History Videogame / BrothersATaleOfTwoSons

* GuideDangIt: In the final leg of the game, there's no hint that [[spoiler:using the older brother's action key will allow the younger brother to swim unaided]].

** ImagineSpot: [[spoiler:After the older brother dies, the younger one sees him as alive for a moment.]]

* SurpriseCreepy: Oh wow, this sure looks like a fun little puzzle game staring two young brothers going on an epic quest to save their father. The world is so beautiful and sunny! Everything is so bright and cheerful! [[spoiler:Oh god, where did these wolves and creepy forest come from?! Wait, is... is that guy trying to hang himself? Are... are these giant corpses? I'm covered in blood! Did this whole village freeze to death? And what is that invisible thing I hear stomping around...?]]

* BloodIsSquickerInWater: During the part with the battlefield of giants, the brothers has to go through streams that are contaminated with the giants' blood. At the end of the sequence, they pass a river that is completely red of blood. They are squicked out when they become red too. [[spoiler: It becomes a plot point when they mimic the gnomes' god.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: You come across someone whose family died when their house burned down in a fire, and have the option of stopping them from hanging themselves and to cheer them up.

** [[spoiler:It is also possible to interact with the woman with either brother at several points; while the older brother gradually starts flirting with her, the younger brother's interactions show a growing dislike of her, culminating in a failed attempt to persuade the older brother not to enter the cave like she wants them to. When the woman enters the cave after the boys, she holds her fingers wide apart in a very claw-like manner.]]

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: [[CaptainObvious The younger brother]] to [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]] more than his brother.

* DownerBeginning: It's revealed in the opening scene that the mother drowned some time before.

* Main/SpiritualLicensee: The game sometimes feel like adaptation of ''Literature/TheBrothersLionheart'' by Creator/AstridLindgren. Given the fact that the game's developer, Starbreeze Studios, is Swedish, it's probably intentional.

* AdultFear: Some segments' mechanics draw the player's attention to the capable older brother when the more vulnerable younger brother needs alert protecting. This can have various horrifying results that underscore how easy it is for children to be permanently damaged by idle inattentiveness, from watching the can't-swim Younger drown as a blithely forgetful Older paddles away from him to having Older charge down the night's encroaching wolves with his torch only to have another approach from behind his circle of light and drag the trailing Younger off into the woods for a leisurely devouring. The game is often praised for the way gameplay almost literally is the nature of the boys' relationship.
* AllTrollsAreDifferent: The first supernatural creature encountered in the game is a friendly troll. He helps you along and you end up [[spoiler: rescuing his wife from the other not-so friendly trolls.]] The other trolls you see appear to be miners with complex machinery, though of those, the ones you interact with directly are DumbMuscle.

* [[spoiler: BackupFromOtherworld: The implications of the final sequence where the younger brother conquers his fear of water are that he's only able to do it because of the strength from his late mother and brother, as you have to press the older brother's action button to succeed.]]

* [[spoiler: BittersweetEnding: The father is saved and the younger brother has grown as a person, but the older brother is dead and the father is heartbroken over it.]]

* [[spoiler:TheFarmerAndTheViper: The brothers work together to save a girl from being sacrificed by a group of cultists, and their act of kindness is repaid by being lured into a cave within a mountain, discovering too late that the girl is actually a [[SpiderPeople half-human/half-spider hybrid]] who captures the two, and their fight for their lives results in the older brother being mortally wounded.]]

** [[spoiler: Right before encountering the cultists, the brothers pass through a cave with cave paintings of giant spiders..]]

* HumanSacrifice: The brothers must rescue a girl from what appears to be some kind of sacrificial ritual performed by spear-wielding gnomes. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a ''big'' mistake as the girl's not human, however.]]

* [[spoiler:ItAlwaysRainsAtFunerals: The rain starts falling after the older brother dies. It stops though by the time his brother actually buries him.]]

* LoadBearingBoss: The ice around the spider's lair doesn't crack open until it's grisly death.

** At one point towards the end of the game the older brother has to launch both a young woman and his own younger brother OUT OF A CATAPULT to bypass the gate keeping them out of a frozen town.

* [[spoiler:MutualKill / TakingYouWithMe: The spider girl mortally stabs the older brother with her last breath.]]

* OrangeBlueContrast: the older and younger brother.

* [[spoiler: TheSchlubPubSeductionDeduction]]
* SiblingYinYang

* [[spoiler: SpiderPeople: The girl is revealed to be this at the end.]]

* [[spoiler: YoungestChildWins: For a very loose definition of the word "wins"]]

''Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons'' is a video game developed by Starbreeze Studios. It was released for Xbox Live Arcade, Steam and Playstion Network in August 2013.

* TheQuest: Retrieve the magical healing potion from the WorldTree to save the father of the main characters.

* [[spoiler:MutualKill: The spider girl mortally stabs the older brother with her last breath.]]

* BookEnds: The last stretch of gameplay is a return to the path to the doctor's hut.

* [[spoiler:DownerEnding]]: [[spoiler: The second to last section of the game has you ''bury'' the older brother, where most games would have it done in a cutscene]].

** NightmareSequence: turns into this when [[spoiler:the older brother starts strangling the younger brother... Maybe even before that, since the dream consisted of the dead mother and dying father too]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: Right before encountering the cultists, the brothers pass through a cave with cave paintings of giant spiders..]]

* [[spoiler: ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: The spider girl fatally stabs the older brother with her dying breath.]]

* [[spoiler: SnowMeansDeath]]: [[spoiler: Once the brothers help out the girl from being sacrificed by the blood cult, she guides them to a snowy region, and even a village that had its denizens all frozen somehow. She then guides them to her cave, whereupon she reveals herself as a spider creature and intends to kill them. She succeeds in mortally wounding the Older Brother.]]
* SpeakingSimlish
** Just to note, the brothers do actually have pronounced names - the older brother's name is pronounced 'Nigh-a', while the younger brother's name is pronounced 'Nigh-e' - possibly 'Nya' and 'Nye' respectively, though they could be any number of spellings.
* [[spoiler: SpiderPeople]]
* [[spoiler:SurpriseCreepy]]: Oh wow, this sure looks like a fun little puzzle game staring two young brothers going on an epic quest to save their father. The world is so beautiful and sunny! Everything is so bright and cheerful! [[spoiler:Oh god, where did these wolves and creepy forest come from?! Wait, is... is that guy trying to hang himself? Are... are these giant corpses? I'm covered in blood! Did this whole village freeze to death? And what is that invisible thing I hear stomping around...?]]

* WhenTreesAttack: At night, is when.

* [[spoiler:WorldTree]]: [[spoiler:When the brothers finally stumble upon the spring of the water of life it is found to be part of a large mystical tree. The second to last level in the game involves the younger brother racing up said tree to collect some of the healing water for his fatally wounded older brother. [[TearJerker He doesn't make it in time]].]]

Please for the love of tropes do not read this page if you have not played the game. Any and all game fans need to play this game completely unspoiled. Its making "2013 Game of the Year" just about everywhere for a reason.

* RedOniBlueOni: The older brother is reserved and polite in his interactions with NPCs, whereas the younger brother is brash and mischievous. [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience They even wear blue and red clothing respectively!]]

* RedOniBlueOni: The older brother is reserved and polite in his interactions with NPCs, whereas the younger brother is brash and mischievous. They even wear blue and red clothing respectively!

** [[spoiler:It is also possible to interact with the woman with either brother at several points; while the older brother gradually starts flirting with her, the younger brother's interactions show a growing dislike of her, culminating in him trying to persuade the older brother not to enter the cave. When the woman enters the cave after the boys, she holds her fingers wide apart in a very claw-like manner.]]

* [[DeathByNewberyMedal Death by GOTY award]]
* [[spoiler:DownerEnding]]: [[spoiler: The second to last section of the game has you ''bury'' the older brother, where most games would have it done in a cutscene]]. It ends up being the (arguably) second most powerful moment in gaming, right after [[spoiler: having the little brother gain the ability to swim with the dead brothers action button]].

* OurGryphonsAreDifferent: They are part owl instead of part eagle.

* InvisibleMonsters: A invisible monster is one of the many creatures to threaten the brothers on their journey. All that is seen of the creature is its huge human-like footprints, but it seems to be a biped that's bigger than most houses and can apparently smash them with ease.

* BaitTheDog: [[spoiler: The girl the brothers rescue from the seemly dangerous cult people is more athletic in every sense than both brothers combined. Turns out that the girl is actually a spider monster that uses the form of a human to lure victims to her lair.]]