When It Takes Two won Game of the Year at the 2021 Game Awards, I wasn’t someone who questioned it. I love indie games, so I was glad to see one getting the shine. I hadn’t played it at that point and knew I’d get around to it but wasn’t making it a priority.
And then it ended up being free on PS Plus in July 2023. My girlfriend jumped on it and stashed it away on her PS5. Some time passed and we were playing random games together. We’d fire up the Jackbox collection, and I’d hand her a whooping in Wheel of Fortune (never play me in word games). But we hadn’t really found a game to lean into together.
YOU AND ME AND THE PS5 MAKE THREE
Until she remembered that she stashed It Takes Two. We fired it up, picked our characters, and jumped in. Before we even got into the gameplay, the opening told me it was basically “Couple’s Therapy: The Game.”
But we got going and I was immediately enjoying it. The art style was as fun as the gameplay, and the little jokes strewn around the environment, as well as the writing, had me locked in. The time spent setting up the action and the situation both characters found themselves in pulled me in even more. At some point, I just determined that both of them were being ridiculous and wanted to see how we got to the reconciliation.
But it was the interconnected gameplay that kept us coming back. Every one of the puzzles requires that you work with your partner. Communication is key, as they say, and it was vital here. Timing out throws, movements, and jumps to progress to the next area never got old. If It Takes Two is anything, it’s a perfect example of how to make two-player gameplay matter.
IT TAKES TWO FOR REAL
We started the game when I got home from work and would mess around with the various mini-games. Don’t hold me to this, but I believe she only took two of them off me. I know I won the majority, though. But it was so fun, we’d run most of them back.
There’s an early section of It Takes Two that requires a hammer and nail to progress, and my character had the homing nail. So, naturally, I spent the first 15 minutes chasing her around with the nail and throwing it at her. In return, she tried to smash me with the hammer. All in good fun.
The section that stuck out the most was a snow-filled town where we could get into a snowball fight. We went back and forth for 20 or 30 minutes. I enjoyed every second of my time playing with my girlfriend. Gaming is something I love, and connecting with the people I love through it feels incredible. I’m not sure what Hazelight Studios has planned next, but I’m sure we’ll both be there.
The post ‘It Takes Two’: Proving Connection Is Key appeared first on VICE.
The post ‘It Takes Two’: Proving Connection Is Key appeared first on VICE.
