This review contains spoilers
Really cute and sad game. I enjoyed the experience for most of it. How the two brothers interacted differently with various characters and objects in the world was a cool way of showing their differences. There was lots of great environmental storytelling, this is a really fucked up world. I loved the valley of dead giants and frozen village in particular. I liked that it was more of an experience, and touches like the spider getting weaker as the fight progressed was a nice way of showing that.
What I want to talk about most though is the ending. I played this over a day and didn't take many breaks in between, so I got used to the unconventional controls. When the older brother died, my left hand felt useless. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, but it was a very cool felling when I recognised that. Performing actions like swimming and pulling a lever that the younger brother needed help on earlier was a little cheesy, but I liked it. I found my left thumb moving in the same way as my right after the swimming, sort of like controlling a katamari, which was another great realisation, that made the story being told more impactful in a way only a video game can be. I think the griffin being alive at the end after being seemingly dead was a nice way of showing that the mother and older brother would live on through the father and younger brother.
Also the director commentary included was really cool.
What I want to talk about most though is the ending. I played this over a day and didn't take many breaks in between, so I got used to the unconventional controls. When the older brother died, my left hand felt useless. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, but it was a very cool felling when I recognised that. Performing actions like swimming and pulling a lever that the younger brother needed help on earlier was a little cheesy, but I liked it. I found my left thumb moving in the same way as my right after the swimming, sort of like controlling a katamari, which was another great realisation, that made the story being told more impactful in a way only a video game can be. I think the griffin being alive at the end after being seemingly dead was a nice way of showing that the mother and older brother would live on through the father and younger brother.
Also the director commentary included was really cool.