Nominees for The Game Awards 2021 have been announced leading up to the December 8 ceremony. Even for a year where potentially top contendors likeHorizon Forbidden Westwere 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’sMetroid Dread, Insomniac’sRatchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Capcom’sResident Evil Village. However, the stand-out nominee is a smaller and more unique title: Hazelight Studios’It Takes Two.
BothIt Takes Twoand the sixth GOTY nominee, Double Fine’sPsychonauts 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. WhileIt Takes Twowas announced by Hazelight in conjunction with Electronic Arts, serving as a major EA Original,Psychonauts 2was 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 likeMetroidandRatchet & Clank, butIt Takes Twoseems a perfect game to represent this particular era.
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It Takes Two is About Relationships, Growing Together
It Takes Twofollows 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 Twois an asymmetrical co-op gamebuilt 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 likeStreet 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 andIt Takes TwodirectorJosef Fares has expressed a deep interest in co-op gamesand their storytelling potential, with this title and Hazelight’s previous gameA Way Outserving as great proofs of concept. However,It Takes Two’s multiplayer design is even more important for the games industry in 2021.
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It Takes Two’s Accessibility Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
It Takes Tworeleased 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 therise of multiplayer titles likeAmong UsandPhasmophobia, 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 likeIt Takes Twobreak out as a major contender for an award that often goes to prestige single-player games likeGod of War(2018),Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice(2019), andThe Last of Us 2(2020).
The Game Awards 2020 includedAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsas 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 Twois deserving of its spot, even if it doesn’t win in the end.
It Takes Twois available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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