Nominees for The Game Awards 2021 have been announced leading up to the December 8 ceremony. Even for a year where potentially top contendors like Horizon Forbidden West were delayed into 2022, there is still a strong showing for Game of the Year (GOTY). Most of the list is big-budget AAA titles one might expect, such as Arkane Studios' Deathloop, Nintendo and MercurySteam's Metroid Dread, Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Capcom's Resident Evil Village. However, the stand-out nominee is a smaller and more unique title: Hazelight Studios' It Takes Two.
Both It Takes Two and the sixth GOTY nominee, Double Fine's Psychonauts 2, are harder to categorize. Hazelight and Double Fine aren't huge studio names in the same way as Capcom, but both their games are largely supported by major publishers. While It Takes Two was announced by Hazelight in conjunction with Electronic Arts, serving as a major EA Original, Psychonauts 2 was an independent venture with a long history before Microsoft bought Double Fine as one of its Xbox Game Studios. Both are solid titles that deserve to stand alongside established names like Metroid and Ratchet & Clank, but It Takes Two seems a perfect game to represent this particular era.
It Takes Two is About Relationships, Growing Together
It Takes Two follows married couple Cody and May, who are going through a divorce at the start of the game that has a major impact on their daughter Rose. Through some nebulous magic, Rose inadvertently traps her parents' spirits in a pair of dolls. While trying to return to normal Cody and May venture across their home, enhanced by the magic of an anthropomorphic relationship book with guise of its writer Dr. Hakim, which turns out to be just the experience they need to work past many issues plaguing their marriage and become more fulfilled individuals.
The story Hazelight tells through Cody and May's physical and emotional journeys, as well as the environments that sell their lives together, is something to behold in its own right. However, the game is particularly noteworthy - especially compared to its GOTY competitors - because of its focus on co-op. It Takes Two is an asymmetrical co-op game built for two players to take the role of either Cody or May in splitscreen. Each section innovates with new mechanics that require players to work together in different ways, such as using opposite polarities of a magnet or one party priming explosives for the other to spark, and that variety is enhanced further by homages to games like Street Fighter.
At the same time, it's playfully competitive, with Cody and May encountering challenges in which they can rib one another and try to score points - though it's clear the real aim is just for them to have fun together. Hazelight founder and It Takes Two director Josef Fares has expressed a deep interest in co-op games and their storytelling potential, with this title and Hazelight's previous game A Way Out serving as great proofs of concept. However, It Takes Two's multiplayer design is even more important for the games industry in 2021.
It Takes Two's Accessibility Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
It Takes Two released in March 2021, about a year after the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic really began to impact the world. Many underwent lockdowns as businesses shut their doors while the disease spread, leading friend groups and families alike to seek entertainment such as video games to stay connected. This environment saw the rise of multiplayer titles like Among Us and Phasmophobia, but even once vaccines started to roll out problems persisted - in part thanks to the prevalence of misinformation and skepticism in the United States especially.
In a COVID-19 data tracker summary released November 5, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported 70,431 new cases for the week leading up to November 3; meanwhile, only 58.2 percent of the US population was fully vaccinated as of November 4. Major cities like Los Angeles, California continue to issue emergency mandates as death tolls climb, and in this dark, isolating climate, it's refreshing to see a game like It Takes Two break out as a major contender for an award that often goes to prestige single-player games like God of War (2018), Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019), and The Last of Us 2 (2020).
Where It Takes Two especially excels for this era is in the accessibility of its multiplayer. Though the game is ideally experienced on the couch, it's also playable online through EA's Origins platform. Not only that, Hazelight makes it easier for everyone to find a co-op partner because only one copy of the game is required - akin to older Nintendo DS games that made use of its Download Play feature. Not to mention there's a deal bundling EA Play with Xbox Game Pass, which just added It Takes Two, meaning the game is even more accessible to Game Pass subscribers and their friends.
The Game Awards 2020 included Animal Crossing: New Horizons as a GOTY nominee, which certainly deserved its spot for offering fans a community amid the initial COVID-19 lockdowns. However, that game didn't win, and in 2021 there's something copacetic to a game about relationships that has multiple avenues for people to play together getting nominated as the world continues its slow trek toward reopening. For that reason, It Takes Two is deserving of its spot, even if it doesn't win in the end.
It Takes Two is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: CDC