Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (XBLA/Xbox One, 2013/2015)

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Developed by Starbreeze Studios
Published by 505 Games
Released for XBLA (8/2013) & Xbox One (9/2015)
Also on Android/iOS/PC/PS3/PS4

Brothers: A Tale of Two Suns was developed by Starbreeze Studios, best known for their work on The Darkness and Chronicles of Riddick games. The game follows the journey of two brothers as they search for a cure to their fathers sickness. Brothers is unique in that you control both siblings simultaneously. Each brother is assigned to their own analog stick and the corresponding triggers allow them to interact with various objects and people.

Brothers is a beautiful game to look at in many aspects. The fantasy world feels unique and well-realized. Every so often you'll come across benches, where you can take a seat and soak in some of the lush backdrops. Visually, Starbreeze really did a fantastic job here and everything from the characters to the levels look great. The lighting and shadows are also well done, especially for a title released in 2013. There are also some nice little details such as your characters leaving footprints in the snow as they walk.

There's a bit of dialogue in Brothers, but the characters speak in gibberish you'll have to take in the story by watching and you'll be able to get a sense of what the characters are talking about by the tones used while speaking. Along your journey you'll encounter several puzzles you'll have to solve in order to advance. None of these are too difficult but they make smart use of both brothers. The game is short and will be over before you know it, but it's nice in that it doesn't overstay its welcome. The control scheme is interesting and will feel like it's racking your brain moving around both brothers some times, but the game does a good job of not demanding too much from the player in this regard. For the most part you'll have time to control each brother individually in order to get where you need to go.

During my playthrough of Brothers, I did encounter one of a few commonly reported glitches that made it so I couldn't complete the second chapter. Fortunately after restarting the chapter and going through it again I was able to progress further. It's worth noting that this was on the Xbox One version of the game and I don't recall encountering this glitch on the 360 version of the game.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is totally worth your time, especially when taken into consideration that the game only asks for 3-5 hours of your time. The game doesn't have the highest replay value, but I'd still easily recommend anybody who enjoys more relaxing video games to give it a play. Brothers provides a distinct and unique experience without the frustration of failure so many games have.

Brothers was originally released for XBLA in August 2013. The following month after it was released on PC and PlayStation 3. Then over the following years it would receive ports to a few other platforms, including the Xbox One in September 2015. While the game was available as a digital-download only for the 360, Brothers received a physical-disc release in addition to being available digitally on the Xbox One.

Final Verdict: Brothers is a short but enjoyable adventure/puzzle game where you control two brothers simultaneously using an analog stick for each. Recommended for a nice laid-back single player experience.

Purchase Links:
Buy Brothers (Xbox One Digital) - Microsoft Store
Buy Brothers (Xbox 360 Digital) - Xbox Marketplace
Search Brothers (Xbox One Disc) - eBay

Related Links:
Brothers for Xbox 360 - GameFAQs
Brothers for Xbox One - GameFAQs
Starbreeze Studios - Official Site
505 Games - Official Site
Brothers Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements
Brothers - True Achievements

Dead by Daylight (Xbox One, 2017)

Dead by Daylight
Developed by Behaviour Interactive
Published by Starbreeze & 505 Games
Released for Xbox One (6/2017)
Also on PC & PlayStation 4

Dead by Daylight is a game I really wanted to like. It's a multiplayer title that pits four survivors against one ruthless killer. On the mission I played, the survivors were tasked with starting up several generators, which I'm assuming if we'd succeeded we would have escaped alive. Unfortunately, the killer took us down one-by-one, despite all of our best efforts to help each other out. After losing while playing as a survivor, I was ready to try my hand as the killer. Here's where the major issues with this title begin, as the game froze while loading the match. I figured maybe it was just a freak occurrence, so I restarted the game and attempted to join another game as the killer, only to have the game freeze on the loading screen once again. Tried a hard reboot of the system in order to clear the memory cache, still froze at the loading screen. Deleted and re-installed the game, still froze at the killer loading screen. The fact that this game was cleared for release absolutely blows my mind! Half of the game doesn't even work and it's the half that most gamers would be interested in playing.

The fact that the game has two publishers involved makes it even more confusing and makes me wonder if anybody even play-tested the X-Box version of this port! It looks like it could be a fun game if it functions properly on PC or PlayStation 4, but I recommend to stay far away from the Xbox One version. It also makes me wonder why Microsoft is letting broken games like this make it to the store. I always liked Starbreeze as a developer but this doesn't bode well for the efforts as a publisher. It was well after two months since the game had been released when I tried to play it, and if the developers can't get their product even halfway working by that point then perhaps they should try making a more simple type of game. If you've somehow managed to play as the villain on the Xbox One port of Dead by Daylight, leave a comment below as I'm interested in hearing if this ever gets fixed.

Final Verdict: Dead by Daylight is a broken product that should have never made it to the digital store in this shape. Don't waste your money on this one!

Related Links:
Dead by Daylight - GameFAQs
Behaviour Interactive - Official Site
Starbreeze Studios - Official Site
505 Games - Official Site
Dead by Daylight - Microsoft Store