History Videogame / BrothersATaleOfTwoSons

* LaserGuidedKarma: The bullying kid finally gets chasen by a small dog.

* DownerEnding: The older brother [[spoiler: dies towards the end]].

* KidsAreCruel: The younger brother is quite the {{Jerkass}} in his interactions with other [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]]. Sometimes this is necessary as the elder brother's more civilized interactions don't produce useful results and you have to defer to the younger brother to get things done (such as dealing with the drawbridge operator; the older brother just gets blown off by politely asking but the younger brother tosses a bucket of water on the man and forces him to accede so he'll be left alone).

The game has been critically acclaimed, and has been nominated or won several awards.

* [[DeathByNewberyMedal Death by GOTY award]]: [[spoiler:Only one of the titular brother survives the tale.]]

** 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.]]
** ImagineSpot: [[spoiler:After the older brother dies, the younger one sees him as alive for a moment and the two even hug each other.]]

* 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]]. On the other hand, this is the most cathartic moment of the game that is best experienced without spoilers or cues.

* InfantImmortality: Horribly averted in gameplay [[spoiler:and in the story alike.]]

** SceneryGorn: Also features some of this, particularly in the chapter where the brothers [[spoiler:pass through a valley filled with dead giants.]]

* 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.

* BaitTheDog: [[spoiler: The girl the brothers rescue from the seemingly 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.]]

* 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 with blood. They are squicked out when they become red too. [[spoiler: It becomes a plot point when they mimic the gnomes' god.]]

* ComingOfAgeStory: [[spoiler: Only for the [[CharacterDevelopment younger brother]] though.]]

* [[DeathByNewberyMedal Death by GOTY award]]
* {{Determinator}}: Both of the brothers. [[spoiler: In the last level, the younger one especially becomes this as he has to overcome all his previous fears and weaknesses now that his brother is dead.]]
* DownerBeginning: It's revealed in the opening scene that the mother drowned some time before, and that the younger brother watched it happen, and even failed to save her.
* DreamSequence: the younger brother will have one after getting knocked out in the river.
** 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]]
** ImagineSpot: [[spoiler:After the older brother dies, the younger one sees him as alive for a moment, and two two even hug each other.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: You come across someone whose family died when their house burned down in a fire, and have the option of stopping him from hanging himself and to cheer him up by searching the burned house for a music box.

* TheFarmerAndTheViper: [[spoiler: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..]]

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: The game is lauded as being a model example generally, but specifically toward the end has one of the most emotionally powerful uses the left trigger button has likely ever seen: [[spoiler: Throughout the game the younger brother has been shown to be phobic of water and unable to swim, needing to be carried in water by the older brother. With the older brother no longer around in the game's final moments, the younger brother needs to swim for himself--which he does by pressing the action button previously reserved for the now-absent older brother, evoking his place on the controller as the character does his place in his mind. The game doesn't tell the player to do this; Younger just stands crying at the edge of the water until the finger strays to the key that shouldn't do anything.]]

** There's a puzzle earlier in the game in the inventor's area where you're supposed to have one brother throw a gear across a gap to another brother. If you didn't mess around with the little girl's ball at the beginning of the game, you'd have no way of knowing 1) that you can throw things in the first place, and 2) how to do so.
* HopeSpot: [[spoiler: The older brother may be stabbed, but it was only a little ways away from the magic healing tree. The younger brother manages to get some healing water for his dying older brother...but he is too late.]]

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler: The spider girl fatally stabs the older brother with her dying breath.]]
* InASingleBound: The girl, who demonstrates clearing obstacles with ease and a minor case of SuperStrength. [[spoiler: Justified because she turns out to be some sort of Spider Lady monster.]]

* InfantImmortality: Horribly averted in gameplay [[spoiler: and in the story alike.]]
* InjuredPlayerCharacterStage: An unusual example. When [[spoiler: the older brother dies, you continue as the younger brother. The younger brother technically has full health, but now must accomplish feats that previously required both brothers.]]

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

** SceneryGorn: Also features some of this, particularly in the chapter where the brothers [[spoiler: pass through a valley filled with dead giants.]]

* SmellyFeet: For some reason, interacting with the giants' feet with either brother will cause them to take a whiff and act like it smells terrible. Feet only smell bad if they're kept in socks or shoes all day, and the giants clearly don't wear them, so their feet wouldn't smell any worse than their hands or any other body part. Granted they are dead, but since the bodies are still bleeding, rot wouldn't have set in yet, so they wouldn't smell bad for that reason either.
* SnowMeansDeath: 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. [[spoiler: 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.]]

* WhamShot: [[spoiler: Players might notice that something is ''very'' wrong when the girl the brothers rescued performs improbable feats, such as jumping over large chasms and tearing a lock from a large wooden gates.]]

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

* ItWasHisSled: Sadly, a growing amount of people know by now that [[spoiler: the game starts with a pair of brothers, yet only one makes it back]].

* GameplayStorySegregation: The game is lauded as being a model aversion generally, but specifically toward the end has one of the most emotionally powerful uses the left trigger button has likely ever seen: [[spoiler: Throughout the game the younger brother has been shown to be phobic of water and unable to swim, needing to be carried in water by the older brother. With the older brother no longer around in the game's final moments, the younger brother needs to swim for himself--which he does by pressing the action button previously reserved for the now-absent older brother, evoking his place on the controller as the character does his place in his mind. The game doesn't tell the player to do this; Younger just stands crying at the edge of the water until the finger strays to the key that shouldn't do anything.]]

* KidsAreCruel: The younger brother is quite the {{Jerkass}} in his interactions with other [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]].

* OneWomanWail: Very prevalent in this game.

* CrapsackWorld: Beneath the stunning landscapes and few friendly people and beasts lies a world filled with death, destruction, war, blood cults and monsters. Given the nature of the world they live in, one would question the sanity of the healer who has sent two children out on a long journey alone.

* WhamShot: [[spoiler: Players will notice that something is ''very'' wrong when the girl the brothers rescued perform improbable feats, such as jumping over large chasms and tearing a lock from a large wooden gates.]]

* 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?! Are by chance these "trees" preying on me? 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...? Girl, why are you moving like you're possessed?!? OhCrap]]

* 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.
** Actually the older brother is named Naia, as his {{Leitmotif}} reveals. So the younger brother is probably Naie or Naiee.

* RiverOfInsanity: One boating section involves trying to avoid playful killer whale creatures that can capsize the brothers' raft and sink them into freezing water.

* MadScientist: The inventor the brothers meet at one time is experimenting with a hang-glider that is used by them to travel to the tower. He also has some kind of organ thing that when "played" properly makes him dance.

* KidsAreCruel: The younger brother is a bit of a {{Jerkass}} in his interactions with other [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]].

* KidsAreCruel: The younger brother is a bit of a {{Troll}} in his interactions with other [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]].

* InvisibleMonsters: An 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.

* InfantImmortality: Horribly averted in both gameplay [[spoiler: and in the story itself.]]

* HopeSpot: [[spoiler: The older brother may be stabbed, but it was only a little ways away from the magic healing tree. The younger brother manage to get some healing water for his dying older brother...but he is too late.]]

* 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 by searching the burned house for a music box.