2 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 337 reviews from the past 1 year

88.2/ 100
Top 20%

Steam rating: Very Positive (94%)

Metacritic: 90 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 23, 2026)

A wordless fairy tale about two brothers, each steered with one hand, scores 88.2, top 20% of games we analyzed. We read 337 reviews.

👍 Strengths

Story & World ranks 166th of 1096. 116 reviews praise the story for its emotional weight, the most upvoted calling it pure genius storytelling, even though the characters speak an invented language. 55 describe a diverse and touching world with a dense fairy tale atmosphere. 41 admire the visuals, and some point to colorful landscapes and lovely water effects. Visuals & Sound ranks 252nd of 1249, and a few add that the music is worth hearing on its own. Multiplayer ranks 149th of 642, as some played it side by side with a sibling or a child, each taking one brother.

👎 Where it falls short

Content Volume ranks 1052nd of 1351. 39 reviews find it short, a journey of only a few hours. 36 say the controls feel awkward on a keyboard, and several recommend a controller; some report that pressing CTRL and the spacebar together can switch the input language and block progress. 6 say the puzzles are too easy to offer much challenge, and a few feel the pacing drags near the end.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“pure genius storytelling with lasting emotional impact” · 116 reviews
“environments look great, modest hardware requirements, beautiful story exploitation” · 41 reviews
“played through with son, very fun and special experience” · 35 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 58% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Strategy +3.21 · Depth of builds, tactics, and meaningful choices
Positive “clever achievement design embedded in story with multiple hidden parts” · 15 reviews

Progression 1% · Difficulty 9% · Onboarding 13% · Freedom 6% · Controls & feel 41%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 81% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Story +3.62 · Plot, quests, writing, and the ending
Positive “pure genius storytelling with lasting emotional impact” · 116 reviews

Characters 21% · World 46%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 46% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Volume -1.22 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Negative “game story too short, only two hours to complete” · 39 reviews
Positive “solid 4 hours of game, short but complete” · 2 reviews

Variety 7% · Replayability 6%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 49% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +3.71 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “environments look great, modest hardware requirements, beautiful story exploitation” · 41 reviews
Negative “graphics look outdated despite panoramic view” · 3 reviews

Audio 24%

Playing with others, the community and servers
Mentioned in 27% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Playing together +2.87 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals
Positive “enjoyable cooperative play with two controllers” · 25 reviews
Negative “wished the game had co-op multiplayer” · 5 reviews

Community 0% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 6% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing +0.04 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Negative “two versions with full functionality only in another version is a scam” · 5 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Balance 0% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 6% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

Stability -0.04 · Crashes, freezes, save loss, and game-breaking bugs
Negative “game-breaking bug in chapter 7 where character falls into void” · 2 reviews

Performance 3% · Developer support 1%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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