Ask pretty much anyone that knows me and they will definitely say that I’m primarily an action/shooter game guy. For the most part this is accurate; I abhor sports games, RTS games, fighting games (though Divekick is a lot of fun), rhythm games, and most puzzle games. Generally, if I can shoot something in a video game I’m interested. With that said though, this isn’t all there is to my gaming interests. I do love fantasy games and RPGs, but mostly I enjoy good looking games with good stories to tell. Games like Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

Upon reading the earliest previews for the game I knew it was something I wanted to play. When I finally got some hands-on time with the game this past E3 this feeling was affirmed. In awe of it’s gorgeous art style and taken by it’s incredibly simplistic control scheme, I jumped at the chance to review this year’s inaugural Summer of Arcade title.

If anyone read my review (and you should), you know that I absolutely adored the game and it now ranks as my third favorite game of the year, behind only Tomb Raider and The Last of Us. Two vastly different games from Brothers for sure, but similar in that all three games presented me with a character journey and an amazingly realized world. Beyond the obvious, where Tomb Raider and The Last of Us diverge from Brothers is in how amazingly the gameplay and the theme of the game are fused together to the point where one can not exist without the other.

Controlling each Brother with a corresponding thumbstick and trigger provides such a joyous gaming experience that when the game pays off on these two concepts in the final moments of the game, I couldn’t help but marvel at the sheer genius of the entire game. Never mind that the game features a seamless and impressive fairy tale world that took me to some fantastic regions, both whimsical and incredibly dark–which is enough to marvel at themselves.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is truly something special that deserves to played by fans of all types of games. If you care enough about video games to be reading Gamer Horizon, then go pick up the game on Xbox Live, PSN or Steam, set aside three or so hours and experience this game. You owe it to yourself and I would even say to Starbreeze for making it and 505 Games for taking a chance with this unorthodox beauty of a game.