In 2021, Dr. Hakim, the anthropomorphic book from It Takes Two, was leading the race for best new character. That victory lap came with an unfortunate counterpoint: Cody, one of the game's two playable parents, was lagging far behind as the worst. Five years later, in 2026, the co-op classic from Hazelight Studios remains a touchstone for relationship-driven storytelling, especially after Split Fiction showed how far the studio has come. Yet Cody's arc has not aged into something more generous. If anything, the garden section still makes players want to tell him to get a job. 😤
It Takes Two revolves around two parents going through a divorce. Thematically, it is a mixed bag. The game refuses to play anything straight, and at times it seems to imply that divorce is caused by bad people not trying hard enough at a relationship, rather than acknowledging the reality that some people do not belong together forever. It is also somewhat progressive in its two leads. May is the breadwinner and an engineer, while Cody is the stay-at-home dad. That setup is normal, and it is good to see it treated as normal. But the game still leans on the well-worn 'dad is the fun parent' motif, with boring May ruining everything through her womanly boringness. That is why it is very hard to ever root for Cody. When the story reaches the garden, things get so much worse.
The Garden of Resentment
It turns out that Cody's passion in life is gardening. A player could be forgiven for thinking he does not have one. Despite staying at home all day, with a daughter old enough to be at school, and living in a huge house with a big garden thanks exclusively to May's salary, Cody does no gardening. The garden has been overrun, sabotaged by moles, and transformed into a mess of overgrown weeds and pests. The reason? Cody does not feel like May supported him. She did not bully him, belittle him, or pour salt on the soil. He simply had a feeling that she was not praising him enough for his hard work, so he quit. Instead of gardening, he decided to do… nothing.
That is the part that still rankles in 2026. May works every day at a very stressful job. Cody sits on the couch doing nothing. Their kid is healthy and at school. It is not up to May to make sure her husband gets off his backside to do a bit of gardening. It Takes Two does make it clear in the end that the garden's disrepair is Cody's fault, not May's, but it does not go nearly hard enough for many players' liking. The game wants to have it both ways: it wants Cody to be sympathetic, and it wants him to be the fun parent, even when his better half is carrying the entire household.
May's Sacrifice vs. Cody's Sulking
The worst part is that this section is followed by May's passion: singing. May gave up her dreams of being a professional singer in order to become an engineer and raise her daughter. Dreams are nice, but dreams cannot be eaten. May giving up hers for the good of the family is nowhere near equivalent to Cody getting grumpy and deciding he is not going to garden anymore because May did not come home from an eight-hour shift and compliment his azaleas.
| Character | Role | Sacrifice | Attitude |
|---|---|---|---|
| May | Engineer and breadwinner | Gave up a singing career to support the family | Stressed, practical, keeps everything running |
| Cody | Stay-at-home dad | Claims he was unsupported | Quits gardening, blames May, does nothing |
Cody is vaguely likeable at times, and that is what makes him so annoying. He is the fun parent, and the game is keen to present him as that. In reality, he is not doing anything like his better half. It is not only ridiculous for Cody to suggest that May, who is out at work all day while he stays at home and does nothing, is to blame for his lack of ambition. It is further evidence that the two are completely incompatible for the long term. Players have no problem with stay-at-home dads. In fact, it is great that a game like It Takes Two presents one as normal, because it is normal. But if Cody feels so unfulfilled at home, he should go out and do something with his life. He could work at a garden centre or a community club. He could do volunteer work around town that focuses on gardening. Or he could just go into his own damn garden and stop blaming his wife for everything.
A Better Stay-at-Home Dad Next Time
By 2026, the conversation around It Takes Two has evolved, but Cody's whininess remains a sore spot. Hazelight has moved on to Split Fiction, and the studio's co-op design has only gotten sharper. Yet the character writing in It Takes Two still sparks debate because it touches on real insecurities: unbalanced labor, unspoken resentment, and the quiet ways a relationship can rot. Cody's garden is not just a level. It is a metaphor for a man who let his own life become overgrown while waiting for applause. That is a compelling idea, but the game does not always frame it with enough honesty. It lets Cody be charming, then asks players to forgive behavior that would be exhausting in real life.
A proper portrayal of stay-at-home parents in games is still rare. It is worth celebrating when it appears, but representation also deserves nuance. Cody could have been a thoughtful portrait of a man struggling with identity after stepping away from traditional work. Instead, he often reads as a whiny man-child who treats his wife's exhaustion as an inconvenience. The game eventually admits that the garden's collapse is his fault, but the admission feels like a shrug rather than a reckoning. Players who finish It Takes Two may still enjoy the puzzles, the co-op chaos, and Dr. Hakim's ridiculous book energy. They may even appreciate the messy themes. But many will walk away wishing the studio had written a stay-at-home dad who was not so insufferable.
In 2026, Dr. Hakim can keep the best new character crown. Cody, meanwhile, remains the poster child for a co-op protagonist who needed a mirror more than a magical divorce therapist. If Hazelight ever revisits this kind of story, players hope for a stay-at-home parent with actual passions, actual accountability, and maybe a garden that is not just a monument to sulking. 🌱