It Takes Twois due to hit the Nintendo Switch tomorrow, nearly a full year after the game walked away from The Game Awards' prestigious Game of the Year award. Josef Fares, writer and director ofIt Takes Two, is thrilled that more people will be able to experience his co-op-only epic. The game is a love letter to collaboration, from its creation to its core-gameplay, and will likely be remembered as a modern classic for years to come.
Game Rant recently spoke to Fares and Turn Me Up, developer of the imminently forthcoming Switch port, aboutrule-breaking in game designand pushing the envelope in terms of content. Fares also had a lot to say about the nature of narrative multiplayer, how making games compares to making movies, and the inherently collaborative nature of telling stories.
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Scratching the Surface of Narrative Multiplayer
WhileIt Takes Twowas a groundbreaking experiencein terms of story-driven multiplayer, Fares believes video games are merely scratching the surface of what the medium is capable of. Realizing that potential requires much more than adding split screens or extra controller inputs to single-player experiences, however:
“When we write the story, we attempt to balance the pacing because we know that players talk to each other. They don’t have the same focus that you do when you’re playing alone. So there’s already a lot of complexity in telling the story for two players.”
While Fares believes that narrative experiences with more than two players are possibilities, each additional player means another layer of multiplicative complexity in terms of design. Pacing, communication, and character motivations are all interlocked, and becoming increasingly hard to balance. Fares stated that past a point, the number of players in a party stop pursuing the game’s story and start making their own narrative, which can derailthe all-important emotional beatsthat make narrative games matter.
Creative Collaboration in Movies vs. Games
Fares often jokes that when he wants to take a vacation, he will return to making movies. He believes the core difference between the mediums, interactivity, requires an evengreater degree of collaboration:
“Collaboration in movies is still important, but with games, it needs to be even tighter. Everybody needs to be on the same wavelength. It’s almost as if everybody’s contribution is more important. In movies, you’re able to easily change out people, but in games, everybody needs to be on the same track.”
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Unlike movies, which can be edited orre-shot when necessary, changing a single level or gameplay sequence can have a staggering ripple effect across the title. As a result, every member of the development team has a huge impact on the final product, and an important responsibility. But lock-step collaboration among the development team should not be mistaken for an endorsement of groupthink.
Open-mindedness is key part of achieving ideal collaboration. When people approach Fares with maxims and mandates on how to make games, he immediately loses interest, because he asserts that “we don’t know how to make games,” and those who claim to have all the answers are usually clinging to outdated design principles. A key part of making meaningful contributions to a project is thinking outside the box while still adding onto the core premise in a cohesive way.
It Takes Two as a Relationship Test
It Takes Twohas proven itself to bea popular game for couples; and it is easy to see why. The core narrative about a couple rediscovering how to communicate before their impending divorce has romantic overtones, and gamers with significant others have a go-to player two for the co-op-only title. Fares explained that Hazelight did not craftIt Takes Twowith couples in mind, but the game could serve as a test for all sorts of relationships. Needing to communicate and collaborate with a partner—whether they are a friend, child, or spouse—can serve as a stress test, bonding experience, and personality assessment all at once.
As with the creation ofIt Takes Two, collaboration is at the heart of enjoying the title to its fullest, and Fares believes that is a natural way to appreciate narratives. Storytelling is an inherently social endeavor, and the interactivity ofnarrative co-operative gamesessentially re-introduces the collaborative element that easily falls to the wayside in more passive mediums.
It Takes Twois available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. It releases tomorrow on Switch.
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