10 Most Bizarre Video Game Mechanics (That Actually Worked)

9. Two Characters, One Controller - Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons

Before Josef Fares of Hazelight Studios made a name for himself saying “F*ck the Oscars” at The Game Awards, he made an absolute beautiful game, Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons.

Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons is one of the best examples of a game that nails its ludonarrative harmony - that is, the game mechanics feed the strength of the narrative and vice versa. You can play this one with a mouse and keyboard but you really shouldn’t. On the controller, one brother is controlled by the left hand with the left thumb stick and trigger, and the other is controlled by the right. It sounds pretty clumsy, but you pick it up quickly. The game’s narrative has some hard-hitting themes based around family, adolescence, grief, and death. Meanwhile the story is part fantasy adventure and part familial romp with some twists and turns thrown in for good measure. I should point out all of this is achieved without a word of spoken dialogue, too, so that’s pretty darn impressive and that unique mechanic has even more heavy lifting to do as a result.

Now, I really want you to play this one so I’m not going to spoil it for you but suffice it to say this is probably one of the few occasions where a control scheme will make you cry. It’s genius, check it out.