In It Takes Two, you play as May and Cody, a married couple on the brink of divorce. When their daughter finds out, she makes dolls of her parents, where May and Cody are magically transported. They must learn to work together again to break this spell. Absurd? Sure. But it seems Hazelight has struck a balance between real and fantasy and between boring and too busy.

After Cody and May have turned into dolls, they are fortunately still in their house (which from their point of view suddenly gigantic magnification). In the first few hours you will end up in the shed and in the garden, among other things, and you will talk to various objects that have come to life. For example, the old vacuum cleaner is not exactly happy with the fact that it has been replaced, and the binoculars keep an eye on the couple’s daughter. In addition, a book has come to life to give Cody and May relationship advice.

These confrontations offer the characters exactly the tools they need to slowly but surely improve their relationship. Of course, that does not go without fits, which creates both uncomfortable and hilarious scenes. Hazelights founder Josef Fares stated during the preview event that the rom-com setup was incredibly challenging in that sense, but at the same time gave a lot of freedom to add unique elements. And indeed: the use of this genre is unexpected and that is an attractive part of the game at first glance. Not only the story and setting are affected by this, but it also comes to the fore in the gameplay.

It Takes Two is fully built as a co-op game and that – in combination with the rom-com genre – for a special setup. Since the game can only be played in this mode, it’s all about teamwork. You can do that together on the couch, but just like with A Way Out, it is also possible to play online with the help of a Friend’s Pass. This way you only have to buy the game once and you can still play together remotely.

Depending on the character you play, you can have different power -ups. These are different per level. For example, Cody has a number of nails at his disposal in the first level, while May carries the head of the hammer. Since you both only have part of the solution, you have to approach the puzzles in a creative way. That’s refreshing and we hope to see more of this ingenuity in the full game. We probably don’t need to worry about that: Fares stressed that there is much more to discover in terms of both story and gameplay.

That gameplay feels smooth so far and graphically there is not much to criticize so far. The characters move very naturally and the interactive world contributes to this. What is particularly striking about the controls is the forgiveness: there is a strong aim assist. You definitely need this in some cases, because the game quickly switches between different gameplay elements. For example, at one point you are avoiding hordes of wasps while you have to defeat them together a moment later. That versatility is one of the strongest points of It Takes Two so far. Hopefully the rest of the game will retain that same variation in gameplay and setting.

It Takes Two will be released on March 26 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series S and X.