Game designer Josef Fares makes a lot of relationship games. First it was Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons which touched on the themes of the loss of a father figure and the indestructible emotional bond between family members. Then there was A Way Out, which explored the relationship between friends turned rivals on different sides of the law. It Takes Two, the latest Fares game from Swedish developer Hazelight Studios, explores the relationship between husband and wife, specifically a husband and wife going through a thorny and nasty divorce who are turned into dolls by their daughter until they "can reconcile their differences." ''. The premise is that the two main characters, Cody and May, have gone their separate ways due to their focus on work, hobbies, raising their kids, and, well, anything other than each other. Pour remonter les pièces, ils devront affronter de front leurs problèmes conjugaux et, avec un peu d'aide d'un livre d'amour parlant, trouver ce qui a rendu leur relation si spéciale en premier lieu afin qu'ils puissent revenir dans leur human being. body. As strange as the plot may seem, the way the game deals with something as unpleasant as divorce is incredibly heartfelt. This is something you'll immediately feel within the first 10 minutes of playing it, as we did in a special online preview event, and according to Fares, he hopes it will even help you reconnect with your partner.
Reading the book of love
While the game is primarily an action platformer with elements of third-person shooter and puzzle-solving gameplay, each level features a new mechanic that plays to the strengths of the characters. In one level you'll get hammers and nails to help hold the platforms in place to cross greater distances, while in another you'll have wielding a sap cannon and matches to kill the wasps that have taken over the oak tree outside the house. While the game is primarily an action platformer with elements of third-person shooter and puzzle-solving gameplay, each level features a new mechanic that plays to the strengths of the characters. It can be hard to paint a picture of It Takes Two, as so much of it changes from level to level. However, designing varied levels is old hat for Fares and the team at Hazelight Studios. The team's previous two games have included mechanics that change with each new level. But what sets It Takes Two apart is that, from what we've seen so far, the new mechanics are more intuitive and fluid than those of the studio's previous games, such as Raw Events. Fast times in A Way Out that required you to unscrew a toilet from the wall to escape from jail. “We don't want variety to have fun,” Fares told us. "It's important that the mechanics reflect what's happening in the story." It also helps, Fares says, that the development team learned a lot during the build of A Way Out. “Our developers are pushing it now. We learned a lot… We have become a better and stronger studio. "
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(Image credit: EA / Hazelight Studios) An anthropomorphic book imbued with the charisma of Fares himself, which aims to help the couple reconnect, The Book of Love accompanies you on your journey. The Book of Love, while a bit over the top in terms of concept and theaters, helps to bring a bit of lightness to what would otherwise be a sticky situation, making the game feel more like a rom-com than an adventure game. action platforms. "How many games make up the rom-com genre?" Not much,” Fares said in an extended gameplay demo given to TechRadar. "It's a difficult genre to understand."
Divorced from reality? Not really
Of course, you don't have to look far to find other examples of divorces done right in different media. Ted Lasso on Apple TV Plus backs up his posts of positive assertiveness with the harsh realities of divorce, while Marriage Story took audiences through the legal and emotional nightmare as the acrimony of a bad separation ripples through several months. It Takes Two, as you might imagine, is more like Ted Lasso than Marriage Story with a more optimistic take on the divorce, but it touches on the impact of the divorce on Cody and May's daughter Rose, who is the catalyst in turning the two on wrists at first. As she tackles the dark side of divorce, the resulting affair and Cody and May's reconnection revel in wish fulfillment. Few children really want their parents to divorce, and more than anything, most would go to any length to keep them together. Rose, on so many levels, represents all the kids who want their parents to reconnect instead of filing for a divorce, and you can't help but make her wish come true. Surprisingly, while this is a deeply personal story, Fares says it's not based on her life: “The characters aren't based on real people. Inspiration comes from all relationships that need love. This game is all about spreading the love. You will feel the love. While playing it, we couldn't help but see parallels between It Takes Two and Pixelopus' Concrete Genie. Both games tackle complex and deeply personal themes (Concrete Genie is largely a game about bullying) with an added touch of surrealism. While neither game appeals to gamers who want action-packed gameplay with cutting-edge graphics and precise, responsive controls (two pain points are needed), they do use video game support for deep storytelling. I may never go to fight the Horde or save a princess in distress from a castle full of traps, but I have many friends whose parents have divorced. He is, simply put, It Takes Two's greatest strength right now: he has this profound ability to tell you a moving story that feels real and surreal.
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(Image credit: EA / Hazelight Studios)
Help! I need someone... anyone?
It Takes Two's big caveat is that, well, it takes two, literally. Like A Way Out, the game is only available for cooperative play, and you need a living, breathing person to cooperate with you. Ideally, this is someone close to you, since the game can be played split-screen, but it can definitely be someone online as well, and they'll only need one copy in between. You two to play it. But what if your partner really isn't the gamer type? Well, that's when you could have problems. Several of the puzzles in the game required extensive lateral thinking skills or controller coordination, which not every spouse/partner/friend will have. When it's not, the timing puzzles and boss fights have the potential to turn from a fun relationship adventure to screaming matches. The way things are now, It Takes Two could be more of a curse to my relationship than a blessing. Fortunately, for my demo, I was paired with VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi, a gaming and technology journalist in his late 30s who has had a lot of experience over the years. And yet all I could think about was how difficult this game would be with my girlfriend, an on and off gamer who mostly sticks to games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons or Luigi's Mansion 3 on Nintendo Switch. She plays to relax and usually avoids games that are too difficult because she finds them stressful. I'll never know how the two of us would make it through It Takes Two, as there's unfortunately no tangible way to lower the difficulty to make it more accessible to non-players. The way things are now, It Takes Two could be more of a curse to my relationship than a blessing. Still, my own relationship aside, if you're in a relationship with another player and want to relive the cooperative team-building experience of Portal 2 in a new action-adventure/platformer, you should grab a copy of It Takes Two. . when it launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (as well as PS5 and Xbox Series X via backwards compatibility) on March 26.