It Takes Two is a co-op platformer released in 2021 on just about every system out there – Ps4/5, PC, Xbox One and Series X/S, and the Switch. Lady Dynamo and I played this together on the Switch, in couch co-op mode.
Gameplay
It Takes Two This game is designed as a two player game, and has no solo player option – you either play together on your couch or you can play together online. It is also played in split-screen – I sort of expected this to be horizontally split, but it’s a vertical one. That felt a little strange at first, but we got used to it pretty quickly. Unless you have more than two hands or are really adept at dual wielding controllers, you will have to have a friend to play with.
Each player is able to control one of the two characters, and you’ll work together to solve various puzzles as you advance. Each character will have different abilities at different times, and there are a lot of cases where you will have to perform different actions at the same time, or rely on each other to get through something.
As far as playing it goes – it went incredibly smooth. No issues on the Switch at all, and the controls were pretty easy to understand. There were no overly complicated combinations of buttons, and most puzzles are solved by jumping/climbing actions, moving things around, or shooting things.
At times, each character has different options – for example, in one case, May controls a hammer (for smashing) while Cody has a nail he can throw at obstacles – creating places that can be jumped to, or shooting far away triggers. In another example, Cody has to fly a plane, while May tries to shoot down enemies. It is a very cute, fun way to get the players working together to progress!
There are also small challenges through out the game – mini-games where the two of you will compete against each other. We did not manage to unlock all of the mini-games, but we had fun with the ones we did unlock. (Except Chess. I am not good at Chess.)
Story
It Takes Two’s story revolves around a married couple, Cody and May, who are about to go through a divorce. It’s apparent the game is geared more towards couples playing together and puts a lot of emphasis on relationship building (especially the romantic kind) but it can easily be played with a friend.
It Takes Two begins with the parents arguing, and after their daughter, Rose, hears about the divorce – she takes her two hand-made dolls that resemble her parents, and with a little bit of magic tears – the parents become trapped in the dolls. Honestly, the dolls are really cute – much cuter than the actual human models in the game! Those were a bit awkward and creepy at times.
Being trapped in a doll is startling enough, but then comes in the third main character, the book Dr. Hakim. Dr. Hakim is literally a book about relationships come to life to tell Cody and May to get it together, and sends them on a series of adventures designed to make them evaluate their relationship.
In the early adventures, you’ll have to work through tools that have come to life that blame you for neglecting them – sort of as the tutorial levels. You’ll learn the various actions you can take, and how to begin to work together to solve puzzles… while Dr. Hakim gets in the way and continues to throw more and more obstacles at you. While … gyrating at you, with his very bad accent.
He also choose to twirl around with his weird little book arms on every loading screen. Not a fan, Dr. Hakim.
Spoiler for first boss
In the first boss, you’ll face off against a vacuum cleaner who is very angry at being shelved – and extra angry when he finds out he’s been replaced. It is an interesting boss battle in which you have to work together to shoot flaming aerosol cans at him.
Until you weaken him enough to suck out his eyeballs with his own hose. This just made me relive the air conditioner from The Brave Little Toaster all over again.
Cody and May decide that the only way to get back to their bodies is the same way they got into the doll bodies: they are going to have to make Rose cry on them again. That is definitely sad, and at times the game is going to make you feel really, really bad for doing so:
Spoiler for Cutie the Elephant
YOU WILL LITERALLY RIP APART HER TOY ELEPHANT, WHILE IT CRIES AND BEGS YOU NOT TO.
SERIOUSLY. You take this adorable toy elephant, which is Rose’s favorite, to kill her just to make Rose cry. Ripping off ears and limbs along the way. Then DANCE IN HER TEARS.
Once Cody and May realize that making their daughter cry on them won’t restore them – they begin working with Dr. Hakim on various obstacles designed to help them rediscover what they loved about themselves, and each other. This takes them through reminding them of some of their early dates (even to where Cody originally proposed), helping Cody take care of his abandoned garden (while meeting some of the cutest spiders you will ever see – a huge change from Grounded!), and then helping May find her love for music again.
Spoiler for ending
Cody and May will eventually resolve a lot of their differences, but while they were dolls their human bodies were essentially unconscious: Cody was sitting at his desk, staring blankly while May was asleep on the couch. During the events of the game, Rose tries to talk to them and after getting no response from either, she starts to believe that the whole divorce is her fault – and resolves to run away.
She makes it as far as the bus stop when Cody and May are returned to their respective bodies, and they rush after her to stop her and bring her home.
You’ll probably see the ending from a mile away, but there are some good notes in it. It is great to see the individuals emphasized as well as their relationship, and to highlight how important self-care is.
Dynamo and I streamed the full game over 4 evenings. We both really enjoyed it and had a great time! It was pretty cheesy at times – and we both could have done with less of that book.
Overall Review
Dynamo and I give It Takes Two a solid 9/10. Seriously, it loses a star for how irritating that book was. It isn’t that the character itself was not helpful to the plot, but his overall personality and design was just irritating. Most of the game was pretty cute, but Dr. Hakim is a really bad caricature. Other than that, the game plays smoothly, and it’s pretty cute.
Was it fun, though?
Absolutely! I was really excited to have a return to an actual couch co-op game to play – so many multiplayer games are only available online these days. It’s not an overly difficult game to play, it’s not incredibly long, and Lady Dynamo and I had great time playing It Takes two. We need more games like this! If you have suggestions for similar games, please drop it in the comments and let us know!
The Bardic Unicorn 