It Takes Two asks two players to fix a marriage. Hazelight Studios built the entire game around that demand. There is no single-player option. You control Cody or May, and your partner controls the other, in local split-screen or online. Josef Fares directed it, and Electronic Arts published it.
Trailer, via Electronic Arts.
Cody and May Wake Up as Dolls
The setup is a divorce. Cody and May tell their daughter Rose they are separating. She takes handmade dolls modeled on her parents into the family shed and play-acts a repair. Her tears fall on the dolls, and her parents wake up inside them.
Dr. Hakim, an anthropomorphic relationship therapy book, meets them there. He says he has been tasked with fixing their marriage. He then spends the game throwing obstacles in their path to force them to collaborate.
Joseph Balderrama voices Cody and Dr. Hakim. Annabelle Dowler is May, and Clare Corbett is Rose.
Every Chapter Throws Out the Last One
The smartest decision here is that Hazelight refuses to repeat itself. Each level ties new abilities to the story and setting. In one, Cody rewinds time while May replicates herself. In others, the two carry different tools that only work combined.
The game moves through platforming, puzzle-solving, shooting, racing and flight. Boss fights let a downed player speed their respawn by mashing a button. Optional minigames give the pair something to compete over between the cooperative stretches.
| Element | How It Works |
|---|---|
| Players required | Two, no solo option |
| Presentation | Split-screen, local or online |
| Abilities | Different per character, per level |
| Death | Fast respawn, button-mash to speed it up |
The Possessions Have Opinions
Cody and May keep running into anthropomorphic versions of their old belongings. The possessions criticize them for neglecting their things and their daughter. That is the game’s sharpest move: the world itself keeps score.
The couple relearn their own passions along the way. May helps Cody restore his overgrown garden and greenhouse. Cody then helps May return to music and singing. Rose keeps trying to mend her parents, but their real bodies lie unconscious and will not answer her. She cannot see or hear the dolls, though she watches objects move on their own.
The weakest stretch is Dr. Hakim. He is loud, he repeats himself, and his interference wears thin before the finale. The game does not need a mascot to justify its own mechanics.
What the Cooperation Actually Proves
The design is the argument. A game about a marriage in trouble makes you wait for another person, coordinate with them, and lose when either of you quits trying. That is not a theme pasted onto a platformer. It is the platformer.
The mechanical variety carries the whole run. Nothing overstays, and the game trusts its two players to keep up.
The 2021 release landed on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Nintendo Switch got it in November 2022, and Nintendo Switch 2 in October 2026.
It Takes Two is one of the best two-player games ever built, and it earns that by never letting one player carry the other. 8.8 of 10.
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