Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons video preview
Two men one pad.
There has been a lot of discussion lately, which we only seek to encourage here at Eurogamer, that perhaps it would be a good idea if slightly less than absolutely all video games were built around the adventures of men.
Apparently nobody told Starbreeze, however, because the Swedish studio has gone in completely the other direction with its latest game, a beautiful puzzle adventure evocative of the likes of Fable and Ico, in which you simultaneously control two men. This is not perhaps the bold new paradigm we were hoping for, I guess, but under the circumstances you've got to admire their balls - if for no other reason than you're in charge of more of them than usual.
As you'll see if you join Ian Higton for the spoiler-free video preview below, however, this isn't exactly a game swollen with testosterone. In the absence of understandable dialogue, the minimalist characterisation sketches a likeable portrait of a more vulnerable duo amid painterly surroundings - the older, slower brother stooping to wash his neck in a pool of water while his younger splashes and giggles to himself, for instance.
You'll see what I'm on about in the preview, which takes in around 14 minutes of gentle puzzle-solving and exploration. If you like what you see, make sure to subscribe to the Eurogamer YouTube channel to more Let's Plays, live streams and spoilercasts with Ian and the rest of the EG team.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is due out next month on Xbox Live as part of the Summer of Arcade, with release dates for PSN and Steam versions expected soon.