Sometimes what a person needs is a game that is challenging but still easy so that it’s fun. Other times a person might need a game which they play entirely to admire its design and artwork. Both of these things are included in the 2021 Game of the Year winner, “It Takes Two.”
“It Takes Two” is a two-player story-based adventure game where the main characters are a couple contemplating divorce. As tension builds between her parents, an only child named Rose struggles to spend quality time with them. She creates miniatures of her mother and father where she imagines ideal scenarios between them. One day, Rose cries after realizing her parents were finalizing the divorce and her tears put life into the miniatures she created. In this magical event, the parents’ souls have been trapped in the toy versions of themselves.
The couple is promptly met by Dr. Hakim, a personified “Book of Love” who tells them that they have trials ahead which they must overcome in order to restore their human forms. The two main characters, Cody and May, decide to call a truce to their uncooperative relationship until they have succeeded.
As the story progresses, the two learn more about each other and their daughter whom they realize they had been neglecting for too long. This is not before they engage in all kinds of ridiculous missions and do some very questionable things, all while continuing to argue with each other over petty events of the past.
The reason why this game won the Game of the Year award is clear to anyone who tries it even for five minutes. It is designed to be an emotional experience enjoyed by two people, which are normally a couple. The first time I played it was actually with a best friend of mine but we still ended up having a great time, so it doesn’t even have to be played by a romantic couple necessarily. The point is that it helps you build a good relationship with another person both in the game and in real life.
Another pro is that the game isn’t even that difficult. There are still loads of good challenges and moments where you have to think, but it’s not impossible to the level of “Elden Ring.” A lot of levels in the game feel rewarding because the solutions are clever and figuring them out makes you feel intelligent. Some of the levels have solutions which are not necessarily chronological, so players can decide how they want to reach the next checkpoint.
The atmosphere of the game carries it such a long way. This is why, even though it’s a two-player game, it can be enjoyed by multiple players at once. Just watching others play it for the first time is enjoyable itself. Cody and May have been turned into toys, which means the whole world around them is much larger and that they interact with other toys as well. A solid portion of the game is spent trying to get Rose’s attention by traversing through her room.
Each time Cody and May end up on the next mission, they acquire a different set of tools or powers to use. This eliminates any monotony in the game. For example, the space-themed level included Cody’s ability to become giant or tiny and May’s equipment of gravity boots to stick to the ceiling. Another level that I enjoyed literally turned the game into a dungeon fighter with magic powers and top-down camera viewing. Needless to say, it was really cool to be hit with a constant wave of new abilities and structures of gameplay per level.
In order to further prove that gaming together is fun, the developers released a free “Friend’s Pass” so that only one person needs to own a copy of the game for both to play. This type of service from developers is a sign of appreciation for players that invites people to enjoy the experience together.
I encourage you to pick up a copy and find your friend or partner to enjoy it with. You will enjoy all of the heartfelt moments in this game as well as some of the more brutal ones. I mean, Cody and May are terrible parents and monsters. They are responsible for murdering a vacuum cleaner by feeding it its own eyes, blowing up an entire beehive, and an elephant–oh, I can’t even bring myself to tell you about her.