Ideas For a Sequel? [spoilers]

[Solarstrike]

I really wasn't sure about what to name the title of this thread. As a "sequel" is kind of cliche'. For this game, a continuation of the story/saga of the Brothers world would be more precise. I also want to say that I really like this game. It's the best adventure game I played in a long time.


What we know so far..

We were somewhere in a foreign land or world, the Brothers had to work together as they traveled across this land. The Father was ill with a sickness that only the ancient Tree could cure. Who or what planted the Tree?

The Elder of the Village gave a map to where the Brothers had to go. Where did the map come from? Did the Gryphon deliver it, sometime before? Was the map given from the tribal people? Maybe it was taken by the Father a long time ago during his travels and was given to the Elder, who kept it hidden until the time it was needed.

There was some sort of war of the giant beings. The Brothers didn't know why they faught or what they were fighting for. The battle appeared to be recent. There was a tribal people, maybe they helped defeat them? Maybe they controlled those giant things like in some sort of game? If not, who or what were those giant beings fighting?

Much of the land was inhabited by machines in which the Brothers did not know their purpose. Was this area of the land really part of a large machine all somehow, connected the Tree?

The troll race of people were willing to help the Brothers, as if they knew the people of the Village. Did they know who the Brothers' Father was? Did the Father help them in battle or escape a long time ago?

The younger Brother has the ability to commune with people who passed because he is greatful and loving of all good living beings. He is aware of his surroundings. He becomes much stronger than anyone in the Village.

What is beyond the mountains and ocean, you think? Maybe the creator of the glider has a flying machine or boat hidden somewhere to get to that part of the land, but it needs repairs? Hence his creation of the glider to gather parts (steal?) from the castle. The pipes played a music tune which maybe distracted whatever was in the castle. I'm sorry for any spelling grammar mistakes I am still recovering from a car accident. :/

[quip_me]

Personally, I would love to see a sequel of the game but I don't think any close ties to the original would be something the authors would want. The story is complete, there isn't anything left to be said and that's ok.

So if there was to be a sequel, the younger brother or the father should have a cameo role at the most, nothing more. Or it could be a spiritual sequel - inspired by the game but being something quite different.

[Solarstrike]

Originally posted by quip_me:

. So if there was to be a sequel, the younger brother or the father should have a cameo role at the most, nothing more. Or it could be a spiritual sequel - inspired by the game but being something quite different.

I agree. Maybe the Father could teach him how to hunt, fish, or even build something with the help of the Inventor. Something not too simple though, but it would set the path for a new journey.

Maybe the opening of the new adventure could show the giants in the distance edging closer to the Village. You would hear (and feel with the controller) the thundering footsteps as they approached and you have to gather as many people and supplies with help of the Father as you can onto the ship/airship.

When the giants speak, it would be loud and echo, the birds and animals would be affected by this. One of the giants maybe would get close enough where you would have to move in it's shadows or distract it to an area where rocks are tumbling down, due to the footsteps from the other ones approaching.

The troll race would make an appearance and offer more help on the journey. Like they would appear in their own ship, as you are travelling to the new area. Maybe they would have an ancient submarine type machine/ship which would lead to an underwater civilization. As the story progresses in that area, they could reward you with some sort of underwater gear which would not only help walk on the bottom of the ocean, but it would provide armor. Just a few ideas lol :/

[arigatoor]

I feel the same way as quip_me on this one, I would also imagine a follow up game to "Brothers" less as a direct sequel in the same world and more as a game with similar atmosphere and maybe some of the same stylistic devices (for example having the inhabitants of the world speaking a non-understandable language) but in a different setting with maybe even very different gameplay (so not necessarily controlling 2 characters with 2 analog sticks anymore).


I think of it as how the games by Team ICO relate to each other:

in "ICO" you play a supposedly cursed boy who wants to break out of a castle and teams up with a girl and during their escape they often hold hands (innovative game mechanic);

in "Shadow of the Colossus" you play as a young warrior, who brings the lifeless body of a girl dear to him to a vast land where he has to hunt down and kill giant beings in order to revive her (innovative, dynamic battle mechanics);

and the not yeat released (but hopefully being still in production) project called "The Last Guardian" seems to be about a boy who befriends a big gryffon-like beast (game mechanics probably would involve controlling the beast in an indirect way by giving it orders or train its habits).

But all three games also seem to share parallels, for example there is not much dialogue and when characters talk to each other, they use a fictional language (of course we don't know for sure what the third game is going to be like, so that is just an asumption). Not much of the lore and the backstory of the events at the beginning of the game are explained, which provides the game world with an aura of mystery. "Brothers" reminds me a lot of these aspects, that's why they came to my mind when I was looking for examples to illustrate this.


But it is awesome that you collected all the loose ends and open questions of "Brother"'s story and listed them here in one thread, this is really worth talking and speculating about because the game's characters and background are just so rich and also often mysterious.

Regarding a direct continuation of this story: what I could imagine to work well, would be a follow up to the ending (or a prequel) in the form of a graphic novel or an animated storyboard. The game's official homepage is already kind of animated, it is constantly in motion when someone scrolls down the page and this creates a wonderful feeling of immersion.

[quip_me]

Whoa, I am really impressed by the game design and story ideas you unravelled, Wartom! I absolutely agree with arigatoor's take on the matter, though. And just fyi, guys, I am genuinely surprised at the level of posts here - I am a VERY occasional gamer, just ventured to the Steam discussions for the first time now and frankly didn't expect this consideration, eloquence and depth.

Anyways, while reading various reviews and articles on Brothers, I too stumbled upon Team ICO, whose games arigatoor mentioned. I could see something similar in the case of Brothers. Although there is so much material to further explore in the game, the charm of the game for me in part came exactly from this...illiterality [gosh, I hope this is a word in English] and generous profusion with the ideas.

Also, bear in mind, that Starbreeze is pretty much all over the place with their games. I imagine Brothers was sort of a "take-a-break game" for them, one that they could give an outlet to their Scandinavian heritage. If I were to pitch an idea, I would love to see an adventure game set in present day Copenhagen as a place of a hidden world of H.C. Andersen's fairy-tales with interactions between ours and the magical world (I could so see the statue of the little mermaid coming to life, a level at the Tivoli Gardens amusement park at night,...). To mke it a little less cliche, the exploration of and initiation into the hidden world could be very very slow so that the pelayer is rewarded by every little unusual thing. I don't know, just thinking out loud . ]

Oh - and forgot - good luck with recovering! Hope you're feeling better.

[Solarstrike]

Originally posted by arigatoor:

Regarding a direct continuation of this story: what I could imagine to work well, would be a follow up to the ending (or a prequel) in the form of a graphic novel or an animated storyboard. The game's official homepage is already kind of animated, it is constantly in motion when someone scrolls down the page and this creates a wonderful feeling of immersion.

I think you have a really great idea. Maybe an interactive illustrated audio book for Kindle, Ipad, SteamBox, Android, etc. Something which gives a bit more detail (but not too much) of the world. The game's homepage is really well done. The passion the developers in creating something different, unique, simple but at the same time, powerful. You are right there are clues and mysteries are filled throughout the game.

The drunken man, for example in the main Village. He looked at the map as if he recognized the place but shunned it as if he may have knew something. Maybe he along with the Father tried to find the Tree a long time ago. He maybe knew something more which lead to his condition of drunkeness.

The ship at the end, on the shore. The place near where you can skip rocks on the water. I think that part is sort of like a rememberance, each skip of the rock on the water is like a memory. Did the Villagers arrive on the ship a long time ago? A lot of the Villagers seem to know the place where the Tree is. The Elder Lady in the rocking chair, for example. The troll couple as well. Maybe the Father and the Drunken man were apart of a crew on that ship which found the map (or took it from some being).

The Troll couple reside overlooking the Village, as if to protect it from something or be protected themselves.

Whatever was in the castle had a fondness for birds. There were books of birds about the castle room where the Gryphon was. Whatever took the Gryphon knew what it was looking for. The books appear to be old as if whatever was looking for the Gryphon, was looking for some time.

The nest in the Tree near the top, was empty. This, I believe was the nest of the Gryphon who came to save the younger Brother and who flew over him and his Father at the end. Showing us that, whatever is beyond the horizon, is now reachable through it. I could go on lol but in 2nd and 3rd playthroughs more can be seen I think

[Jartis]

1st off, not sure how the Steam forums are about necro, so sorry if that's an issue, but the discussion's already here and it didn't appear that there was a newer one.

Onto my ideas. My immediate first thought was that if all these mythical creatures and the mythical tree thing exists, perhaps there's also a tangible underworld, in which case a sequel could see us playing a more grown-up younger brother venturing into the underworld to retrieve his brother for the first half, and the two coordinating once again on their way out for the second half. Just a thought. Perhaps the younger brother's father could be his partner for the first half of the journey, and take the older brother's place, life for a life after all, and what father wouldn't sacrifice themselves for their son?

[Solarstrike]

Originally posted by Jartis:

1st off, not sure how the Steam forums are about necro, so sorry if that's an issue, but the discussion's already here and it didn't appear that there was a newer one.

Onto my ideas. My immediate first thought was that if all these mythical creatures and the mythical tree thing exists, perhaps there's also a tangible underworld, in which case a sequel could see us playing a more grown-up younger brother venturing into the underworld to retrieve his brother for the first half, and the two coordinating once again on their way out for the second half. Just a thought. Perhaps the younger brother's father could be his partner for the first half of the journey, and take the older brother's place, life for a life after all, and what father wouldn't sacrifice themselves for their son?

I think that would be a very interesting and exciting part to the storyline. As i described above, maybe you have to travel under water which then leads to a sort-of underworld place in which the older brother maybe isn't really dead? Since he passed near the Tree, maybe it's power is keeping him alive but in another realm or dimension that only the younger brother can see. In that journey he must travel alone mainly, but with the help of the Father and the Inventor (creator of the sound and flying machine, boat?) along the way. Idk..but am really glad people are continuing this discussion on a great game and story.

[Solarstrike]

A bit of good news regarding the future of the game. Thanks Allgamesbeta for the relay and Nasdaq for the article. Good luck and good journey to 505 Games!

505 Games acquires Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/starbreeze-ab-505-games-acquires-the-game-brothers---a-tale-of-two-sons-from-starbreeze-ab-20150116-00053#ixzz3P2YiWF1h

[Mr. Moyer]

One of the things I like about this game is that, despite the fact that they're surrounded by fairy-tale creatures, the boys are totally normal kids. They're not great warriors, they don't have magic powers, and they're both already dealing with dual tragedies at the start of the game. So I for one, think that the whole "rescue big brother" idea is the wrong angle to take in this particular case. Part of what makes the story so compelling is that it is a story about family, about life and death, and the fact that death is permanent. Honestly, as much as I love this game, I think it is a complete story in one shot; a direct sequel just seems like overkill.

It might be interesting to learn about some of the other characters in the game though. Like, what became of the bully from the village? Did he grow up and join the guards, maybe he went off seeking vengeance against those weird cult guys from the first game. And what about the trolls that were being forced to work in the mines? What's their story (past or future)? And let's not forget about all those giant corpses... I'm sure there's some kind of tale to be told about that. I'd like to see some of these other characters given the spotlight, rather than trying to focus on the boys and their father again. Seriously, the mother and the big brother are dead and the father nearly died, too. I think that family has suffered enough... let them "live happily ever after" or something close to it.

[Solarstrike]

Originally posted by dj_moyer:

One of the things I like about this game is that, despite the fact that they're surrounded by fairy-tale creatures, the boys are totally normal kids. They're not great warriors, they don't have magic powers, and they're both already dealing with dual tragedies at the start of the game. So I for one, think that the whole "rescue big brother" idea is the wrong angle to take in this particular case. Part of what makes the story so compelling is that it is a story about family, about life and death, and the fact that death is permanent. Honestly, as much as I love this game, I think it is a complete story in one shot; a direct sequel just seems like overkill.

It might be interesting to learn about some of the other characters in the game though. Like, what became of the bully from the village? Did he grow up and join the guards, maybe he went off seeking vengeance against those weird cult guys from the first game. And what about the trolls that were being forced to work in the mines? What's their story (past or future)? And let's not forget about all those giant corpses... I'm sure there's some kind of tale to be told about that. I'd like to see some of these other characters given the spotlight, rather than trying to focus on the boys and their father again. Seriously, the mother and the big brother are dead and the father nearly died, too. I think that family has suffered enough... let them "live happily ever after" or something close to it.

There's a lot of mysteries to the game. I like reading all these things about people's thoughts of the game. There's a lot you don't see on the first play through or really think about during the initial journey. Some of these were iterated in previous posts. While I can respect some thought of just leaving the game as it is, to let the player wonder and leave it at that, there's just too much NOT to leave behind nor forget. What pulls the whole game together is the detail of the world. From interactions with people by mere gestures or good deeds (maybe mischievous). Exploring stange lands with strange fauna or contraptions built by who knows what.

The Warrior Giants for example. One can imagine travelling to the land in which they came from. The thundering sound and shaking of the screen (examples) as they go about. You, as the younger brother, and a trusty companion exploring and surviving. Where could this location be? Some far off island; an island in the sky? Were the Giants good or evil? Maybe they battled the Trolls (some who were looking over the village as guardians). Maybe other Trolls were traitors and sided with the tribal-people could be another addition to the story. Perhaps the Engineer was one of the great teachers and choose to leave to teach others great things (flight, ship building, or music).

Regardless, the Giant Warriors which came to the land seemed to be defeated. There were a few, so this leads me to believe they were a squad looking for something or someone. There's probably more and probably not to happy. Imagine them in the far distance heading towards the main city. Rocks and giant arrows piercing the sky causing lighting and thunder. The mountains crumbling as they get closer. Where must the jouney go and who will go?

The Engineer could build a machine of sound and a machine of flight. I think he has a connection to the father. As i thought earlier with some input from other posters here, maybe they traveled to a far off land and "took" something of great importance from the Giants; the old crashed ship at the end to the right of where the younger brother skips some rocks i think, is another clue. The sound or horn machine i believe is another clue. It distracted the Giant(s) who remained in the castle before the player flew to it and transversed it's walls and door. The Engineer knew how to distract whatever was in the castle. The Gryphon plays a role and by observing the large books, it's something a certain Giant there was looking for. Who was that Giant and where did it go?

In not forgetting the older brother or mother, it is in that which sets the story. Something to fight for. Something to keep hope and guidance. Strength and perseverance. An understanding that the journey ahead is something far greater in importance. The Great Tree is something eternal, alive, and ever watching. The younger brother really didn't know too much about it. Only some in the main city new it's location. In the moment of his brothers death, the younger brother knew only the best and right thing to do, to lay him to rest near that good tree. Knowing in his heart, maybe one day he'll return. Maybe not as a mortal, but as something far greater as in the Gryphon itself.