Games like It Takes Two
The three best games after It Takes Two are Split Fiction (the same studio, one better), Portal 2 (the co-op campaign that started the whole conversation) and Overcooked! 2 (the fastest way to find out how your duo handles pressure). Ten entries ranked below by what they demand of two people — plus the one Hazelight game to leave for last.
It Takes Two created a specific problem: you finish it, look at your co-op partner, and nothing else is built like that — mandatory two-player, mechanics that change hourly, zero filler. 95% positive across 268,000 Steam reviews, and the couch expects a sequel to the feeling.
The ten entries below are ranked by how well they serve a fixed duo — couch or online, partner or friend or kid. Each says what it asks of you two: reflexes, communication, or patience with each other. One entry is a deliberate skip, and it is from the same beloved studio.
Playing It Takes Two for the first time instead? Check its key price on ulov.gg
How we picked these
- Built for exactly two, or at its best there — not a party game tolerating a pair.
- Both players matter: no 'player two holds the torch' design.
- Playable by mixed skill levels without misery.
- A campaign or arc you can actually finish together.
- Steam ratings quoted per entry; anything under 80% is flagged honestly.
The list
01 Split Fiction
Split Fiction is the answer to 'what now' in the most literal way — Hazelight's next game, at 97% positive across 125,000 Steam reviews, their highest yet. Two writers trapped in each other's stories, mechanics that refuse to repeat, and a final act that outdoes It Takes Two's best chapter. If you have a duo, this is simply next.
02 Portal 2
Portal 2's co-op campaign remains the thinking duo's benchmark: separate portals, shared brain, and puzzles that make communication itself the mechanic. 99% across 465,000 reviews — the best-reviewed game on this page. The ping tool does more for couples' communication than most counselling.
03 Overcooked! 2
Overcooked! 2 is the pressure test: cooperative cooking under time panic at 90% across 83,000 reviews. It reveals exactly how your duo divides labour, assigns blame and apologises. Couples either bond or discover things — both outcomes are informative, and the game is superb either way.
04 We Were Here Forever
We Were Here Forever splits the duo on purpose: separated in a prison castle, walkie-talkies only, each seeing what the other needs. 91% positive across 18,000 reviews — the series' best entry. The purest communication game in co-op; screens apart, closer than couch.
05 Raft
Raft is the calm shared project: an ocean, a growing home, and jobs that naturally split between two people — one steers, one builds, both scream about the shark. 93% across 377,000 reviews. The best pick when the duo wants progress without pressure.
06 Human Fall Flat
Human: Fall Flat is physics comedy for two wobbly people: puzzles that are trivial on paper and hysterical in execution. 95% across 226,000 reviews. Nobody has ever finished a level gracefully, which is the entire product.
07 PICO PARK
PICO PARK is the pocket-money option that outperforms its graphics: minimalist levels that are pure cooperation logic, at 91% across 29,000 reviews. Better known as a chaos game for groups — with exactly two it becomes a tight, giggly puzzle campaign for the price of a coffee.
08 BOKURA
BOKURA is the hidden gem of this list: two players see the same world differently — literally different realities — and must describe what the other cannot perceive. 92% positive. Short, strange, made for phones-off evenings; the closest any game gets to We Were Here's trick with an artist's heart.
09 Core Keeper
Core Keeper is the long-haul pick: a cozy underground Terraria-like where a duo settles in for a hundred hours of mining, farming and boss nights. Progress is shared, sessions scale from twenty minutes to whole Sundays, and nobody is ever the spare player.
SKIP10 A Way Out
Skip A Way Out until you have finished Split Fiction and It Takes Two — it is the same studio learning the craft: one strong prison-break act, then quick-time filler the later games outgrew. Hazelight's catalogue is best played in reverse release order, and this one comes third of three. It is fine; its siblings are the point.
Similar but different
Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley co-op is the marriage-material version of a shared project: one farm, two routines, seasons that pass whether you optimised or not. 98% across 1 million reviews. The duo game people are still playing three years later.
Lethal Company
Lethal Company works shockingly well with just two: one in the facility, one on the radar, both lying about how fine things are. 97% across 510,000 reviews. See our games-like-Lethal-Company page when it hooks you.
Cuphead
Cuphead in co-op is a trust exercise with 1930s animation: two players, shared bosses, and the constant parry-slap of saving each other. 96% across 219,000 reviews. For duos whose love language is difficulty.
FAQ
What is genuinely the closest game to It Takes Two?
Split Fiction — same studio, same mandatory two-player design, higher rating (97% vs 95% on Steam). It is not 'similar to' It Takes Two; it is its direct successor, and the Friend's Pass trick works there too: one copy, both play.
We are a couple where one of us barely games. What fits?
It Takes Two itself was the gold standard for this; after it, Raft (no fail pressure), BOKURA (talking beats reflexes) and PICO PARK (simple controls) are the kindest. Save Cuphead and Overcooked for later — or for science.
Does one purchase cover both players anywhere here?
Hazelight's games (Split Fiction, A Way Out, It Takes Two) offer a Friend's Pass — the second player joins free. Everything else on this list needs two copies; several are cheap enough that it barely matters.
Best pick for two screens in different cities?
We Were Here Forever and BOKURA are designed for it — voice chat is the actual game mechanic. Split Fiction and Raft also play perfectly online; the couch is optional everywhere except in spirit.
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