It Takes Two

 PC
User Score
8.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 665 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 595 out of 665
  2. Mixed: 24 out of 665
  3. Negative: 46 out of 665

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  1. R4z8r
    Sep 1, 2021
    10
    Wow ce jeu est juste incroyable pour jouer avec un amis ! Gameplay ultra fun et histoire attachante ! je recommande a 100%
  2. Hittokiri_zero
    Aug 21, 2021
    9
    It is an amazing experience, greats mechanics, fantastic design, I am really impressed.
  3. TuringDev
    Aug 20, 2021
    10
    Gameplay is really funny and varied.
    Played with my 8 year old daughter I enjoyed as a child. Arts are superb !
    Best cooperative game I have ever enjoyed in my life.
  4. guilder
    Aug 17, 2021
    1
    Horrible storytelling, just bad writing disguised as dark humor that makes no sense for this type of game. If you think this is funny you are just a bad human being. The game play is amazing, however the terrible writing makes the game unplayable.
  5. brenden77
    Aug 1, 2021
    10
    Easily one of the best, if not the best co-op experiences on PC. I really loved the variety of gameplay. Never a dull moment. The writing for the characters was on the level of a Rom-com hollywood movie. Very impressive. Highly recommended.

    It deserves a much higher score than what you're seeing here.
  6. TitaniumDragon
    Jul 2, 2021
    8
    It Takes Two is a co-op 3D puzzle-platformer game with a great variety of gameplay over the 14 or so hours it takes to complete it. You play as one of two members of a married couple who are getting a divorce, but a magical book of love intervenes, trying to force the two back together. As such, the entire game revolves around cooperative problem solving in a fantastical shrunken-downIt Takes Two is a co-op 3D puzzle-platformer game with a great variety of gameplay over the 14 or so hours it takes to complete it. You play as one of two members of a married couple who are getting a divorce, but a magical book of love intervenes, trying to force the two back together. As such, the entire game revolves around cooperative problem solving in a fantastical shrunken-down environment.

    The core cooperative gameplay of this game is quite decent. It is a 3D puzzle platformer at its core, with the main goal being to overcome various challenges to reach a destination, rather than exploration. The game is entirely linear, but it takes the player through a wide variety of environments, and does a good job of mixing things up.

    The main “gimmick” of the game is that you gain powers in each area of the game. In one area, one player might have a nail, and another a hammer head; this can be used to both nail stuff down, as well as to swing around from the nails using the hammer for the purposes of traversal. In another area, the characters are given silly guns by squirrels to go fight wasps, with one shooting globs of sap and the other being able to light them on fire and make them explode. Still later, you gain powers like the ability to shrink or grow, or walk on walls, or various other things.

    All of these are used to solve various environmental puzzles, usually revolving around traversal, but sometimes trying to make things line up or break something or accomplish some other task. These tasks vary considerably, and the game avoids repeating too much by changing up the gameplay not just between levels, but oftentimes within levels as well.

    This is a game that is afraid of the audience getting bored, and it generally does a good job of avoiding it; while a couple levels do linger a bit too long, generally speaking, it does keep things fresh.

    The fact that the players must work together constantly works really well; this isn’t a game where one player can just solve everything, both players have to work together to get stuff done. It’s a great coop game, and can be played both online and side by side. Interestingly, regardless of which way you play it, it is always played in split screen mode – the reason being that it is often necessary to see what your partner is doing, and often helpful for helping each other figure things out.

    Best of all, you don’t even both have to own the game to play it! Only one player actually needs to buy the game; the other player can join in via the friend’s pass version of the game, which makes it pretty ideal for sharing it with another person.

    If there is a complaint about the core gameplay, it is that while it mixes things up a fair bit, it is never really THAT great. It is always decent to good, but it never really reaches the point of greatness.

    On the flipside, however, the plot and story are rather weak. The protagonists actually have a good reason to split up, but their daughter doesn’t understand what is going on and is upset by it. The book is basically a product of their daughter’s distress, but unfortunately, it ends up not working out very well story-wise, as while the problems the characters have are brought up, they are never actually addressed.

    This is a huge lost opportunity, as while each area is supposedly addressing some sort of issue they have, none of these areas actually address the issue – playing inside a cuckoo clock is a cute way to represent that they never have enough time for each other or for doing the things they want to do, but the actual story never actually presents any sort of solution for the fact that one of the characters is working too much to spend any time with the family, while the other resents the lack of time they have with them (and frankly, does a rather poor job of being a house-husband).

    The problem is that the game sort of acts like there is some sort of progress here, even though none of it makes much sense as a means of actually overcoming their real issues with each other. I would have liked for the game to either resolve the issues in some way, or at least present a potential solution, or else have the characters be like “None of this has anything to do with actually solving our problems!” and have it all end with them being like “Nope, we’re getting divorced anyway.” The ending of the game isn’t particularly good or earned, and while it is a bit ambiguous, it’s not all that great.

    In all fairness to the writing, though, while the overall plot is lousy, the actual dialogue and situations are often amusing, and there are definitely some funny lines. Still, this is not a game to be played for its story.    … Expand
  7. respwn
    Jun 26, 2021
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I can't really add to the hype. Even though its clearly one of the greater couch coop games, as a game itself it has three flaws:

    a) the replayability The game is very, very narrow. It's basically a movie, where you press buttons at the right time. Every playthrough is almost the same. Sure, you can miss a jump, but thats it.

    b) the difficulty
    This game is ultra casual. It's designed to let noone ever fail. Difficult jumps and scenes get heavy assists from the game. Being a little correct on a button press usually is enough. There is no real challenge, which adds to the "coop movie feel" and also removes replayability.

    c) the story "The story?" you ask? Yes, the story. Even though it seems like the strong point of the game, it has holes, that killed my enjoyment of the game a lot. If you don't want to read spoilers, stop here. Ok.

    The thing is, that the game is based on the story of parents, that lost themselves and their love to become pretty egoistic and ignorant. The game is the story of them discovering love again. That could be amazing. The problem that destroyed that for me was the "cutie scene". The writer said, that the scene was meant to show the parents state of mind. I get that, but it's incredibly over the top. Instead of making them look egoistic and unloving, it makes them look like psychopaths, that should be imprisoned for life to protect society. In an attempt to break the spell, they get the idea of making their daughter cry by destroying her most beloved plushy. That alone is pretty weird for parents, but ok. It turns out the plushy is alive. It doesn't stop them thinking its a great idea to kill it. They plan the murder attempt for hours, lie about their goals, kill hundreds of plushies to get access to the victim, don't stop when the plushy elephant is nice to them, begs for her life, swears she will help them break the spell instead, runs in panic from them. They mutilate the victim, torture it, and finally kill it. At one point they even recognite they might be the villains, but continue. To top that up, when it finally makes their daughter cry in emotional pain, they literally bath in the tears of her daughter while dancing and laughing.

    This felt so unrealistic for parents who just lost their mojo temporarily, but can find back being supportive and loving mum and dad. There was no empathy, no remorse. The game doesn't even pick up that scene later.

    I had a hard time to continue playing, because I couldn't see why these parents could possibly achieve a happy ending. Even when they stop getting a divorce and become human again, they still shouldn't be the guardian of a minor. It also didn't feel good to continue trying to have them succeed as the player.

    Even though it's just that scene, that really creates that plot hole, I think its a serious one and takes a lot from this game. It felts like lazy writing to achieve emotions, without making it fit.

    I don't have a problem with torture scenes in Videogames, because I liked the GTA V torture scenes. They were fitting the story. In this game it doesn't. It basically makes the happy ending dull and pointless. I decided to try to ignore this scene and play on and it was technically fun, but the story was broken for me.    … Expand
  8. jdidangel7
    Jun 19, 2021
    10
    This is the best and most fun coop game I’ve ever played! Graphics and gameplay are top notch, story is good not great.
  9. Coeurl3
    Jun 13, 2021
    10
    Amazing game to play with your significant other. Varied gameplay and super cool level design and music
  10. MetaPlayer6969
    Jun 9, 2021
    10
    Must-Play co-op of the year !
    The more you play the more you gonna be impressed and amazed by the sounds, the level design and the gameplay
  11. EnigmaNL
    Jun 8, 2021
    10
    This game is one of the best coop experiences I've ever had, almost on par with Portal 2.
  12. yugimacdow
    Jun 8, 2021
    10
    One of the best COOP games of all time.
    With friends pass, it's a no brainer
  13. ZUM_137
    Jun 8, 2021
    10
    Я уже не ожидал от EA такого, не ну я сейчас серьёзно!!!!
  14. Kel_Sceptic
    Jun 7, 2021
    10
    This is one of the best COOP games I've played so far. Loved the art, the gameplay and all the types of puzzled I've encountered.

    JUST a note, atm there are 10 user reviews with 0 and out of them 3 are posted wrong, they say 10/10, great game and so on, but they've posted the review with 0 score.
  15. belloeaitante
    May 29, 2021
    10
    It Takes Two is simply the best co-op game ever made. Even though the story may seem childish and uninspired at first, keep playing and you won't regret it.

    Basically the author wanted to make a game that wasn't repetitive and the result is an ever-changing gameplay with an amazing atmosphere.
  16. Atecno
    May 24, 2021
    10
    Creative and Amazing
    A joy from start to finish
    Definitely a game that everyone would have fun playing
  17. morbs
    May 23, 2021
    0
    The game didn't recognized my logitech F310 on steam (even though I use it on other games), so I got myself an xbox controller but the game doesn't recognize the Top Right button.
    Waste of money and time for me and my wife.
    Only buy the game if you are 100% sure you have a controller that actually works for the game.
  18. Trumby
    May 16, 2021
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Since the dawn of time, man has asked: What if Knack was pretentious? What if Psychonauts was boring? What if the mach speed sections of the 3D Sonic games were sluggish plods devoid of challenge? Unfortunately, Aristotle was not able to see the answer to these mysteries. More unfortunately, I was. It Takes Two comes to us from EA, a company most gamers know is a bunch of evil pricks, until they publish a game like this, the kind of indie title that people used to only pretend to like because its existence leant a veneer of artistic credibility to the medium of gaming. "Look, look!" they cry, fingers pointing, jaws slack, "it's not a sensory-overloading gorefest or barely disguised pornography! It's a game about something! Please take my hobby seriously so I can feel less like a loser."

    To say that ITT feels like a game that only exists so its creator could show it off at GDC for indie cred and convention **** would be burying the lede. The game comes courtesy of Swedish-Lebanese film director, game developer, and douche, Josef Fares. A quick glance at Fares' creative portfolio reveals a true wellspring of imagination. Fares is a man who immigrated to Sweden from Lebanon as a child to flee the Lebanese Civil War, and his most mainstream successful film is "Zozo", about a Lebanese boy who flees to Sweden to escape his country's civil war. The reason I credit it as having the most mainstream success of his filmography is because it was actually chosen to represent Sweden in the 78th Academy Awards "Best Foreign Language Film" category. Notice I did not say it was nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Foreign Language Film." I bring this up only to mention that Fares is infamous for a deranged speech at The Games Awards where he (in addition to screaming "this is my time to shine" and correcting Geoff Keighley on the number of films he's made) said F- the Oscars." It's a sentiment I agree with, but one that unavoidably hits different coming from someone who was explicitly rejected BY the Oscars.

    But back on topic: The creative sterility reveals itself before you even load up the game. Following up his previous two games of "Narrative-based co-op puzzle platformer" and "Narrative-based co-op generic 3rd person action game", ITT is a narrative-based co-op puzzle platformer. You play as Cody and May, a couple on the verge of divorce who become doll versions of themselves in a magical representation of their house because their daughter is sad about it. Throughout the game, you platform through obvious metaphors as the game repeatedly assaults you with scenes of our heroes finding random objects, saying "oh, remember how you used to play music? Remember how we used to go out and dance? Remember when we were young? Do you think we did a good job of unsubtly signaling to the audience that the story being told here is how we've drifted apart because our passions and youth have dwindled over the years?" once every 5 minutes.

    If you've made it this far into the review (thanks for that) and you're curious about the gameplay, it's fine. As I said three paragraphs ago, much of the game feels like the auto-scroller segments of a 3D Sonic the Hedgehog game had been slowed down to the point of childish simplicity, as if Hazelight found out the same secret Nintendo did, that you can take the same kinds of gameplay as a 3D Sonic title, tighten the controls by 20%, and slow the scrolling down to the point of zero challenge, and trick people who'd otherwise keep dying, get frustrated, and declare it bad game design into thinking that it's a masterpiece. (Also, tightening the controls is a lot harder than it sounds, because it means longer development cycles and more money for QA testing, and only companies with AAA money like, conveniently, Nintendo and EA, can really afford to eat the costs.) If the idea of Trine crossed with Mario Party excites you, you'd probably love this game. If that's what you want, then go for it, but I'll guarantee you there's a game like it already on Steam that's cheaper, longer than 15 hours, and doesn't force you to use Origin.

    But it's not the gameplay giving this game "Best Game of 2021" cred, it's the story. It's a twee, melodramatic indie game. In the minds of a certain demographic of male gamer (Funko collectors who still eat kid's cereals in footie pajamas while watching cartoons) this kind of game is the closest thing you get to cultural legitimacy. As a story goes, it's trash. The parents spend 95% of the game not even giving a F- about their kid, killing its sentient stuffed animal to make her cry for the purposes of breaking the spell, that NOT WORKING, and they not even feel bad for her. The stupid book explicitly telling you "I'm only halting your progress to pad out the story." The climax is her singing a made up song without lyrics to arouse her husband into kissing her. These people are awful parents who clearly resent their child's existence. Seriously, F- this game.    … Expand
  19. rupertsciamenna
    May 8, 2021
    10
    One of the best coop game ever created. Very funny to play with a friend, must play
  20. As5Hat
    May 6, 2021
    10
    Honestly, this is the best game I've played in the last few years, and that is saying a lot because I play nearly all major releases and tons of indie games. You'd be crazy to miss out on this with a friend (preferably your wife or girlfriend).
  21. vip02
    May 5, 2021
    10
    Excellent game! Great job, guys. We with my gf really loved it. The elephant scene was too cruel though but “Diablo” and “mortal kombat” parts are awesome
  22. Chabs
    May 5, 2021
    10
    Thank u ! Just thank u for this game. Make me feel like a kid again playing in splitscreen. All is good. I play with my girlfriend who is not a gamer and we enjoy this game so much together.

    - Good vibes
    - Generosity
    - Beautiful
    - gameplay renewed again and again
    - fun

    GOTY for me
  23. 4y4
    May 4, 2021
    10
    I really enjoyed this game with my girlfriend. Great graphics, story, gameplay etc. It's awesome.
  24. abudamak
    May 4, 2021
    0
    First of all, if someone buys this game, the other friend does not need to buy it + it earns points. The gameplay in the game is great, the story is bad.
  25. 1pengu
    May 3, 2021
    9
    I played this game with my bro (dont have a girlfriend xD). The graphics is beautiful. the story is very good.
  26. dimi79
    May 1, 2021
    10
    At the moment (2021 April) the best 2 player local Co Op game available.

    Great controls, atmosphere & Music. Simply a great and enjoyable game.
  27. alfador
    Apr 26, 2021
    9
    You can't play online - everyone from their keyboard. Only keyboard + mouse and the other person controller. That really sucks. Story is super childish, which is perhaps on purpose. Gameplay is very good.
  28. AndreOF
    Apr 25, 2021
    10
    This game is the perfect combination of creativity, passion and Col-lab-o-ra-tion!
  29. zMattyPower
    Apr 25, 2021
    10
    One of the best co-op games out there, you will probably never be bored because things change everytime, for me Hazelight Studios and Josef Fares are a guarantee!
  30. BinaryByto
    Apr 22, 2021
    8
    Эх, чуть-чуть не дотянули. У неё были все карты: красочная графика, великолепная анимация, технологии геймплея и опыт создания кооперативной игры для двоих, но увы, мы получили платформер средней сложности, который да, проходишь на одном дыхании, но устаёшь от повторяющихся моментов.
    Сюжет: он не нужен. Да, вроде и прикольно посмотреть на Коди и Мэй, которые с помощью Книги Любви (которую    Эх, чуть-чуть не дотянули. У неё были все карты: красочная графика, великолепная анимация, технологии геймплея и опыт создания кооперативной игры для двоих, но увы, мы получили платформер средней сложности, который да, проходишь на одном дыхании, но устаёшь от повторяющихся моментов.
    Сюжет: он не нужен. Да, вроде и прикольно посмотреть на Коди и Мэй, которые с помощью Книги Любви (которую так и хотелось сжечь) проходят через тернистый путь, чтобы вновь полюбить друг друга. Сей пробег по воспоминаниям семейной парочки был бы трогательным, не будь тут слишком много роликов и копеечного юмора, который сразу же игнорируется и не вызывает улыбку, именно из-за лёгкой атмосферы концовка не ощущается никак, но это типа сказка, где должен быть счастливый конец.
    Геймплей: средней сложности. Игра не будет идти наперекор вашим извилинам, поэтому если с платформерами на ты, то сложности не возникнут. У игры был потенциал головоломки, особенно с особыми скиллами, которые меняются с каждой главой, но увы, игра кидает тебе парочку действительно стоящих головоломок и... потом забывает про них, предлагая тебе просто побегать и попрыгать ради сюжета. Так что это бегалка, хоть и довольно неплохая. На фоне этой игры хорошо выделяется Biped, которая просто даёт тебе экшон челлендж и тут НУЖНО работать вместе, иначе дальше не пройдёшь. В этой же игре сильного духа единства не чувствуется, а ведь было бы здорово, когда после криков и вырываний волос на голове, вы наконец-то соображаете, как действовать сообща. Не будет и моментов "Аха", когда додумались до решения задачи. Мне не понравился разделённый экран, в Portal 2 ты смотришь в свой экран и можешь поднять экран напарника, здесь ты смотришь на обрезыши постоянно. Тут нет собиралок и трофеев, есть мини-игры, в которых можно посоревноваться и небольшие отвлетления со сменой геймплея, которые отсылают к играм разной эпохи, так что можно сказать, что игра себя перепробовала во всех жанрах.
    Оформление: просто конфетка. Мне нравятся, как выглядят персонажи и окружение. Было очень приятно погружаться в тематические разные миры, к тому же полно гиммиков и переделок, которые позволят погрузиться в атмосферу ещё больше. Также, тут полно отсылок к разным игрушкам и поп-культуре ушедшего века, поэтому людям старшего возраста будет что вспомнить. Музыка также добавляет в атмосферу нотки эмоций.
    Итого: есть минусы, но игра выигрывает в плане того, что кооперативов на двоих, особенно такого масштаба, можно по пальцам пересчитать, так что конкуренция маленькая, Фарес тут смог уделать индустрию. Радует, что другу не нужно покупать игру, хоть и не будет достижений, также спасибо, что добавили игру в подписку, не пожалел денег ради красочного, пусть и местами однообразного приключения.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

6
#6 Best PC Game of 2021
23
#23 Most Discussed PC Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 16, 2022
    100
    It Takes Two manages to combine cooperative acting in the level of many game genres, perfectly dose the pace and tell a serious story about parenting with a successful exaggeration. All this beautifully in a detailed fairytale-fantasy world, the exploration of which makes it a double joy.
  2. Edge Magazine
    Apr 22, 2021
    80
    True, there's no single moment to touch the climax of his heartbreaking 2013 debut, Brother: A Tale of Two Sons, but Fares's third - and best - game as director suggests the Oscars' loss is very much videogames' gain. [Issue#358, p.108]
  3. Telegraph
    Apr 7, 2021
    80
    Tonally it is all over the place, never seeming quite sure what type of game it wants to be and audience it wants to court. At times it as sweet, warm and sharply enjoyable as any family film. May and Cody’s jibes at each other swerve from affectionate to cutting in a believable and often touching way as they pick at the rifts in their relationship. You may even start to root for them, until the game swerves into a task involving the excruciatingly drawn-out murder of a toy elephant to make their daughter cry.
    Read full review
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