One of 2021’s Most Underrated Games Won Game of the Year at The Game Awards

One day several months ago I hopped onto GameStop’s website to preorder something, probably Metroid Dread. When the homepage loaded, I saw a little banner for a game called It Takes Two. Out of curiosity I watched a trailer, and I immediately knew that my wife and I had to play it. As it turns out, it was release day for the game. When my wife got up, I immediately sat her down and made her watch the trailer. She was as fascinated as I was. We hopped online and found the nearest store that had the game in-stock that we could pick up that day. After work, we hopped in the car, picked up our copy, and hurried home to start playing.

After impatiently waiting for our XBox to install the game (this is one thing Nintendo still holds over all other consoles), we booted it up and were met with a fantastical world, brilliant voice acting, heartfelt story arcs, and eclectic gameplay. We knew that the game would either bring us closer together or make us never want to play a game together again. Luckily this game achieved the former.

We laughed, we shouted, we may have even cried, but we also enjoyed the heck out of this game. Every stage was like a new game but with the same characters. One moment I was sending nails flying through the air to allow my wife to swing to higher ledges. The next I was using a drum cymbal as a shield and throwing it like a frisbee. In other sections I could become a plant or change my size. There is something here for everyone, which is why we were sad when we didn’t hear anything at all about this game from anyone else.

And then came time to vote for The Game Awards. I voted for It Takes Two every time I could. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved Resident Evil: Village, but It Takes Two was just such a new and refreshing take on video games that I felt like it needed to be recognized. So yes, I was happy to see Resident Evil: Village and Metroid Dread take home awards, but seeing It Takes Two win three including Game of the Year was a highlight of the night. I actually shouted for joy and pumped my fists in the air.

The absolute joy on Josef Fares’ face as he practically sprinted to the stage was infectious. His speech was so full of joy and excitement that my wife and I looked at each other and said, “We should really replay this game.”

If you haven’t yet, or even if you have, really, you should give It Takes Two a try. For us, and for plenty of others, it was definitely the game of the year.