Our picks, beyond the numbers
5 games like It Takes Two we would recommend for different reasons
It Takes Two works because it refuses to let either player sit back. Every chapter hands Cody and May a new set of tools, and the fun comes from figuring out, together, how those tools fit the room you're standing in. That constant reinvention — not just the fact that it needs two people — is what we looked for when picking what to play next.
Hazelight's own earlier and later games are the most obvious places to look, but we also wanted room for smaller, stranger co-op ideas that chase the same spirit of a puzzle only two people can solve. Here are the five games like It Takes Two we'd actually recommend, and why each one earns its spot.
A Way Out
Our first choice for more Hazelight co-op
A Way Out is Hazelight's earlier game, built the same way It Takes Two is: two players, no single-player mode, working through a story that genuinely needs both of you present at once. It follows two prison escapees whose plans only work if you're actually coordinating, not just playing alongside each other.
We'd start here because the studio's whole philosophy — that co-op should be inseparable from the story, not bolted onto it — is already fully formed. If It Takes Two's forced-cooperation structure was the part you loved, this is the most direct echo of it.
There's no puzzle-platforming here; tension comes from quick-time fights, driving and stealth instead, and the tone stays grounded rather than fantastical. Choose this for more of Hazelight's specific co-op philosophy, not for It Takes Two's inventive minigame variety.
Unravel Two
For a quieter, gentler two-person puzzle
Unravel Two ties two small yarn characters together with a literal shared thread, and most of its puzzles come down to timing jumps and swings so neither of you is left dangling. It's a 2D side-scrolling platformer, a much smaller canvas than It Takes Two's constantly shifting set pieces.
We like it for a pair who want something calmer and more contemplative — a short, atmospheric adventure rather than a sprawling story stuffed with minigames. A single player can also control both Yarnys at once if a second person isn't around, which makes it flexible when plans change.
Don't expect It Takes Two's variety or scale; this is a tighter, more meditative experience with a fraction of the mechanical range. We'd point you here specifically for a softer, more intimate kind of co-op evening.
Split Fiction
For Hazelight's own follow-up
Split Fiction is Hazelight's next game after It Takes Two, built around the same conviction that co-op should be structurally necessary rather than optional. Two writers get trapped inside their own stories, jumping between sci-fi and fantasy worlds that reshape the mechanics almost every chapter.
We'd recommend it to anyone who simply wants more of exactly what It Takes Two did well, from a studio that has clearly kept refining the formula. The shifting-genre premise means the toolbox changes even more aggressively between chapters than It Takes Two's did.
It's still built as a boundary-pushing co-op adventure through and through, with a Friend's Pass letting a second player join without owning a copy. Go here expecting more of the same inventive spirit, in a new pair of worlds.
Ibb & Obb
For co-op puzzles boiled down to their essence
Ibb & Obb strips the idea of co-op puzzling down to something close to its purest form: two characters on a single shared screen, split by inverted gravity, with puzzles that only click if both players commit to moving at precisely the same moment.
We'd choose it for a pair who liked the specific feeling of It Takes Two's trickier platforming sections — the kind where one wrong step means starting over — and want an entire game built around that tension rather than one ingredient among many.
There's no story or dialogue carrying you from puzzle to puzzle, and a single player can control both characters solo if a partner isn't available. Pick this for pure, focused puzzle-solving, not for It Takes Two's narrative or minigame variety.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
For bringing more friends along
Sackboy: A Big Adventure takes the LittleBigPlanet series' platforming into a game built for up to four players at once, rather than It Takes Two's fixed two-player format. It's organized into discrete levels you can pick through, instead of one continuous story.
We'd point a group here if It Takes Two's two-player limit left you wanting room for more friends on the couch. The platforming itself is lighter and more arcade-y, built to be approachable for a mixed group rather than demanding tight, story-paced coordination.
Most of it can also be played solo as comfortably as with a group, which is a real departure from It Takes Two's insistence on two players. Choose Sackboy when the size of the group matters more than a tightly woven story.
