It Takes Two, the cooperative adventure game by Hazelight Studios, has won Game of the Year at the 2021 Game Awards. It was among six nominees for the award, including Deathloop, Resident Evil Village, Psychonauts 2, Metroid Dread, and Rachet & Clank: Rift Apart.
The award was accepted by Hazelight Studios director Josef Fares, who didn't offer an acceptance speech quite as memeworthy as his "fuck the Oscars" moment during the 2017 Game Awards. Instead, he offered thanks to the rest of the team at Hazelight, and dedicated the award to his daughters.
It Takes Two has a unique premise. It casts two players as soon-to-be-divorced parents Cody and May. Their daughter isn't happy about this imminent divorce, so she transforms them into dolls with the help of Dr. Hakim, a sentient, wise cracking self-help relationship book. What follows is a series of dramatic set pieces that all require close collaboration. Fares had so much confidence in the game that he promised $1,000 to anyone who got bored of it.
In her review, Rachel described It Takes Two as "an excellent co-op adventure that doesn't take itself too seriously, and that's the only place it falls short."
It Takes Two also won the Best Family game in competition against four Nintendo games. And while Deathloop missed out on the Game Of The Year distinction, it did take home several other awards at Geoff Keighley's awards show, including Best Game Direction and Best Art Direction. Interestingly, among the other Game of the Year nominees, none received awards in other categories except for Metroid Dread for Best Action Adventure.
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