Josef Fares' magical Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is next week's free Epic Store game

eurogamer.net:

Starbreeze Studios' masterful fantasy adventure Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons will — should you somehow have made the calamitous mistake of not playing it in the years since its release back in 2013 — be next week's freebie on the Epic Games Store.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons — the first game to be directed by Josef Fares, who has, of course, gone on to make A Way Out and last year's acclaimed It Takes Two — tells the darkly magical story of two siblings on a quest to find a cure for their father's mysterious affliction.

It's a truly special experience (one of my personal favourites, in fact, and a game I'll happily revisit once a year), perfectly capturing the sense of wonder and terror inherent in the very best fairy tales. From its innocent beginnings in the relative tranquility of the brothers' idyllic village, its tone grows steadily more sombre as their quest proceeds, conjuring up a number of truly unforgettable sequences across its relatively scant play time.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Launch Trailer.

Brothers' precise, emotionally rich storytelling is elevated still further by its central mechanical conceit, which tasks a single player with controlling both siblings simultaneously, using each brother's inherent strength to solve puzzles, overcome obstacles, and push onward to the next memorable location. It's a system requiring plenty of dexterity and coordination, but one that marries beautifully to the onscreen action, with players' growing comfort with the unusual controls perfectly reflected in the sibling's evolving relationship.

All of which is to say that Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is an absolutely spellbinding experience that everybody should play at least once — and its appearance as next week's