Josef Fares, writer and director of co-op puzzle gameIt Takes Two, has taken to Twitter to share his excitement about the game reaching the milestone of 1 million sold copies. He joined the developers who helped bringIt Takes Twoto life, Hazelight Studios, in thanking those who had purchased the game.
Despite being a smaller title,Hazelight’sIt Takes Twohas quickly become both a critical and commercial success. The game sees two players taking control of Cody and May, a married couple who are close to divorce, and guiding them through a series of puzzles after they have been trapped inside the bodies of their daughter Rose’s handmade dolls.It Takes Twois designed to be played either via local split-screen or online co-op, with gameplay revolving around cooperative puzzle solving.
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Josef Fares' other video games,Brothers: A Tale of Two SonsandA Way Outare also built around this same cooperative mentality. Both titles place specific emphasis on local split-screen gameplay and are structured around puzzles that require teamwork. Fares’s response toIt Takes Twohitting the milestoneof 1 million copies sold is certainly indicative of his teamwork-oriented design philosophy, stating: “This shows that there definitely is players that also wants to play co op only games! Thank you everyone and I hope we see more game like this.”
Fares is no stranger to success.A Way Outhas sold almost 3.5 million copies to date, andBrotherswas a critical darling in its own right. Hazelight Studios, who developed bothA Way OutandIt Takes Twoalong with Fares, were just as excited aboutIt Takes Two’sincredible sales, tweeting “Wow!!! Just found out#ItTakesTwo has sold over 1 million copies and is still going strong! Thank you so much for all the love you’ve shown our game, it means the world to us.”
The success of games likeIt Takes Twois certainly a statement on gamers' love of cooperative play, but it also a testament to the talent of Hazelight Studios and Josef Fares.It Takes Twoisn’t just couch co-opfor the sake of it, with a reasonably mature plot underpinning the complex cooperative mechanics that drive the gameplay.
Narrative plays a fundamental role in all of Fares' games, withBrothers: A Tale of Two Sonsrevolving around two young boys trying to save their father from a deadly illness in the hopes that he won’t perish, as their mother did.A Way Outdeals with heavy themes as well, centering on two prison inmates who weave their way through betrayal and death as the game progresses. It is perhaps the complex nature of Fares' plots that has set his games aside from others in the genre, and with 1 million copies now sold,It Takes Twois no exception.
It Takes Twois currently available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
