A genuine love letter to gaming - specifically the fifth and sixth generations - that champions the virtue of video games as social conduits without ever making it explicit in its text. It Takes Two is perhaps the apex of Girlfriend Gaming, but also acknowledges the general magnetic pull of video games as shared experiences that draw us together - and this is an experience that can be easily enjoyed with partners, pals and family.

The story seems to be getting a rough reception from players here, but I appreciated a new game that isn’t yet another low-fantasy fable about finding the Amulet of Kwisatz-Haderach to prevent The Third Reckoning or whatever. Sure, other games have tried the romance genre on for size, but it’s almost always about the early blossoms of teenage and pseudoteenage lust-love affairs - Twitter oft-demonstrates that games writers and “narrative designers” are still emotionally and intellectually 15 years old, so it shouldn’t come as much surprise that divorce and parenthood are still remote concepts for video game stories. As a bumbling stay-at-home dad partnered up with a 12-hour-working doctor who’s constantly on a career-induced brain-edge, perhaps my girlfriend and I are just easy marks for this slight, specific Mrs. Doubtfire-esque story about a long-term adult relationship struggling to keep its flame alive, but I thought it was softly thoughtful, sincere and well-intentioned. I agree that the dialogue is over-resplendent with Uncharted-isms (“No no no NO!” “Oh ya GOTTA be kiddin me!”), but please give Hazelight some credit for managing to fill a 12-hour experience with a near-constant stream of dialogue that doesn’t often make you wanna claw your ears out - a rare, praiseworthy feat for any video game.

Reviewing the “gameplay” here is nigh-on impossible - taking this thing apart would be like individually analysing the content of every microgame in a WarioWare title - so I’ll just echo the general consensus and say that it’s incredibly impressive how freely this thing leaps branch-to-branch in a wide, shallow forest of genre and styles filled with obvious but welcome homage. As a long-term gamer working side-by-side with a new recruit, I took a lot of pleasure in telling my partner about Mario Sunshine and Diablo II and Dance Dance Revolution. FULL JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY DISCLOSURE: When I found the Ocarina of Time room, Josef Fares may as well have handed me a crisp $100 bill, patted me on the arse and sent me on my way. I’m an easy mark.

Was this thing too corny? Probably. Is it too long? Definitely. Did I have a lot of fun sharing a video game with some I care about? Absolutely - and that’s more valuable than what I thought of the dialogue or specific mechanics. I think this is a perfect example of a game that defies rational critique by virtue of its virtues and a commitment to doing things a little bit differently - and in the midst of a medium that’s constantly trying to deconstruct and twist and prove its own maturity by doing the same thing for Sad Dads again and again, something that speaks sincerely holds genuine, unironic value to me.

Uma proposta realmente muito simples de um co-op puzzle family friendly, mas executada TÃO BEM que se torna genuinamente impressionante. O capricho e a disposição pra montar esse jogo são descomunais, e isso é facilmente notado na quantidade enorme de conteúdo e variedade encontrados nessa aventura.

Há diversas mecânicas que compõem os desafios cooperativos em cada fase, e todas não apenas são ridiculamente criativas e terrivelmente divertidas, como também muito bem dosadas. O jogo se atualiza por completo sempre que você sequer começa a pensar em enjoar de um modelo. Tanto temática quanto mecanicamente.

E não esqueçamos de comentar sobre os visuais.
Permitam-me a ênfase: QUE! JOGO! LINDO!
A direção de arte é estupenda e desnecessariamente aperfeiçoada pra um jogo tão simples. Me peguei genuinamente postergando a progressão da gameplay e admirando lentamente os cenários e belíssimos ambientes engrandecidos pelas boas fotografias.

Tudo isso sintetizado com personagens carismáticos e divertidos (impossível não amar aquele livro) e uma meiga mensagem sobre união. Parece um jogo legitimamente terapêutico para casais.

Uma experiência indiscutivelmente marcante.

Antes de jogar esse jogo, eu achava que ele havia ganhado o prêmio Jogo do Ano pela escassez de jogos em 2021, mas depois de zerar, eu tenho certeza que ele ganharia mesmo se tivesse saído em anos mais disputados. It Takes Two é a aperfeiçoação do estilo de jogo Coop que Josef Fares vem revitalizando desde Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, e honestamente, este é seu melhor trabalho até hoje.

O jogo conta uma história cativante quase que totalmente através de gameplay, conforme a relação de May e Cody vai crescendo durante incríveis sessões de plataforma pontuados por minigames divertidíssimos, também cresce a relação com o parceiro que você compartilha a jogatina, todos os puzzles e obstáculos só podem resolvidos com ambos os jogadores, ambos precisam se ajudar e confiar um no outro durante toda a jornada, dessa forma, tanto os personagens quanto os jogadores vão aumentando a sensação de companheirismo e amizade, não tem como não apreciar oque o jogo é capaz de conquistar de forma tão natural e intuitiva.

Alguns podem não concordar com oque vou dizer, mas It Takes Two pra mim é o equivalente a um jogo do Mario em sua filosofia de design, o jogo é uma corrente contínua de mecânicas interessantes e diferentes uma da outra que nunca prolongam sua estadia, cada uma começa simples e conforme a fase avança eles vão aumentando as possibilidades até que tudo culmina em uma bossfight, cada uma mais diferente e mais inventiva que e última. Se o jogo fosse só essas mecânicas, já seria um jogasso, mas além disso tudo existem vários minigames em cada fase que deixam você e outro jogador abusarem da competitividade e apostarem um contra o outro pra de certa forma "descansar" do sentimento de companheirismo do jogo normal.

Em conclusão, It Takes Two é uma das melhores experiências pra se ter jogando com outra pessoa, é um buffet de ideias bem aplicadas que só ajudam a elevar a história sendo contada, é algo que fortalece os laços com qualquer amigo ou parceiro que compartilhe a jornada.

Mestahpiece

The definitive argument against video game cutscenes, like, in general. On top of the awkwardness of it all- ugly character designs, stilted dialog, everyone prancing back and forth like they just dropped out of Foodfight!- the framing of an otherwise generic relationship simulator as a marriage does more harm than good, since completing this game requires about as much trust and communication as a corporate teambuilding exercise. Sure, I can skewer my wife with a giant nail or hop off the button that's holding up a bridge as she's trying to cross it, but how much does that actually mean for our relationship if I only do it because I know she's going to respawn next to me in two seconds? I hate to say it, but universal splitscreen also seems like a mistake, since conflict resolution isn't really an issue when both parties can, in the most literal sense possible, see from the other's point-of-view. In general, the game lives up to its premise as an anything-goes platformer much more than it does its premise as a co-op platformer, considering the most entertaining bits in here tend to be the stuff that's just fun to mess around with, even if it doesn't necessarily Take Two. On one hand, it's hard not to appreciate this much dedication to breadth over depth, and riffing with a pal and calling out every video game trope as it happens is far from an unenjoyable experience, but I can't help feeling like the game's reception mostly stems from how undersaturated the market is. If it ends up inspiring a wave of strictly co-op titles now that the genre has proven itself to be critically and commercially viable, I could see this game quote-unquote "aging poorly" ten years down the line. Not because it actually has, of course, but because, aside from the novelty of playing something this accessible, with this much varied, well-put-together content, all while tethered to another person, It Takes Two... was never really all that interesting in the first place. But maybe I'm just bitter that I lost at that volleyball minigame.

The 2021 game of the year lived up to the hype for me. It deserves all the praise that it got. It is so fun from beginning to end. The different abilities you get along the way keep the game very fresh and dynamic. One minute your platforming, then your in a random fun mini game, then you are in a shooter and before you know it your in a dungeon crawler and so much more. Every location is A+. Beautiful locations, beautiful characters, beautiful everything. The puzzles are easy enough where anyone can figure them out but are hard enough that sometimes you definitely have to think for a minute. There’s no question in my mind that this is the best co-op game to date.

One of the best cooperative games I've ever played weighed down by terrible writing and insufferable characters.

I've played a ton of co-op games over the years, which usually just means that you and other people can play a game together. It Takes Two, however, is a truly cooperative game. You have to work together to do basically everything in the game - solve puzzles, complete platforming challenges, beat bosses with paired weapons, etc. In that aspect this is one of the most unique and genuinely cooperative games I've ever played. It was such a fun experience with my wife.

Every level introduces new mechanics, gameplay elements, or even genre shifts that keep the game feeling fresh throughout. About half the time, each player has their own unique mechanic they need to use to help each other throughout the level. The level design itself is also brilliant. Several levels have little hubs to explore and fun things to find. The world design is so well thought-out that we genuinely wanted to explore and find every secret. Every minute playing the game was fun... when we weren't being constantly reminded that you're playing as a bickering married couple on the brink of divorce.

For a majority of the game, every damn thing that happens in the game is accompanied by negative commentary from the characters. A complaint from the husband that the wife is too controlling or a groan from the wife because the husband is annoying. On and on. it doesn't end. And when it's not the parents, it's the racial stereotype Love Guru book making terrible jokes. Or even the daughter just saying things and doing things that proves that the writers have never even met a child before. Or literally any other secondary characters. Every word that comes out of any of the characters' mouths is embarrassing and the plot is bad. Every minute spent enduring it was painful.

But, hey, if you can get past the bad writing, it's definitely worth playing with a friend or significant other.

+ Fantastic cooperative gameplay
+ Constantly stays fresh with new mechanics
+ Great world and level design

- Atrocious writing
- Insufferable characters

El viaje fantástico camino a la reconciliación de una pareja en crisis. Los jugadores, encarnando a marido y mujer, tendrán que compenetrarse para poder avanzar. Lo curioso: dada la obligatoriedad de la cooperación, lo más probable es que el videojuego cause confrontación, y no al revés. Si la pareja no está al mismo nivel de habilidad a los mandos, uno habrá de armarse de paciencia con su compañero, que a su vez se sentirá un lastre para el otro. Es fácil imaginar a la parte experimentada perdiendo la paciencia e increpando al otro. Un relato que aboga por la reconciliación provocando riñas y momentos de tensión, menuda ironía.

La verdad es que It Takes Two hace todo lo que puede para no gustarme: por un lado, es cursi y de lela narración, y por otro, lanza en sucesión todas las formas de jugabilidad que puede para mantenerse variado a costa de no profundizar en nada. No propone, solo copia, y además yo suelo ser de esos que defiende lo de "el que mucho abarca poco aprieta". Y, a pesar de todo, la realidad innegable de mi asombro y deleite muy numerosas veces durante las diez horas de partida. Las variopintas formas en que un jugador se apoya en el otro, lo juguetones que son sus escenarios (plagados de excusas interactivas para divertirse en pareja), la frescura de los tramos de velocidad, la manera en que iluminación y puesta en escena se confabulan para producir breves momentos de maravilla, y la creatividad que rezuma tras cada idea y pequeño elemento en general. Terminó por convencerme hasta la química entre personajes, que durante las primeras horas solo causaba rechazo en mí. Sonreí y me reí a menudo.

Y la escena con la elefanta, por supuesto. Tal vez la más desternillante comedia negra que haya visto en videojuego alguno hasta la fecha. Con los padres bailando de júbilo bajo las... En fin, hay que jugarlo.

Really, me and my SO dropped this several months back, but that's neither here nor there. Just reminded to talk about my thoughts on this, Uhm,

I appreciate the spirit of this moreso than the end nature of it. My partner and I had a blast playing it, and the whole Honey I Shrunk the Kids aesthetic is perfect. I loved all the little minigames, the cutesy charm, all the cooperative puzzles. It's a return to this form of gameplay style from what feels like very yesteryear. If any lesson is learned from this game's acclaim, it's that there should absolutely be more of this.

I just wish the end result here was something I could champion. We ended up dropping it largely from its surrounding noxious energy. The main conceit of this couple being entrapped together fantastically to just reignite their fire for, largely implied, the kids' sake, just made us lose all of the vibes at once. Every attempt to reopen the game was spent on trying to ignore that, but it didn't really go very far. We got about a couple hours in before it became too much to tolerate, especially since the absolutely brutal incompatibilities regarding one of the two just reminded one of us of our ex. It feels like a useless story to me? It's definitely not coming from a bad state of mind, and like, it's genuine, it's earnest! But it feels almost shaming to partners who aren't working out together. All for more people going to couples therapy to see if their issues truly aren't fixable but I don't like this general idea at all, it's so "makes up a couple". Couldn't help but doctor out a story in my head that starts with this same idea but ends up taking it in a direction that commentates that maybe at the end of it some things aren't fixable and requires splitting, a far more realistic notion to takeaway that finishes off with a note that has them separating after all, with a bittersweet understanding of what they've learned from their incompatibility, rather than some, to be blunt, sickening notion of THINK OF THE KID!! GOTTA FORCE YOUR TOTAL SPARK OF LOVE (that for most people in this situation, won't be there anymore) BY MAKING UP COOP STYLE.

Honestly it's worse than the writing. We laughed together at a couple jokes, my partner found the two much much more obnoxious from sentence to sentence than me, but I'm used to it. The smarmy totally shouty couple vibe isn't like a complete mismatch for what everything here is going for. That's the most charitable I'll get with it though haha.

I'll say it takes two is good when we get the much more ambitious polycule sequel it takes three.

Josef Fares is a man filled with an unbridled passion for co-op games, and I truly appreciate his presence in the triple-a space. A Way Out may have felt a little hamstrung by its Telltale-y filmic “your choices matter!!” structure - it ends up working out pretty well in that game, but all throughout were glimpses into small, fun 2-player mechanical concepts in the interactive moments in-between the cutscenes.
His excitement to explore the possibilities of co-op is on full display in It Takes Two’s rambling, playful adventure, repeatedly plunging the two players into unique scenarios with asymmetrical toolsets.

The game features constant genre and mechanic switching. Levels boasting third-person shooting, top-down diablo-esque combat, flying, sailing, karting, and all kinds of bizarre puzzles in-between; reinforced by how they simply never feel under-developed and are tossed away the second they wear out their welcome. Many of this can be chalked up to EA funding, I suppose; many of the ideas this game conjures and then swiftly casts aside would essentially make up the sole backbone of a smaller-scale indie title. It’s consistently inconsistent. A driving force in our playthrough was an element of excitement to simply see what the game has in store for us next.

Very charming how the game is a hulking toybox, absolutely littered with interactive elements and versus minigames. It truly has everything, from a fully-fledged chess board, to musical chairs.

I say that because the narrative certainly wasn’t a driving factor for me, personally!! Cody and May’s bougie divorce story feels the need to throw a child in the mix for any sense of jeopardy before wrapping up with a neat, tidy and highly derivative bow. I simply sleep. The writing is, on the whole, very unremarkable - unfunny, a frankly unbelievably high “wooaaaah” count.

Very very gorgeous 2 look @ though. Whenever they’re not in photorealistic mode with Cody’s Seth McFarlane looking ass, it’s always a stunningly realised Honey I Shrunk The Kids environment. A significant portion of my playtime was spent boring the pants off my co-op partner as I stared doe-eyed at everything. From the sweeping picturesque vistas to the minute graphical details like specular maps and shaders to the unique illustrations adorning every corner. So sikk!!!! The character mo-cap feels like a blunder imo. It looks fine on the human characters where the discerning gamer eye almost expects it to look like shit, but the problem is expounded with the more cartoonishly proportioned characters. Never is it worse than with Fares’ own Dr Hakeem character, a fiendishly fucked talking book that looks and acts like a Facerig preset. Cody and May just seem like theme park mascot costumes with faces that are barely permitted to emote. Hand-touched stylisation with cartoony characters goes a long way - squash and stretch some more. The motion data should be a reference point, not the final product.

Anyway, idk. A very cool game. It’s nice to play a co-op that is oodles more creative than a looter shooter. I like its purchase model where only one person has to buy the title, allowing the other player to download the full client for free - spitting in the face of remote play. More of that, please.

Cara It Takes Two é um jogo que me lembra muito os joguinhos de Lego, com diferentes mecânicas a cada nível. Só que ele vai além disso, tendo um capricho até exagerado pra uma proposta tão simples.

Cada "fase" você tem uma habilidade diferente pra cada player, e isso se desenrola em puzzles extremamente criativos e divertidos, que conversam com a relação e a situação dos personagens.

E por falar dos personagens eles são muito carismáticos, e enquanto eles aprendem a trabalhar em conjunto, dão espaço para seus gostos pessoais e relembram seu relacionamento, nós jogadores ficamos mais e mais investidos nesses personagens.

O game tem uma ótima direção de arte, e é bonito até na minha (antiga) batata, com cenários estonteantes acompanhados de uma boa e sútil trilha sonora, eu ficava por muitas vezes só olhando aos redores pra observar a beleza do jogo.

Me diverti, joguei de May com o @Felipse, queria jogar faz um tempo mas n tinha ngm q pudesse, tmj demais. Ah e Fuck the Oscars, you know?

It Takes Two é um jogo cooperativo fantástico, que faz uma constante mudança de mecânicas mantendo o gameplay sempre fresco, dando ampla variedade à jornada.

Os belos cenários e o level design espetacular se somam à troca de mecânicas criando uma sensação única em cada fase.

O sentimento de celebração na evolução de gameplay também tá presente, pois as referências que o design se baseia são integrantes da história dos jogos e conseguem também emocionar num sentido mais nostálgico.

A história do jogo, empresta da fórmula Pixar aquele estado de "não tão boba que não se possa aprender algo legal e nem tão sério que uma criança não possa se divertir pra cacete."

Te Amo Japa.
Te Amo Teixeira.
Te Amo Consultor.
Te Amo Habib.
Te Amo Bezoura.
Te Amo Will.
Te Amo Bila.

And a special Te Amo to Josef Fares, who made me feel emotional playing a game in which a horny magical mexican book tells a soon-to-be divorced couple that they should have unprotected sex in an elevator in order to be able to talk to their low poly daughter once again.

game that holds a very special place in my heart as I begun it with my crush and finished with my girlfriend.
Perfect coop game if that's what you're looking for, I've never ever seen a game with that much gameplay variety. You always discover new mechanics and never get bored.
Story is okay but lacks a bit in the emotional part, and I'm a bit disapointed of the ending, I was expecting something more 'grandiose' in both term of gameplay and story.
DA is phenomenal, each level is visually stunning and so inspired.
In the end totally worth its game of the year title, it's definitely a game aimed for everyone that you should try once.

Um game muito divertido, que te entrega coisas novas a todo momento e faz com que os 2 jogadores de sintam importantes dentro do coop. Os cenários são muito bonitos, cheios de segredinhos e minigames pra tu tirar aquele x1 maroto.

Nem sei que nota dar, 4,5 ou 5, não sei se o gameplay chegou no seu máximo potencial, mas de fato amei o jogo e seus personagens.

Joguei com o @Vitan, ele não é um banana, pra minha sorte.

MILD SPOILERS:

The scene with the elephant is THE WORST thing a game has ever made me do.

Did anyone struggle to view Rose as an actual child? Being vapidly stone-faced and voiced by an adult certainly didn't help, but her dialogue didn't exactly feel like a kid either. Was she 5? 11? Human? Android? A metaphorical manifestation of the two protagonists' faults? Who's to say.

It's really interesting how this miserable couple leaves a trail of destruction and suffering everywhere they go until they begin to emotionally reconnect near the end, and suddenly they start having a more positive effect on those around them.

It's a solid game with plenty of variety, and it nails the core concept of cooperation. But even though my wife and I had a great time playing it together, I was never itching to pick it back up. It's a very good game full of references to other games (some of these are REALLY overt) but I didn't find anything to be exceptional.

Except Dr. Hakim. That guy rules.