It Takes Two Steam

It Takes Two for PC is an action adventure game from developers Hazelight – who also created the similar but unrelated BAFTA-award winning A Way Out – and published by gaming giant EA Games. It is a two player co-op game.

About the Game

The game must be played in co-operative mode, either in online co-op or with a friend in the same room, as there is no possibility to play by yourself. There is no single player mode because, as the title strongly hint, it takes two! However, you can invite a friend to join you for free if you get a Friends Pass, so your gaming is not much affected.

The very basic premise of the story is that a couple (Cody and May) have grown apart and lost their sense of fun and adventure along with the spark of their love for one another. But then, something – a large mysterious magically explosive occurrence – sends the two spiralling through time, space, and possibly even dimensions – who knows? – and transforms them into, variously, clay figures, knitted dolls, wooden puppets and more.

Each of the various guises gives them certain advantages and disadvantages that they must learn to use, but what is needed more than anything else is teamwork. The couple are guided in their mission by the very wordy Dr Hakim (see below). Dr Hakim is eager for the couple to find their way back to their real selves and each other, with the emphasis definitely on the latter over the former!

More Information

Despite the slightly cheesy (you’ll love it, really!) storyline, the gameplay is compelling and the game’s mechanics are, the creator confidently says, more than enough to be world record breaking. And he should know, he’s worked hard on the project for years!

When you begin you are looking at a solid fourteen or fifteen hours of content, so make sure you have plenty of time and no commitments so you can play right through – the game will grab you and hold your attention! You will battle, climb and even fly through weird and wonderful landscapes as you move from level to level, trying to find your ways home.

Closer study reveals that the couple are actually the MC’s parents (the MC is glimpsed briefly in the beginning, before the magical explosion) and the multiple scenarios they have to work their way through have a certain charming ‘child’s bedroominess’ combined with – well – the entire universe! See how many levels you can identify as you play through!

For fans of A Way Out, there are some similarities: having to work together, not being able to succeed alone, the offer of a Friend’s Pass so you can play with a real life friend – but there are probably more differences: two escaped prisoners doing what they can to survive is a whole world away from a mom and dad learning to work together!

Character Study

• Cody – the male of the hetero-couple who needs to learn to listen to May, show his emotions sometimes, and not try and fix everything with brute force. He can keep the dad jokes flowing though!
• May – the female of the pair. She begins the game dispirited and depressed, but gradually finds her agency and her voice, remembering the person she really is
• Dr Hakim – a talking book who loves the sound of his own voice and whose cover declares him to be a love story, the tutorial, instruction manual and provider of a decent amount of exposition and comedy in more-or-less equal measure
• MC – we gradually realise that the couple are the MC’s parents and this helps us to realise the meaning behind many of the game levels