It Takes Two
Hazelight Studios · Puzzle, Adventure
Overview
Embark on the craziest journey of your life in It Takes Two. Invite a friend to join for free with Friend’s Pass and work together across a huge variety of gleefully disruptive gameplay challenges. Winner of GAME OF THE YEAR at the Game Awards 2021.
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Embark on the craziest journey of your life in It Takes Two, a genre-bending platform adventure created purely for co-op. Invite a friend to join for free with Friend’s Pass and work together across a huge variety of gleefully disruptive gameplay challenges. Play as the clashing couple Cody and May, two humans turned into dolls by a magic spell. Together, trapped in a fantastical world where the unpredictable hides around every corner, they are reluctantly challenged with saving their fractured relationship.
Master unique and connected character abilities in every new level. Help each other across an abundance of unexpected obstacles and laugh-out-loud moments. Kick gangster squirrels’ furry tails, pilot a pair of underpants, DJ a buzzing night club, and bobsleigh through a magical snow globe. Embrace a heartfelt and hilarious story where narrative and gameplay weave into a uniquely metaphorical experience.
It Takes Two is developed by the award-winning studio Hazelight, the industry leader of cooperative play. They’re about to take you on a wild and wondrous ride where only one thing is for certain: we’re better together.
KEY FEATURES
- Pure co-op perfection — Invite a friend to join for free with Remote Play Together**, and experience a thrilling adventure built purely for two. Choose from couch or online co-op with split-screen play, and face ever-changing challenges where working together is the only way forward.
- Gleefully disruptive gameplay — From rampaging vacuum cleaners to suave love gurus, you never know what you’ll be up against next. Filled with genre-bending challenges and new character abilities to master in every level, experience a metaphorical merging of gameplay and narrative that pushes the boundaries of interactive storytelling.
- A universal tale of relationships — Discover a touching and heartfelt story of the challenges in getting along. Help Cody and May learn how to overcome their differences. Meet a diverse cast of strange and endearing characters. Join forces and go on an adventure you’ll treasure — together!
ABOUT HAZELIGHT
Hazelight is an award-winning independent game development studio based in Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 2014 by Josef Fares (film director and creator of the award-winning game Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons), Hazelight is committed to pushing the creative boundaries of what is possible in games. In 2018, Hazelight released the BAFTA award-winning A Way Out — the first-ever co-op only, third-person action-adventure — as part of the EA Originals program.
ABOUT EA ORIGINALS
EA Originals helps shine a light on some of the most passionate, independent, and talented game studios across the globe. Discover innovative and unforgettable gaming experiences from highly creative game makers who love to enchant and inspire.
From the game's Steam store page.
THE GAMEQ VERDICT10,000 reviews analyzed
What players are actually saying
1. Summary
Five years after launch, It Takes Two is still the co-op game reviewers measure others against, and 354 reviews call it the best co-op game or one of the best. Most of the praise is for its design: every chapter hands the two players new, complementary abilities, and the game keeps switching genres (shooter, dungeon crawler, 2D fighter, rhythm game, racing). Players love the handcrafted worlds (the snow globe, the cuckoo clock, the garden and the music level), the 25 hidden minigames, and the Friend's Pass that lets one copy cover two players. Above all, people play it with someone: a girlfriend, husband or fiancée, and less often a sibling, a best friend or their child. Jokes that it "saved my marriage" or "ruined my marriage" run through the whole conversation.
The writing draws the most criticism. A vocal minority finds May and Cody insufferable, the bickering tiring, the ending rushed and the talking book Dr. Hakim grating. The Cutie the elephant scene, where players must tear apart their daughter's beloved toy while it begs for mercy, comes up in 3% of all reviews: some who still recommend the game call it traumatic, and some quit on the spot. A smaller group hits crashes, online desyncs, EA connection errors and lost chapter progress.
2. What keeps coming up
What players praise
A new mechanic every chapter, built for true co-opHigh
Among reviews long enough to discuss specifics, 24% single out the constant variety. Players describe it as "20 games mixed in one": hammer and nails in the shed, sap and matches in the tree, gravity boots and shrinking in space, magnets in the snow globe, a Diablo-style dungeon, a Street Fighter-style squirrel duel. What makes it work, in their words, is that the abilities are asymmetric and complementary, so "No one gets carried" and both players always matter. Some experienced players say they expected a gimmicky couples game and were surprised by how polished each one-off idea is.
A few experienced players disagree. They find the mechanics shallow, used once and dropped before they can deepen ("very shallow abilities that only have one purpose"), and one reviewer advises playing as May because "her gameplay is more fun than Cody's." Some suggest replaying as the other character for a different experience.
The best game to share with a partner, friend or childHigh
1,084 of the 10,000 reviews mention playing with a girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband, fiancé(e), "SO" or other romantic partner. Parents are a distinct and very warm group: fathers and mothers describe finishing it with 5 to 13 year olds, sometimes as the first game they completed together, and a few say it helped them reconnect with a child. Long-distance couples praise the online play, and several non-gamer partners are described as "hooked" by the end.
The running gag is that the game is a "relationship stress test": missed jumps, "I PRESSED SPACE!", rage over the tug-of-war minigame. Most of it reads as affectionate, but some reviewers warn to pick a patient partner, and a few who played with a friend joke about the held-button kiss near the end ("Played with my bro, and we kissed").
Gorgeous worlds packed with detailHigh
27% of longer reviews praise the visuals, art direction or level design. Players describe moments where they "stopped for a second to look around": the tiny-scale take on the house, the snow village, the clock tower, the space room, the psychedelic music level. Some note how many objects are interactive for no reward (a working piano, a full chess set, a beat mixer) and the easter eggs to Zelda, Mario Kart, A Way Out and 90s toys. Others praise it as well optimized, running on older laptops and on the Steam Deck. A couple of reviewers find the human models of the family weaker than the doll characters.
Hidden minigames and playful side contentMedium
Around one in ten longer reviews bring up the minigames, and they list favourites: snail racing, tank duels, laser tennis, chess, snowball fights. Players enjoy turning the co-op into a friendly rivalry, and the losers have a standard line: "The minigames that I lose are rigged." A few find some of them "legitimately rigged for no reason" or low effort.
The Friend's Pass makes one copy enoughMedium
About 5% of longer reviews single out the free Friend's Pass, and they praise it as unusually consumer-friendly ("The devs could have chosen to be more profitable but didn't"). Several players who started on the pass later bought the game to support the studio. One complaint recurs: the Friend's Pass player earns no achievements.
Where players are split
The story and its two leadsHigh
The story is where players disagree. For many it lands: some say they cried at the ending, a few children of divorce describe it as personal, and some couples say it improved how they communicate. For the critics it is the main problem. Among negative reviews, 34% cite the story, writing or characters, and among negatives from players with 10 to 25 hours it is the leading theme (44%). The objections repeat: May and Cody bicker for most of the game and show little growth, their reconciliation arrives abruptly with a kiss, the dialogue is "cringe" or sitcom-like, and they treat their daughter badly, so several players say they rooted for the divorce. A few object to the husband/wife role reversal as heavy-handed. Some positive reviewers rate the gameplay well above the story, and some simply skip the cutscenes.
Dr. Hakim, the Book of LoveMedium
The talking self-help book is a love-it-or-hate-it character, mentioned in about 6% of longer reviews. Fans call him the funniest part of the game and quote his "CO-LLA-BO-RATION!" Detractors find his accent, hip thrusts and frequent interruptions unbearable, and some want him gone by the end ("I wish we could burn the book in a firepit at the end").
Difficulty: accessible, too easy, or too hard for true beginnersMedium
This splits by who is playing. Many say it is the ideal game for a non-gamer partner or a young child: generous respawns, instant revival while your partner is alive, frequent checkpoints and a gentle learning curve. Others say it still expects both players to handle a controller: managing the camera and jumps together, the first vacuum boss, the toolbox fight and the Helltower challenge stalled some beginners, and a few families gave up early. Experienced players, meanwhile, call the puzzles obvious and the platforming unchallenging, and a few ask for an optional hard mode. There is no difficulty setting to bridge the two.
Length and pacing, especially the back halfMedium
Players who mention length mostly put it at roughly 10 to 20 hours, and many call that good value. The dissent concentrates on the second half: some chapters (the garden fights, the wasp and squirrel war, the Moon Baboon section, the snow globe slides) feel stretched, and some call the final chapter and ending weaker or anticlimactic. Around one in ten negative reviews call the game too long, repetitive or boring, and a few couples simply stopped partway.
Price: full price versus saleLow
Reviewers who discuss price mostly say it is worth it, especially since one copy covers two players, and many bought it for around $8 to $12 on sale and call it a steal. A minority say $40 is steep for a one-time, linear playthrough and advise waiting for a discount.
What frustrates players
The Cutie the elephant sceneMedium
3% of all reviews mention the elephant (about 6% of longer ones), and 16% of negative reviews cite it. Many people who love the game still bring it up: 71% of reviews mentioning the scene recommend the game anyway, often with lines like "elephant scene will haunt me forever" or "justice for Cutie". The negative reactions are strong: players describe feeling sick, crying, or stopping for good at that point, and some parents warn that it is not suitable for young children despite the colorful art. Among negative reviews it peaks with players at 2 to 10 hours (23% of them), consistent with its place mid-game. A few defend it as deliberate dark humor that exposes how selfish the parents are, and a few enjoyed it outright.
Crashes, desyncs and EA connection errorsMedium
About 12% of negative reviews report technical problems. The recurring ones are crashes at fixed story points that block progress, online desyncs and "disconnected from the EA servers" drops that force replaying long sections, frame drops in heavy scenes, and Friend's Pass or license errors where a paid copy shows up as the trial. Players note the EA launcher is no longer required on Steam, yet EA server errors still surface in online play. Among players who quit in the first two hours, technical and license failures are a common reason, alongside having no one to play with. A few advise local co-op to avoid the network issues.
Lost progress and no mid-chapter savesLow
A smaller group lost progress: the game resumes from a chapter or checkpoint start instead of where you quit, and after a crash or disconnect some had to redo an hour or more. A few report save files reset or lost entirely. Some ask for manual saves or a way to save partway through a level.
Camera and controlsLow
Some players fight the camera in platforming and boss fights, find mouse sensitivity inconsistent on keyboard and mouse, and wish the camera would not auto-turn toward the partner. Several recommend playing on a controller, and PlayStation controller users note the missing DualSense button prompts.
Comfort and accessibility gapsLow
A small set of requests keeps coming back: an arachnophobia option for the spider sections, warnings or reductions for flashing lights in the kaleidoscope and music levels (some mention epilepsy concerns), and help for motion sickness in the rotating space and carousel sections. Parents also mention unexpected swearing.
Split screen you cannot turn off, and cutscenes that seem unskippableLow
Some praise the always-on split screen as essential to coordination, but a few players on separate PCs find it disorienting or headache-inducing and want a full-screen option ("split screen cannot be disabled under any circumstances"). Separately, several players complain they cannot skip cutscenes, especially on replays, while others say a long press skips them, so the option may simply be hard to find.
Platform limits and needing a second playerLow
Scattered complaints: no crossplay between PC and PlayStation, no Mac support for the Friend's Pass, no Steam Family Library sharing, and the plain fact that there is no way to play solo. Some reviews joke that the hardest part is finding a Player Two.
3. The player conversation
The tone is warm, personal and often funny. Many reviews are short declarations ("peak", "absolute cinema", "The favorite game of my GF") or relationship jokes ("We almost broke up but then it all worked out!", "BAD GAME MY WIFE LEFT ME"), and many longer ones are small love letters about a specific person the reviewer played with. The negative voice is small, and the writing and the elephant are its most common subjects, ahead of the mechanics. Early quitters more often cite technical failures or having no one to play with, and story complaints grow among players who played further.
Sentiment held steady: every week from mid-August 2025 through September 2026 stayed above 90% positive. Review volume spiked around the holiday sales (the late-December 2025 week was the busiest, with 421 reviews) and again in mid-February 2026, the week after Valentine's Day. Reviewers who mention Hazelight's later Split Fiction are often planning to play it next. Those who have played both disagree on which is better: one calls Split Fiction "a big upgrade in terms of gammeplay," while another says It Takes Two's story "pulled us in far more than Split Fiction ever did."
4. What the developers could do
- Offer an alternative or skippable path through the Cutie sequence, plus a clear content warning. It comes up in both positive and negative reviews, and several players stopped the game entirely at that point.
- Fix the online stability problems: crashes at fixed story points, desyncs and EA server disconnects. Technical and license failures are a common reason players quit in the first two hours, and players report losing long sections to drops mid-chapter.
- Save progress mid-chapter so a crash or quit does not cost an hour. Players describe replaying large sections because the game only resumes from chapter or checkpoint starts, and a few lost saves entirely.
- Add comfort and accessibility options: an arachnophobia mode, flashing-light and motion-sickness settings, and an assist or difficulty toggle. Players with phobias, photosensitivity and motion sickness, and families whose beginner partner stalled at early bosses, ask for exactly these.
- Make the existing cutscene skip discoverable and let players skip replayed story scenes. Several reviewers believe cutscenes cannot be skipped, which adds to the frustration of players who already dislike the writing.
- Allow a full-screen view when playing on two separate machines. A small group finds the forced split screen disorienting or nauseating on their own monitor.
- Close the platform gaps: PC and console crossplay, Mac support for the Friend's Pass, Family Library sharing, and achievements for Friend's Pass players. These come from players who wanted to play with a specific person and could not.
- In future writing, give the leads visible growth before the reconciliation. Story and characters are the most common theme in negative reviews, and critics say May and Cody never earned their happy ending.
