Double down for domestic bliss: PETER HOSKIN reviews It Takes Two 

Double down for domestic bliss: PETER HOSKIN reviews It Takes Two

It Takes Two

Rating:

A Way Out

Rating:

Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes

Rating:

Snipperclips

Rating:

Here’s the good news: with lockdown relaxing, you soon won’t have to spend as much time with that person slumped so irritatingly on the sofa.

Here’s the bad: they’ll still be there waiting for you when you get home. So why don’t we all try to make the situation a little more bearable?

It Takes Two (*****, £34.99), which has just been released on PlayStation, Xbox and PC, might be the right game at the right time. 

As its name suggests, it requires two players. Either you conquer its challenges with someone online or — more fun — facing a split screen with someone sat next to you. There is no option to go it alone. 

It Takes Two begins in the all-too-real world of two parents telling their young daughter they are getting divorced. But — suddenly! — they are zapped into rag-doll bodies and forced to clamber around a wacky version of their own home

It Takes Two begins in the all-too-real world of two parents telling their young daughter they are getting divorced. But — suddenly! — they are zapped into rag-doll bodies and forced to clamber around a wacky version of their own home

There is no option to go it alone. And this isn’t just the format, it’s also the theme

There is no option to go it alone. And this isn’t just the format, it’s also the theme

And this isn’t just the format, it’s also the theme. It Takes Two begins in the all-too-real world of two parents telling their young daughter that they’re getting divorced. 

But — suddenly! — they’re zapped into rag doll bodies and forced to clamber around a wacky version of their own home. They — you — have to learn to cooperate.

This process begins simply: you both have to pull on levers as the same time. But soon you’re bouncing and zooming around in tandem, facing off against an increasingly creative and vindictive set of household appliances. 

It’s a domestic fairytale told through the buttons of two controllers.   

As its name suggests, it requires two players. Either you conquer its challenges with someone online or — more fun — face a split screen with someone sitting next to you

As its name suggests, it requires two players. Either you conquer its challenges with someone online or — more fun — face a split screen with someone sitting next to you

It Takes Two (£34.99), which has just been released on PlayStation, Xbox and PC, might be the right game at the right time

It Takes Two (£34.99), which has just been released on PlayStation, Xbox and PC, might be the right game at the right time

Perhaps the greatest achievement of It Takes Two is how it accommodates practically all levels of gaming ability — a must for avoiding arguments. But its developers, Hazelight, have had practice. 

Their previous effort, A Way Out (****, PlayStation, Xbox, PC, £24.99), is a fine alternative for those put off by the whimsy of the newer game. Here, you don’t play as Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy — but as two convicts on the lam.

Or how about an even more dangerous situation? Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes (****, PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Switch, mobile, £11.99) has one player grappling with a ticking bomb while one or more others frantically try to communicate how to defuse it.

And then there’s the console that, with its two detachable controllers, was practically designed for this type of play: the Nintendo Switch. Outside of the Mario games, its loveliest duo-delight is Snipperclips (*****, £17.99), in which you, two paper cut-outs in a paper cut-out world, snip your way to success. Sometimes, you gotta cut ties to make them.

Here's the good news: with lockdown relaxing, you soon won’t have to spend as much time with that person slumped so irritatingly on the sofa. Here’s the bad: they’ll still be there waiting for you when you get home. So why don’t we all try to make the situation a little more bearable?

Here’s the good news: with lockdown relaxing, you soon won’t have to spend as much time with that person slumped so irritatingly on the sofa. Here’s the bad: they’ll still be there waiting for you when you get home. So why don’t we all try to make the situation a little more bearable?

This process begins simply: you both have to pull on levers as the same time. But soon you’re bouncing and zooming around in tandem

This process begins simply: you both have to pull on levers as the same time. But soon you’re bouncing and zooming around in tandem

You'll be facing off against a creative and vindictive set of household appliances in a domestic fairy tale

You’ll be facing off against a creative and vindictive set of household appliances in a domestic fairy tale