07/03/2024
How do you recreate a masterpiece? It's a question that Ivan Casaril and Fabrizio Dini have spent a lot of time thinking about.
Ivan is the lead game designer and Fabrizio the art director on the recently released remake of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.
First released in 2013, the adventure-puzzle game was a sleeper hit thanks to its novel control scheme and heart-breaking narrative.
As the name suggests, the player controls two siblings on a quest through a fantastical land on a quest to save a family member.
Now Italian game studio Avantgarden has recreated the experience for current-gen consoles and PC.
No spoilers here, but anyone who played the original will agree with Ivan that Brothers "is something you can remember even after many years".
He says the game's appeal lies in its "fairytale" opening - "everything is colourful, cheerful" - but "the more you play through the levels, the darker the themes and the environment become, until the you reach a very emotional point", he says.
Ivan played the original - an Xbox Live Arcade title - and says it "had a deep emotional impact" on him.
Fabrizio says the 2013 version - which won a Bafta Games Award - is widely remembered as a "masterpiece" where the narrative was conveyed through the gameplay.
One of the most striking elements of the original was the use of a single joypad to move the two main characters - one control stick for the older brother, and the other for the younger boy.
Each had strengths and weaknesses, and it was up to players to figure out which boy to manoeuvre through obstacles.
For the remake, the control mechanic remains intact.
The Avantgarden team has added a secondary co-operative mode for two players using separate gamepads, though Ivan admits "the game is meant to be played solo".
A bigger, more obvious change is in the game's graphics - they've been given a complete overhaul, adding more detail and lighting to scenes and giving expression to the characters.
The team's also recorded a brand-new soundtrack performed by a live orchestra.
Ivan says one of the main goals was giving the game an "up-to-date presentation" and refining the original which, he points out, did have "some technical limitations".
"Eleven years later, you can tweak a bit on that point, you can boost graphics, you can add environments, you can improve the lighting, improve everything in that aspect," he says.
"And that is not just adding things blindly, it's also to add meaning to the scene, you have to work on the original one to see what the intent was," he says.
Fabrizio says the team gave "a lot of careful consideration" to any additions and the overall aim was to use modern technology to make "the graphics and play more vivid and immersive without overshadowing the original ideas".
