In a matter of a few years, Josef Fares, initially a film director, became one of the most resonant names in the video game industry. His debut was in 2013 as the director of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons – who would win the BAFTA innovation award – but you probably only got to know his name at the end of 2017, when during the Game Awards he released the famous expression “F * ck The Oscars”, revealing a new gameplay trailer for A Way Out.
Way Out was the game that best defined the style of Josef Fares and his Hazelight studio. There are many games with cooperative modes, but there is nothing comparable to A Way Out. It was designed from the ground up to be played in the company of someone and opened the way for surprising and fun cooperative mechanics. Josef could have taken the easy path and made a sequel, but instead, he opted to create a completely new game called It Takes Two.
Like A Way Out, It Takes Two is a cooperative game, but it is radically different in everything. While the first is about the relationship and the escape of two prisoners, the second is about a couple who have a daughter and are about to divorce. The same goes for mechanics, which manage to be a huge evolution compared to what we witnessed in A Way Out.
Stay with our interview with Josef Fares. It Takes Two will hit stores on March 26 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series, PS4 and Xbox One.
Jorge Loureiro (EG.PT): Video games are trying to be more and more inclusive. Since the adoption of children by homosexual couples is increasingly becoming a reality in Western countries, why can’t you choose to play with two characters of the same s*x?
Josef Fares (Director of It Takes Two): It’s because it is a very linear story, based on the characters. That means you have no choice in the game. You play with Cody and May, a couple who are about to divorce and are then forced to cooperate. The story is about this. We have no choice in the game. But you’re going to love it anyway, believe me!
“We have no choice in the game. But you will love it anyway, believe me!”
Jorge Loureiro (EG.PT): In the preview event, we managed to reach the moment when you are almost back home. From that moment on, is it still long before the end of the game?
Josef Fares (Director of It Takes Two): Yes, guaranteed! You only played two or three hours. The game has, rounding, 14 hours with a huge variety of content. From where you stayed, you’re going to get even crazier. Get ready for a wild trip.
Jorge Loureiro (EG.PT): Throughout the adventure, Cody and May discover several fun mini-games. After reaching the end of the story, is there a quick way to reach and play these mini games? It would also be highly if there was a rush mode to defeat all the bosses.
Josef Fares (Director of It Takes Two): We don’t actually have a rush mode, but we do have some generous checkpoints to get to the bosses. The mini-games will be able to be accessed through the menu as soon as you find all 25 mini-games, if you can. They are scattered and hidden in the world of It Takes Two.
Jorge Loureiro (EG.PT): You said before that It Takes Two is a tribute to Nintendo games. Can you elaborate?
Josef Fares (Director of It Takes Two): The way the mechanics work, without any form of tutorial, the dimension of the fun, the variety, the passion … everything is inspired by Nintendo.
“The dimension of the fun, the variety, the passion … everything is inspired by Nintendo”
Jorge Loureiro (EG.PT): I played the demo with a person unfamiliar with video games and had difficulty controlling the camera and the character at the same time. Are there plans for accessibility options that make controls easier for people like that?
Josef Fares (Director of It Takes Two): As I said before, I recommend that you play with someone who has a little experience in video games. They don’t have to be hardcore, but at least they need to know how to control the camera. This is not a game for completely new players, it is for those who really love video games and want to try something unique and different. Regarding accessibility for the camera, we will not include that, it would be a lot of work to implement something like this. I don’t think it will happen.
Jorge Loureiro (EG.PT): Some publishers have chosen to increase the price of games on new generation consoles, but in the case of It Takes Two it is even cheaper than all AAA games. Did they have any decision power in the price or was it all decided by EA?
Josef Fares (Director of It Takes Two): No, that was something we decided together. We felt that it would be logical for this game, there was nothing strange. Regarding the price, games are getting more expensive, but if you have more in-game purchases, I don’t see any point in increasing the price. I think there are two sides to this coin: one side is that budgets are increasing and games should cost more, because they cost the same as they did many years ago. But if the price of games is going to increase, then we should minimize the amount of in-game purchases.
Jorge Loureiro (EG.PT): This is a cooperative game like A Way Out, but at the same time, it is so different in every way. Why did they end up choosing the concept of a couple getting divorced?
Josef Fares (Director of It Takes Two): Because it fit the gameplay very well. Again, it’s not a game about the serious issue of being divorced, it’s about a couple who are getting divorced and who are forced to cooperate. I think it ends up “lending” to gameplay moments that are highly.
“Regarding the price, games are getting more expensive, but if you have more in-game purchases, I don’t see any point in increasing the price.”
Mini-games, the moments when they catch each other, are things that most couples can relate to and it is also something that has not been explored much in video games. So we thought, why not? Let’s do something different. We love going to uncharted waters at Hazelight.
Jorge Loureiro (EG.PT): Are you going to continue making cooperative games in the future or do you want something new? I know you said earlier that you didn’t like sequels.
Josef Fares (Director of It Takes Two): We will certainly continue to make cooperative games. We are very good at this and we want to continue the limits of what you can do in a narrative / cooperative game. This is something very unique to Hazelight, don’t forget that we are the only ones to do this, to write and design games like these since its conception. It is not just a singleplayer game in which you add a cooperative mode, it is something created from scratch and that we will continue to create, getting better and better.
