The introduction to It Takes Two from director Josef Fares and Hazelight Studios throws you and your co-op partner in the midst of domestic turmoil. May and Cody are intending to divorce, to the dismay of their young daughter Rose. But thanks to a bit of magic, May and Cody go through a transformation into dolls and start their adventure in their backyard tool shed.
Thematically, this first story chapter addresses the parents’ negligence, mainly represented through sentient household appliances. Mechanically, May will use a hammer head, while Cody can make use of some throwable and summonable nails — work together to solve puzzles and clear The Shed.
Wake-up Call
May and Cody will begin their lesson in cooperation by attempting to pull a lever, although they can’t do so until they catch some fuses who have run away. Follow the game’s instructions as they teach you to sprint, ground pound, double jump, dash, wall cling, and wall jump. Find all five fuses, reattach them to the lever controls, and pull the lever down together.
Biting the Dust
You’ll then be sucked into an aging vacuum cleaner, long forgotten by its owners. Here, you’ll work together using vacuum tubes. For many of these puzzles, the player will have to ride a vacuum tube, aiming it while the other player travels through the hose and is shot out of it — point your left analog stick downward to point the hose up.
There are some upward-facing fans that you can reverse the flow of by ground-pounding red buttons; when the fan blows green, they will be shooting upward, lifting anyone who stands on them. This will be your way to get the player controlling the hose to join the other player. In a later puzzle, one player will have to suck in red beads with one end of the hose while the other player shoots them out the other end.
How to beat the Vacuum Tower in It Takes Two
Your boss at the end of this section will be one disgruntled vacuum cleaner. It will be shooting garbage firebombs at you, but they will be fairly well-telegraphed with shadows. After some attacking, steps will rise up behind you, and on these steps is a vacuum tube. One player will have to stay on the bottom to suck up firebombs with the tube, while the other player jumps up the steps to control the hose and aim the firebombs at the Vacuum Tower’s face. This tube will come and go, so stay alive in between rounds of shooting, and stay near the back to be ready whenever the vacuum tube emerges.
The Depths
May and Cody’s next quest will be to reunite some lost and broken tools with their toolbox, and this estranged couple will make good use of these tools. May will have a hammer head to smash buttons, and Cody can throw nails and summon them back to his hand instantly — think Thor’s hammer or the ax of Kratos.
Generally, you will want to look for yellow buttons or nails for May to hit, although she can destroy glass and ceramics as well. For Cody, surfaces being yellow is a surefire way to tell if your nails will stick to them or not. Keep in mind that you start with one nail, but you will find two more through this section.
Using the hammer head, May can swing on nails that Cody sticks on walls; take advantage of this to get May over to hard-to-reach places. And on Cody’s side, his nails can lock movable platforms into place through holes against yellow surfaces. You will also need to throw nails onto red switches to activate platforms and walls for May to use.
Wired Up
How to beat the tool box in It Takes Two
Like with the Vacuum Tower, the tool box will also be cross with you. Before meeting it on the field of battle, you will have to survive a hazardous section of nails constantly dropping in your direction. Keep moving forward and use the same techniques as before to continue on, all while avoiding the hail of nails.
The proper boss fight with the tool box will have two different stages and strategies. The first has you dodging its sweeping attacks by jumping — when its arm is against the wall, Cody has to nail it through the hole on its arm, then throw the other two nails at the yellow spots on its arm. May will swing on these nails to get closer to the tool box, and using her hammer, smash the tool box’s locks to get to the next stage of the battle.
Cody and May will be running out of space very quickly because of some saws, and the tool box will try to smush you with a shovel. Dodge the shovel right before it lands on you — have Cody stand on the shovel while May uses the hammer head to launch Cody upward. Cody in midair can then launch nails at an explosive can on top of the tool box. Finish off the can’s health bar and defeat the tool box and The Shed.
Related: It Takes Two – The Tree gameplay tips and walkthrough guide
