It’s early November 2022, and the gaming world is buzzing. Hazelight Studios, the maverick team behind A Way Out and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, has just dropped a bombshell. After dominating PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, their award-winning cooperative adventure It Takes Two is finally, gloriously, making its way to the Nintendo Switch. For a console built on shared joy, this feels like destiny.
Flash forward to 2026, and that destiny has been realized a thousand times over. The Switch version didn’t just join the family—it redefined what portable togetherness could mean. Whether snuggled on a couch or passing Joy-Cons across a picnic table, players discovered that the hybrid console was tailor-made for Hazelight’s vision. And now, four years later, with the game’s total sales rocketing past 16 million copies, it’s clear that this partnership was never a mere port—it was a coronation.
So, what makes It Takes Two so special? Let’s rewind. The game throws you into the shoes—well, the miniature, hand-stitched shoes—of Cody and May, a married couple on the brink of divorce. Through a sprinkle of magical realism, their daughter’s tears transform them into tiny dolls, and they’re thrust into a whimsical world built from the detritus of everyday life. A vacuum cleaner becomes a roaring boss; a toolbox turns into a deadly arena. But here’s the twist: you can’t go it alone. The entire game is a mandatory two-player experience, split-screen by design, demanding constant communication and collaboration.
That’s right—no single-player mode. No AI companion. Every puzzle, every platforming sequence, every heart-pounding chase requires two human minds working in tandem. One moment you’re synchronizing grappling hooks to swing across a chasm; the next, you’re one player controlling a plane while the other engages in a dogfight. The sheer variety is staggering. Hazelight’s director, Josef Fares, famously declared that the team would “kill a mechanic” if it started to feel stale. The result is a game that shape-shifts relentlessly: a third-person platformer morphs into a dungeon crawler, a rhythm game, a snowball fight, even a chessboard-strategy segment. It’s a masterclass in “what will they think of next?”
Bringing all this chaos to the Switch was no small feat. Yet Turn Me Up Games, the studio behind the port, delivered a miracle. While the Switch’s hardware is undeniably less powerful than its big brothers, the port holds steady at a dynamic 30 frames per second, and the vibrant art direction survives intact. The secret? A bit of resolution scaling and an unwavering focus on the game’s emotional core. Because beneath the mechanical madness, It Takes Two is a deeply human story about rekindling love, learning to listen, and the messy, beautiful work of collaboration. Playing it on Switch—perhaps on a long flight or during a lazy Sunday at the park—adds an intimacy that feels even more personal.
And let’s talk about the Friend’s Pass, one of the smartest decisions Hazelight ever made. Only one person needs to own the game. The second player can download a free Friend’s Pass version and join the full adventure online or locally. No limits, no level caps—just unfiltered access. In an era of nickel-and-diming and fractured multiplayer ecosystems, this generosity sparked a revolution. Suddenly, siblings separated by an ocean or best friends in different towns could share the experience without buying two copies. On Nintendo Switch, where local wireless play and tabletop mode make spontaneous co-op effortless, the Friend’s Pass became a cultural phenomenon. Coffee shop duos, schoolyard buddies, and long-distance couples all found their way into Cody and May’s world.
The critical reception was equally ecstatic. The game swept the 2021 Game Awards, winning Game of the Year, Best Multiplayer, and Best Family Game. Reviews highlighted its emotional depth, inventive design, and the way it uses gameplay to mirror the couple’s fractured relationship. Skill trees? They’re not just power-ups—they’re metaphors for personal growth. Boss fights symbolize external pressures. Even the optional minigames scattered across levels, from chess to volleyball to wack-a-mole, are brilliantly designed to force players to compete and then laugh about it. As IGN noted, it’s “a kaleidoscopic co-op adventure that constantly surprises.”
Now, in 2026, the numbers tell the story. Beyond the 16 million units, It Takes Two has become a staple of “best co-op games of all time” lists. It’s taught in game design courses, celebrated for resurrecting the couch co-op genre at a time when online multiplayer had become the default. And the Switch version remains a top seller on the eShop, thanks to evergreen appeal and regular digital sales that introduce new generations of players to the magic. Hazelight, meanwhile, continues to push boundaries with their latest title—but they still frequently mention the Switch port as a dream come true. “We always wanted to be on a Nintendo console,” Fares said in a 2024 interview. “It feels like coming home.”
But perhaps the most beautiful legacy of It Takes Two on Switch is the stories players tell. On Reddit and social media, you’ll find countless tales: a father and daughter who mended their relationship while navigating the squirrel army level; two strangers who met through the Friend’s Pass and are now real-life friends; a grandmother and grandson who conquered the final boss together over a holiday weekend. These aren’t just anecdotes—they’re proof that video games can heal, connect, and transform.
Of course, no game is flawless. Some players found the story a bit too on-the-nose, and the portrayal of May and Cody’s marriage occasionally veered into cliché. But even skeptics admit that the emotional resonance lands where it matters. And on Switch, where the technical compromises are visible but rarely distracting, the core experience remains undiluted. The game’s pacing benefits from the console’s pick-up-and-play nature; short bursts of play feel just as satisfying as extended sessions.
So, what does the future hold? Hazelight has teased that their next project will once again redefine multiplayer, and rumors swirl about a Switch 2 enhanced version of It Takes Two that could bump up resolution and frame rate. For now, though, the existing Switch release stands as a monument to what cooperative design can achieve. It’s a reminder that in a world of battle passes and live-service grinds, there’s still room for a game that simply wants you to hold hands and jump together. And if you haven’t played it yet—what are you waiting for? Grab a friend, a free pass, and a Switch. The adventure of a lifetime awaits.