It Takes Two is a delightful co-op game that everyone should play and, luckily, everyone can when it comes to Xbox Game Pass this month. You and a friend play as May and Cody, a married couple who have decided to separate and have just broken the news to their daughter Rose. When they mysteriously find their minds trapped inside dolls, they have to work together to navigate the secret corners of their house and backyard to get back to their bodies. They also have to contend with Dr Hakim, the author of the Book of Love who insists they use this opportunity to fix their marriage.
May and Cody get special abilities in each level that help them solve puzzles and navigate the larger-than-life environments. You and your co-op buddy will need to figure out how best to pair your abilities, and experimenting with them in different ways is half the fun of It Takes Two.
In one level, you’ll work your way through Rose’s play room, where each set of toys creates a different level. One takes you on a roller coaster to outer space, another to the wild west and others to levels filled with dinosaurs and pirates.
It Takes Two / Hazelight Studios
One of Cody’s abilities is to embed nails into walls, which May can swing from off the curved edge of a hammer. May can also use her hammer ability to press heavy buttons and clear a path through fragile objects. In another level, May gains the ability to create a clone of herself and can pair it with Cody’s ability to rewind time to access otherwise unreachable areas. In another, they each have a magnet on their back that can attract and repel different objects, and have to work together to push and pull things around them.
By changing your abilities every level, It Takes Two remains a lot of fun all the way through without ever feeling dull. It’s also gorgeous, bringing household objects to life in stunning, colourful detail. It’s one of the highlights of Microsoft’s November’s offering, although you’ll have to have Game Pass for PC or Ultimate to access the game through EA Play. Check out the rest of the games coming to Game Pass and PlayStation Plus in November here.
