By Nathan Grayson on September 28th, 2012 at 8:00 am.
Starbreeze likes dark things. Once upon a time, it put out the pitch black Chronicles of Riddick and, er, The Darkness – among others. (It also helmed the recent Syndicate reboot, but we don’t talk about that.) Its next big project, then, comes as quite the change of pace. To my knowledge, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is almost entirely bereft of hyper-violent space prison shankings or entrail-devouring demon tentacles. Instead, it’s a fantasy to-do about… well, pretty much everything’s in the title. Brothers (who are also sons) set out to cure their deathly ill father (who is presumably also someone’s son, and maybe someone else’s brother). Also, Swedish filmmaker Josef Fares is involved. Catch a quick peek after the break.
So yes, it looks jumpy, climby, and a bit whimsical – but not too much so. The vibe seems fairly somber, all told – maybe kind of Ico-ish, in its own way. That strikes me as kind of at odds with Fares’ history as a comedy director, but we’ll see. Here’s Starbreeze’s elevator pitch:
“A man, clinging to life. His two sons, desperate to cure their ailing father, are left with but one option. They must set out upon a journey to find and bring back the ‘Water of Life’ as they come to rely on one another to survive. One must be strong where the other is weak, brave where the other is fearful, they must be… Brothers.”
Anyway. They’re also evidently friends with some kind of jolly green giant, which seems to bode pretty well for their chances. It all looks semi-intriguing, though. I can definitely get behind the idea of a childhood fantasy land tinged with a hint of grimdark. Plus, when Starbreeze is really on, it’s been known to spin some of the best-told yarns in gaming. (Seriously, the first Darkness is worth owning an Xbox/PS3 for.) So I’m hoping for another strong performance here.
28/09/2012 at 08:18 GameCat says:
“Once upon a time, it put out the pitch black Chronicles of Riddick ”
I see what you did there.
“That strikes me as kind of at odds with Fares’ history as a comedy director, but we’ll see.”
Great drama writer must be also a great comedy writer. Indirect quote from Aristotle, I think (I’m not sure).
28/09/2012 at 08:19 Servizio says:
Because “Two Guys Who Know a Giant” was kinda clunky for a title.
28/09/2012 at 08:46 Nim says:
I know it’s a lost cause but I am still waiting for Enclave 2.
28/09/2012 at 10:36 lepercake says:
That and Rune 2.
28/09/2012 at 09:20 Henke says:
It’s worth pointing out that filmmaker Josef Fares’ contributions to the history of cinema includes scenes like this, and this.
28/09/2012 at 10:23 UmmonTL says:
God that was so stupid it gave me a brain aneurysm. The second one didn’t seem bad at first until he wild west style hip-fired the modern 9mm handgun. And the it gets worse…
Well those scenes are both from the same movie so I shouldn’t judge based just on that. Here’s to hoping he keeps that shit far away from this game.
28/09/2012 at 10:46 zebramatt says:
You’re joking, right?
28/09/2012 at 12:18 ninnisinni says:
Those scenes are just the daydreams of a bored small-town cop though… surely it’s not that bad when you think of it in that context?
28/09/2012 at 12:57 atticus says:
It’s not bad, it’s genius. Obvious Swedish movie-troll is a troll.
28/09/2012 at 17:46 PopeJamal says:
Exactly! Who says people are entitled to differing opinions? Independent thought is for heretics!
BURN THE HERETICS!
28/09/2012 at 13:00 spiff says:
Surely you did not just judge a movie director from watching a few seconds worth of shots from a movie that you have no apparent knowledge of?
28/09/2012 at 13:09 InternetBatman says:
How are you typing then?
28/09/2012 at 10:32 atticus says:
Thanks for posting these! You made me remember the total awesomeness of that movie and a lot of other swedish movies too.
It must be kind of frustrating being Swedish: having great gamestudios, making brilliant movies and TV-series and still having to live with us lazy oilcovered Norwegians as neighbours.
28/09/2012 at 11:12 televizor says:
I just wish you guys and the Norwegians could live together in harmony.
28/09/2012 at 13:36 Qazinsky says:
Actually, Swedens and Norways relationship are very much like brothers, we might argue and poke fun at each other, but at the end of the day we got each others backs and noone messes with our brother!
28/09/2012 at 20:41 Droopy The Dog says:
Heh, that entire dialogue just reminds me so much of the scandinavia and the world web comic.
The closest sentiment us poor brits seem to feel to each other is jealousy mixed with a little schadenfreude.
28/09/2012 at 23:05 The Magic says:
I dont think any brit is jealous of anyone. everyone thinks their homeland is awesome… except londoners and glaswegians.
28/09/2012 at 09:37 DyvimTvar says:
Looks Trine-ish, could be interesting.
28/09/2012 at 09:56 MarigoldFleur says:
Hopefully this will be the Starbreeze that made Riddick and not the Starbreeze that made Syndicate.
28/09/2012 at 10:04 sparna says:
The Starbreeze that made Riddick and Darkness left and formed MachineGames, I believe.
28/09/2012 at 10:22 Kotch says:
Like sparna says those guys all left for Machine Games. Starbreeze that we love is no longer and is now just a sad story of mismanagement and incompetence and borderline criminal behavior.
28/09/2012 at 12:16 ninnisinni says:
That’s the ones who were bought by Bethesda, right? Might be interesting to see what they can do with the resources of Bethesda/Zenimax/whatever…
28/09/2012 at 16:20 Lemming says:
I don’t want to knock Starbreeze, but this looks suspiciously like ‘We saw the Last Guardian and managed to take that idea and make a game while they’re still working on it”. It’ll probably be a great game, its just the first thing I thought of when I saw it.
28/09/2012 at 19:03 pilouuuu says:
It was a Syndicate reboot? Really? I thought it was just a coincidence it was called like that. I don’t remember my Syndicate being a FPS. Now I want a Populous FPS! Every game should be FPS! Starbreeze must be swimming in money now, as everyone wants FPS. Please, make this new game a FPS instead. It’s the only way it may be successful.
29/09/2012 at 05:14 Noise says:
This looks good because it’s not trying to be retarded ambitious and over the top like every other fantasy game these days. A story about saving a sick father is just so much nicer and subtler than AN ANCIENT EVIL HAS AWOKEN YOU HAVE TO SAVE ENTIRE UNIVERSE
29/09/2012 at 05:47 jrodman says:
While I too appreciate “saving a loved one” over “saving the world”, they’re both familiar arcs for fiction in general and games as well.
I think the main difference is “caring for a loved one” is much more easily related to as compared to “defeat an ancient evil”, and the story more naturally can mould itself to familiar human concerns.
The problem of course is that games can be a difficult medium in which to convey such humanistic interplay while avoiding relying on canned content.