The Game Awards GOTY For 2021 Is 'It Takes Two' By Hazelight Studios

Get screwed Take-Two Interactive

Totally worth the victory speech by Josef Fares! That was hilarious!

I’m pleased to announce that I have never even heard of this game and/or company.

Umbasa.

I think it’s hilarious that the category everyone said Nintendo pretty much owned, best family game, went to the only non Nintendo game nominated

Super chuffed for them. A genuinely original game winning is rare these days.

Totally deserved as well, I voted for resident evil village but it was between that and it takes two so, but Josef fully deserved to get this award tonight

Also gave out a sigh of relief when I knew it wasn't Deathloop

@BloodNinja Yes everyone should wear ignorance as a badge of honor!

Also how did Nintendo have 4 out of 5 nominees for the best family game and still lose

Well deserved. As much as I loved Metroid Dread, I still preferred It Takes Two.
(My personal favorite was probably Astalon:Tears of the Earth but that wasn't an option).

@UltimateOtaku91 apparently it takes two is way too good

Take Two is gonna have a fit with that 🤣

Not my game, but I'm happy such a game managed to beat AAA titles. I give it takes two, two thumbs up.

I really thought deathloop was going to win, (Not that I wanted It to) But I'm really happy that takes two got it! deserved i'm sure!

@UglyCasanova Maybe you can explain how this knowledge is important enough warrant flaming a stranger, then.

I play that game and I agree it totally deserved GOTY. Hopefully Take-Two ended their scuffle with the game now.

Love this outcome. Awesome to see all the big studios be beaten by an indie. Best decision they could’ve made.

@UglyCasanova Sharpen Your Teeth is one of my favorite albums

@Blooper987 Agreed. I even said in a comment some weeks back that I wished an indie game would win GOTY. Guess it came true. Good for them!

Wish you would've put the nominees in the article. I don't remember who I voted for in this category. If death's door didn't win anything, this is a worthless awards ceremony anyways.

Very happy with this! Loved this game, the amount of fun ideas packed into it rivals even some of the best Mario games imo. If you have a partner, kid or friend to play this with I'd highly recommend. Hopefully more people try out It Takes Two because of this, totally deserves the attention.

Haven't gotten a chance to play this game, as I don't have a PlayStation, but ever since it was announced at The Game Awards last year, I've always thought it looked fantastic. I haven't gotten to play Psychonauts either for the same reason. Not sure if I see It Takes Two being better than Psychonauts or Metroid Dread, but I guess I'll never know whether the win was deserved or not until I can get my hands on a PS5. Happy to see a colorful, cartoony platformer snag thr with for once, though. Lots of great nominees this year for games that are more my taste. Shame Psychonauts didn't win anything, though.

@Blooper987 why? Because its a small game? That doesnt make it better

@mother_brain_85 no that’s not it.

It’s a smaller team who made an amazing game with a beautiful message and fun gameplay. It is also incredibly innovative as a co-op based platformer story game.

The game is actually longer than both Metroid and ratchet and clank so saying it’s a small game isn’t really correct.

It Takes Two won because the judges all wanted to hear Josef Fares' excitement when accepting the award.

And honestly, I don't blame them.

This is why Award shows are dumb. The winners are always the ones that don't deserve it. imo.

@mother_brain_85 Whats woke about it? I'm actually asking since I never played it or watched it?

@BloodNinja You're not alone. Never heard of this game either. Not even once.

Of all the GotY nominees, they picked the worst game? More like J(oke)otY.
And the lack of Nintendo announcements was disappointing too, save for MH Rise and more amiibo.

@mother_brain_85 Being small doesn't have anything to do with it. It dared to try and be different. It succeeded where AAA games have remain stagnant by relying on safe ideas vs trying to be innovative and creative.

It wasn't my pick but unlike many of the the people overhating Deathloop here, I can fully acknowledge a game that didn't interest me as deserving of it's award. It Takes Two earned GOTY.

@SeantheDon29 That was the main issue I had, I don't need you to tell me about How Inclusive your games are every 2 sec.

I know, I hear it everyday!

Did anybody else think Doug bowser accepting for Metroid dread was gross?

Where was this heavenly rumored leak that bothw2 was going to be shown???????and this is why I sit back and laugh at the people the believe these people and their leaks and rumors 😂

@Snatcher the endless sociopolitical messages and blame game (also known as woke) is what made me not watch it this year

Time to play it takes two.

@UltimateOtaku91 Well, I don't think all those games deserved to be nominated to best family game XD

@mother_brain_85 What…do you think “woke” means? I promise, it has nothing to do with your parents being turned into dolls…

Too much side stuff that I don't care about. Facebook/Meta/whatever they call themselves anymore is a horrible company, so didn't like all the ads for them. All the celebrities were a big yawn. Don't care at all about them. If I wanted to see movie or TV show previews, I'd watch a movie or TV show award show. All the "world premieres" were... meh. All looked similar and were either FPS, free to play or looks kind of like Assassin's Creed but isn't. As for Nintendo... great to see Metroid Dread win at least one award, but other than that, nothing too exciting, unless Cuphead DLC and open world Sonic are up you alley. I'll skip it next year. 4/10.

@Savage_Joe It didn't bother me much. As someone who has had a year of hearing my favorite movie Black Panther only got praise because of wokeness, it's still the same crap I hear all year from people who think media featuring non white people aren't worthy of any praise.

Just look at the the nominee for goty and how people were going to jump all over it that it only won because the two leads were black.

Congrats to It Takes Two. A truly creative and unique idea.

Anybody calling It Takes Two "woke" clearly hasn't played it, considering there's a whole level dedicated to traumatizing your daughter so you can bathe in her tears.

Quite surprised to see this beat out Deathloop, Ratchet and Clank and Resident Evil.

Even more surprised that Metroid beat out those same games for best action-adventure. I still don't take merit in these awards, but kudos for not being 100% predictable.

@tsdenizen Eh, don't let it get to you. People just like yelling woke now because it's the new buzzword when you don't like something. If you were to ask someone to actually point whats woke about games like takes two and games like deathloop, you won't get an answer lol.

When was the last time Nintendo didn't win "Best Family game"? I don't even remember, but it's surprising a smaller-scale game won GOTY.
I don't know much about It Takes Two, but it looks interesting. What's more, it also looks perfect for Switch, it's a mystery why it's not there.

If there are no delays, next year's GOTY nominations will surely be competitive on the brim!

For all the naysayers... been playing games on almost all consoles since the days of the 2600. I sat down and played It Takes Two with my 11 year old son, who is a gigantic Mario platform fan. We completed the game together in about 10 hours and can honestly say that it was one of the greatest gaming experiences of my lifetime, particularly because my son was enjoying the platform and logic puzzles. Some extremely well-thought out competitive mini-games. It would be a pity if it never comes out on Switch, but also know the Switch would really struggle to replicate the smoothness and the quality of the visuals. Don't rule this experience out if you have a console you can play on. It was one of the most creative games I've experienced and one I know that we will return to again because there were mini-games we missed and distinct roles/abilities that can be switched, keeping the game fresh for another playthrough. Please bare in mind that I also consider Psychonauts in my top 5 games of all time and am playing the long-awaited sequel now. I work mental health and there are so many proper messages Schaeffer and Team send with Part 2. But seeing a game about divorce and its effects on the child and the dynamics of how parental choices can add to that trauma was done so well. You are truly shorting yourself from a remarkable experience if you have access to it and choose not to play it. Who knows? The Switch has been granted fantastic ports with games that have more powerful gaming engines than this. It would be a shame not to allow any gamer not to have access to what can be a transcendental experience if you're a child of divorce that really addresses the nuances of a healthy or broken marital relationship and the lack of insight parents have when it comes to how it affects the children. This is a 10 out of 10 game, and I don't say that lightly.

@AceMcGyver65 See it's stories like that which gave it the push it needed. The problem with AAA games is the stories are cookie cutter and predictable. It takes two took a topic not done in a game before and made it work.

Was hoping for Psychonauts 2 or Metroid Dread, but it was my 3rd choice. So happy for Josef! Congrats to him and his team!

Welp...there ya have it. Next to nothing on the nintendo front this year too. It was pretty much the Microsoft show with some PC and sony sprinkled in.

@AceMcGyver65 Thanks for the long and well written comment. After all the "woke" posts I was getting ready to put my head through the wall. 😩

@Liam_Doolan Thanks for the link, makes me feel better about my PS5 purchase, though maybe it was PS4, it was on sale Black Friday week and I picked it up on disc for $19.99 to play with my wife and my kids to play together if they have the time. Still buried for wrapping with the other Christmas gifts which is shy I can't recall.

@rjejr Keep in mind that if you purchased the PS4 version, that you are entitled to a free PS5 upgrade as long as you have the disc or you purchased it digitally from the Playstation Store. Just view the product when you bring the menu up, rather than clicking on "Play Game".

@OnlyItsMeReid The odd thing about It Takes Two is that it works very well as a couple game, but fails tremendously as a family game; as @AceMcGyver65 points out, the whole thing is about divorce and the themes aren't always uplifting.

Nothing short of an absolute blunder by the TGA community.

Why wouldn't ITT be possible on Switch? The Wii got like its own CoD games. Everything could run on the Switch, just in some cases it might have to be its own version and that might not be viable for everyone.
There're way too many "Can't run on Switch" takes to then release the game later anyway. Hello Bandai.
On a side note, hardware doesn't make games run, people do.

And if you're tired of hearing about "wokeness", imagine how tired people are who get everything downplayed as "wokeness".

I didn't watch TGAs, but it seems that at least some people are seeing what a fraud one "leaker" named after the strongest bounty hunter in the universe is.

@Dog I think that's a good thing they didn't play it safe with it's story telling to appeal to children. To be honest and sincere means having to tell things that are painful. Marital problems sucks and the game did a good job of highlighting just terrible it can be.

It works as a family game because kids would probably be too distracted by the visuals and game play while it works for adults who can appreciate the story as well as the other two things. As far I can tell the game does a good job of appealing to both adults and kids.

@BloodNinja Why are you pleased to have not heard of It Takes Two and/or its developer? Such a strange comment. 🤔

@Dog On the contrary, the subject matter is handled tactfully and in a manner for it to be used as a tool that husband/wife conflicts don't always involve the kids directly. It models the message that we are human, things can change, but in no way does that mean that it has to have an impact (in the long-term) of a family relationship vs. a marital relationship. Too many parents put their child in the middle as a pawn. This game does a wonderful job to send a message to provide the insight that it's not the way it has to or should be. It also doesn't have a complete resolution and works that life is not simple. That's a message that impairs a child from being conditioned to learn that their parents aren't perfect and that relationships can be complicated. The true message here is about the need for verbal communication and age-appropriate approach to begin helping the child/children begin to recognize that their feelings should be validated and not ignored, which the parents do for about 2/3 of the game. I'm an adult child of divorce... my son is a child of divorce. Maybe it's because of my work experience that made it easier to talk about it, but this game opened the door to so many conversations that too many parents wish to try and sweep under the rug to the child's detriment.

@Blooper987 I don't know, I have over 50 hours in Dread. All 2D Metroid games are meant to be played over and over to make it to the end faster and faster, not just playing it once and never touch it again.

@tsdenizen Wait, are you trying to tell me parents normally don't do this?

Great choice. Metroid Dread was my GOTY but this is still a really good game. People in the comments are just mad because it's not a Nintendo game, pathetic

@AceMcGyver65 Much better said than I. Good points!

@AceMcGyver65 Thank you!!! What an excellent review. Also gave me hope after all the "boo wokeness!" posts followed by the numerous hearts that follow said posts. Reminds me that there are still a lot of really good people at this site that bring interesting insights like you.

@Liam_Doolan

So that's it... first they said "individual Joy-Cons need camera control for A Way Out", and now a game with a more cartoonish art-style may not be possible at all. That doesn't change the fact this simply looks like a perfect fit for the console, that'd be enough to justify the effort.

This game runs at 60fps on the old-gen consoles too, but I bet that also took a lot of effort. Maybe it also takes two for some things to be feasible, they could use a bit of help from a porting expert. Never ignore the perfect opportunity when it's in front of you (I'm looking at you, BoTW2)

@mother_brain_85 What a pointless comment. I keep forgetting they let kids on this site.

The only announcement I was excited for was WH40K Space Marines II. I hope they bring the first game to the Switch.

My biggest takeaway? The show should have been 30 minutes. That was way too long.

I forgot to watch the game awards, but by reading the comments i didnt miss anything?

I love Hazelight Studios and can't wait to eventually play It Takes Two. Both Brothers: ATOTS and A Way Out are excellent games. Their win is well deserved.

Just caught up on all the stuff worth watching...
...it wasn't worth watching lol.

It takes two looks like a fun game, sadly there is absolutely no single player option. So it's completely unplayable for me.

Shame it won't be coming to Switch. I remember this bloke also said A Way Out couldn't come to Switch because the controllers didn't have enough buttons.. don't trust what he says as reasons for this one not coming to Switch.

The real reason is because EA, and EA loves being EA.

Not to say Joseff's games are bad at all, they have all been pretty decent. Just he spouts a lot of PR nonsense instead of just saying EA doesn't want it on Switch or they just don't want to put resources into a port.

As for the TGA show itself. What a load of guff. Pretty sure Keanu took both red and blue pills in his video appearance. He definitely had something in the system.

Ha, I wish Metroid Dread had won, but that speech was totally worth it!

I see Doug Bowser has inherited Reggie’s hand gestures lol

@Bratwurst35 @AceMcGyver65 It seems that you two (plus The Game Awards) and I just have fundamentally different philosophies on what makes a good "family game". I believe what makes a great family game is the whenever its gameplay can encourage and unite families into playing and enjoying a video game together, whether if its competitive be it for friendly competition or cooperation. For a great example, look no further than Super Mario 3D World, with its phenomenal level design and controls that allows such family synchronization and togetherness towards a goal, giving a special and unique feeling for each individual that allows the whole family to become closer, a feeling that typical AAA games do not usually reach. Such a philosophy is where I believe Nintendo excels so well at with many of their games, and I feel such a philosophy was better demonstrated in other "Best Family Game" winners and nominees.

As cringe as that one Wii U commercial was, it also demonstrated what I believe how family games should work.

You both are free to praise It Takes Two with its approach to co-op gameplay and for not holding back with its storytelling, as well as it tackles at themes like divorce and the psychological consequences it can have for both parents and children. I don't deny the impact it causes on you both. I get that. But I can't call that a family game. When it comes to actually being what I believe a family game should be, It Takes Two simply does not qualify, as it does not go even close to achieving that special "togetherness" feeling that the likes of Super Mario 3D World or Mario Party Superstars does, at least not for me.

Game that was another let's play hype get best of the year award? Cute...

@UltimateOtaku91 I voted for Village because Doki Doki Literature Club Plus wasn't nominated. I wish Deathloop would've won just so everyone on N4G would've had a meltdown, lol.

I was hoping for Metroid Dread, but this seems like a deserved win.
Josef Fares directed a lot of good movies here in Sweden, before moving on to video games. Cool that his studio got this recognition!

@locky-mavo Hell yes.. that was definitely the most unexpected. I still have the first game for PS3.

@The-Chosen-one Alan Wake II was the biggest reveal for me

It Takes Two is an incredible game and I encourage those whinging about it winning to check it out.

How the hell did it win Best Family Game? A game being about a family doesn't make it a family game! It's a 2 player co-op and some of the scenes definitely aren't suitable for a young children

@EVIL-C I'm happy when I'm not keeping up with pop culture. Just a personal thing, nothing to see here.

@Dingelhopper I just found it funny that we have never heard of the game of the year

@Bloodninja never heard of it either off to read some reviews x

Just checked out the acceptance speech brilliant pure positive energy, guy looks like he won a billion dollars and a date with Priti Patel! Xxxx

I watched the stream this morning. Skipping through nearly 4 hours of cringe, wokeness, virtue signalling, music performances and very underwhelming "world premier" game announcements.

Josef Fares was the only authentic person there. I wish he was given a little bit more time to share with us his unfiltered ideas and opinions. I haven't played It Takes Two yet, but I'm glad this game has won GOTY

Take THAT Take-Two!!!

I'm not sure if I should give EA some credit for actually publishing a good game for once. But...it begs the question. Metroid Dread was stuck in development hell, so does that make it a delayed game?

It's a shame Super Mario 3D World didn't take best family game, because that was genuinely some of the most fun I've ever had with people I played it with. It has the right amount of cooperative play, but also the crown throws a bit of chaos into the mix, where right when you start the level you have to make sure your friends don't grab you and throw you over the ledge or something.
I'm okay with It Takes Two taking game of the year. This year as a whole was better than last year's embarrassment. I still get the feeling that some of these were rigged, like TGA was held in the Microsoft Theater in LA, so I definitely raised an eyebrow when Forza took best sound design. I'm not going to call foul play, but it was totally foul play.

@Dog

Sorry but that comment just screams "Not made by Nintendo therefore I have to find ways to justify why it shouldn't have won"...pretty well illustrated by the fact that you only chose Nintendo games as positive examples.

It Takes Two is an awesome family game. My sister and wife loved it even though they pretty much play nothing else.

@BloodNinja Have you heard of the game "Brothers: a Tale of Two Sons?" Big indie darling a few years back at the end of the PS3 era. "A Way Out" was another game known for its co-op couch multiplayer. All I know about Josef and this company is that these two bangers were his last 2 games and his focus continues to be on telling stories through multiplayer. I haven't checked out It Takes Two, but if it's anything like those two it will be making us feel emotions.

@kingbk yeah, the nice thing about it is that when this people say woke or wokeness at least they are letting you know that they don't have a clue about what they're talking about and their opinion doesn't matter. Both deathloop and It Takes two are awesome games, try them and enjoy them

@Dog I didn't think this issue would carry this much weight, but you couldn't be any more correct about the definition of a family game. As @Chlocean just mentioned, the game "Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons" (and "A Way Out") were, I believe, produced by many of the same team as "It takes two". Now "Brothers" actually brought a tear to my eye because it deals with grief in such a wonderful way. I consider that a potential family lesson. But not one of the three games I've mentioned would I consider to be a game that kids, who lack the maturity to deal with such complex themes to completely grasp the messages that they're trying to convey. "A Way Out" is a fantastic game that also addresses in subtle ways the issues of parenting and the prison systems and family relationships, but is by no means a game that should be played by anyone under the age of 18. However, the point that I tried to make, with games as the medium we're discussing, is that, as a counselor, anything that can open the door to a healthy conversation between child and parent is a great thing, but only in the right hands.
As I was saying that I completely agree with your "family game" definition. Games are supposed to be "fun" and we want to maintain that "childhood innocence" as long as we can. I know that I'm eagerly awaiting Odyssey 2 (or whatever it's going to be called). "It Takes Two" contains mature themes and language that I wouldn't be comfortable playing with a four year old. But both "Brothers" and "It Takes Two" offers the opportunity to engage in conversations that we need to have with our older children to help prepare them for some of the mature themes that sometimes enter lives too prematurely and it's the way that these games approach them that make them games that a familial relationship can grow from.
Ultimately, though, we play games to escape from the real world, and mature themes are not good if mishandled or misinterpreted. I just appreciate it when they're able to express themselves as an "art" (oops, opened another Pandora's Box) and represent something greater than just escapism, with a sound and therapeutically intended message. Both Psychonauts, but particularly the second, deal with some sensitive subjects in ways that allow people to grow and/or think, which as a medium, there aren't enough of.

@AgentGuapo Why?

@Clyde_Radcliffe Families come in all shapes and sizes guy! They don’t all have young children in them the whole time haha.

That game only won because the dude that makes it is friends with jeff, the most anticipated game is not elden ring, its zelda, they just gave it the prize to elden ring because the new trailer, and so on. The game awards are trash.

@AceMcGyver65 Thanks. Sony does seem to have made the whole thing more complicated than it needs to be. I've moved over Sackboy, which wanted me to move the save over to the cloud but at least that didn't require PS+, and Dreams, which had a corrupted save and no upgrade path, and Ghost if Tsushima which has a paid path which I haven't paid for yet.

You have motivated me to get off the couch and look, and it took awhile to find, bottom box of course, and it is to my surprise the PS4 version, really thought I had purchased the PS5 version. Explains why it was half price I guess. So thanks for the info, guess I'm gonna need it.

@AceMcGyver65 Maintaining childhood innocence is why alot of kids grow up under prepared to deal with difficult situations. While we should let kids be kids, we also shouldn't treat them as if their incapable of understanding anything. Kids are capable of picking up cues and learning to understand things even if for a moment it's beyond their grasp.

I feel like this website will do anything to mention metroid dread

@mother_brain_85 smells like coping to me, I know I voted for Elden Ring

it takes two is a fine game. I think the gameplay was comparable to the best 3d platformers around (sans Mario of corse) but I'm pretty sure it won GOTY because people think "Great story= Great game" This is a trend that has been around for a while now and I'm not super into it. Sure some games are so incredibly and overwhelmingly great that they are massively praised even without much of a story (I'm looking at you BOTW) but most of the time people say thing like "Have you played uncharted? That game was so good. it was like watching a movie!"

Oh well. At very least I'm glad it won over the much more over rated games nominated like RE and Deathloop.

@Ratmasterd21 I don't get how Deathloop is overrated. it sits at an 88 on metacritc which is line with most of arkane games. BOTW is highly praised and yet it wouldnt be fair to say it's overrated.

@Frailbay30 I'm not a meteoritic person, all I saw were a ton of 10/10s from respected websites. I was stoked and picked it up and was massively disappointed. It just felt like a ham fisted mash up of other better games. Still id say its a sold 7/10 definitely worth playing, not GOTY material. RE was also fine not amazing. I'd say Metroid was hands down the best game of the year with MHR behind it, but I'd put It takes two behind them. Tied with R&C and Psychonuats 2

@Chlocean I vaguely remember the name, but never played them.

That game only won because the director is personal friend of the ***** that makes this joke awards. Winning best family game where the rest of the nominated games were Nintendo games, and quite excellent games? No way. Metroid Dread is the game of the year.

It Takes Two is brilliant and absolutely deserved GOTY.

Disappointed by no announcements from Nintendo though. I was really hoping for a BOTW2 release date or some news about Metroid Prime 2.

@mother_brain_85 “most anticipated” has got to be the silliest award category in existence.

Why are we giving awards to video game marketing departments?

@Edu23XWiiU At least It Takes Two is actually doing something different from a game design stand point.

I love Metroid Dread as much as anyone but it's not really doing anything new. It's just a really good Metroid game

Im glad Metroid Dread lost to It takes Two as game of the year.. The company Mercury Steam does not deserve the award after the way it treated it's workers..and I hate to say that but someone has to stand up to these type of people. Side not anyone who responds to my comment with name calling will be muted and blocked by me.. I don't have time for childish Behavior.. Im just stating my opinion

@Tchunga amen to that I just found dread a total borefest

@riki_sidekicks agreed i was hoping to see something atleast from those two games

@Edu23XWiiU I disagree as did the world --Metroid Dread is not game of the year thanks

I wonder how many people complaining here have never played this game. It's an amazing co-op experience. I personally would have chosen Metroid Dread but I also can't wait to see the next co-op only game by this studio.

I hope people here realize that the TGA chooses their winners through comity and only 10% through fan vote. Organizations like LA times and others that don't have dedicated wings to gaming are what is deciding game of the year.

TGA is a shame and people only watch them for the trailers.

@Tchunga I don't think that It Takes Two is GOTY material. It lost to Deathloop on Best Direction hahahaha.

@NWC HahaHa I didn't knew "the world" where Geoff whatever's his last name and his friends were "the world".

@Edu23XWiiU I don't see how Deathloop winning best game direction debunks anything I said. It's not like Metroid won it

If Geoff Keighley had his way, Josef Fares would get GOTY every year. His man crush on him is getting annoying.