Look, playing through Hazelight Studios’ masterpiece is basically a relationship stress test disguised as a Pixar movie. It's brilliant. It's chaotic. But let’s be real—sometimes an It Takes Two walkthrough is the only thing standing between you and a massive argument over whose fault it was that the platform moved at the wrong time. Cody and May are messy. Their divorce is messy. And if you aren't careful, the Rose’s Room chapter will make your brain feel equally messy.
You’re here because you’re stuck. Maybe it’s the vacuum cleaner boss. Maybe it’s the horrifyingly dark elephant scene that we all collectively agreed to never speak of again. Whatever it is, getting through this game requires more than just fast reflexes; it requires you to actually talk to the person sitting next to you.
Why This Specific Walkthrough Hits Different
Most games let one person carry the team. In It Takes Two, that is impossible. You physically cannot progress if one player is slacking. This creates a weird dynamic where you're constantly teaching each other how to play. Josef Fares, the director, famously said he’d give $1,000 to anyone who got bored of the game. He didn't have to pay up because the mechanics change every twenty minutes. One second you're playing a third-person shooter with sap and matches, the next you're in a top-down dungeon crawler or a rhythm game.
If you’re looking for a step-by-step It Takes Two walkthrough for the Cuckoo Clock stage, you have to understand that Cody and May have fundamentally different roles. Cody manipulates time. May clones herself. If May doesn't place her clone in the exact spot to trigger a pressure plate while Cody rewinds a falling pillar, you’re just going to keep dying. It’s about synchronization.
The Shed: Learning to Not Hate Each Other
The game starts in the Shed. It’s the "tutorial," but it’s surprisingly punishing if you’ve never played a platformer before. Cody gets nails. May gets a hammer. This is the foundation of the entire game’s logic: one person sets the stage, the other executes the action.
When you face the Vacuum Tower, the first real boss, the trick isn't just "shooting the things." It’s about the person on the ground floor managing the hoses while the other person aims the canisters. If you aren't yelling "Switch!" every five seconds, you're doing it wrong. The difficulty spike here catches people off guard because the game looks so friendly. It isn't. It’s a precision-based platformer that demands you pay attention to the environment.
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Breaking Down the Most Difficult Bosses
Honestly, the bosses in this game are better than most AAA action titles. They aren't just bullet sponges. They’re puzzles.
Take the Moon Baboon. It’s a three-phase fight that requires Cody to pilot a ship while May mans the turrets. If Cody doesn't dodge the laser grids, May can't shoot. If May doesn't hit the radar dishes, the boss won't take damage. You’ve gotta find a rhythm. Most people fail here because they try to play it like a solo game. You can’t. You have to treat your partner’s screen as just as important as your own.
The Wasp Queen Struggle
This is where the game gets "shooty." Cody sprays flammable nectar. May shoots matches to blow it up.
- The Mistake: Most players try to spray and shoot simultaneously.
- The Fix: Cody needs to coat the Queen’s weak points (the red armor plates) entirely before May fires a single shot.
- The Movement: You’re on a rail for most of this. Don't stop moving. If you stop, the swarms will eat your health bar in seconds.
Navigating Rose’s Room (The Longest Journey)
If you're following an It Takes Two walkthrough, you’ll notice the Rose's Room chapter feels like it lasts forever. That’s because it’s effectively five mini-games stitched together. You go from a space-themed gravity puzzle to a medieval RPG, then suddenly you’re in a dinosaur land.
The Dino Land section is a classic "friendship-ender." One person controls the big T-Rex, the other controls the small one. You have to bite platforms to hold them steady for the other player. If your partner is a "troll" gamer, you’re going to spend twenty minutes falling into the abyss. Pro-tip: the person on the small dinosaur should always lead. It’s easier for the big dino to react to the small one than vice-versa.
The Elephant in the Room
We have to talk about Cutie. It’s the part of the game that makes everyone feel like a villain. From a gameplay perspective, it’s a simple "pull the object" sequence. From an emotional perspective, it’s harrowing. There is no trick to this part of the walkthrough other than just doing it. It’s a mandatory story beat. Just keep pulling the legs. It’s over quickly, I promise.
The Snowy Peak and the Magnetism Mechanic
Once you hit the Winter Tundra, the game introduces magnets. Red and Blue. This is peak level design. You’ll be attracted to opposite colors and repelled by the same ones.
The sheer amount of physics-based puzzles here is staggering. When you get to the part where you have to repair the bridge, remember that Cody and May can use their magnets on each other. You aren't just using magnets on the environment; you are literally pulling and pushing your partner through the air. If you're stuck on the giant bell puzzle, look up. The solution is almost always related to swinging from a magnetic point you didn't see because you were looking at the floor.
Why Most Players Get Stuck in the Garden
The Garden chapter changes Cody into a sprout and May into a water-wielding warrior. This is where the combat actually gets kind of tough. The burrowing moles and the spider-riding sequences require legitimate coordination.
When Cody is a cactus (yes, he becomes a cactus), he has a machine-gun-like spray. May needs to use her water hose to clear the path. If May isn't clearing the sludge, Cody's movement is slowed, and he becomes a sitting duck. It’s a constant dance of area denial and focused fire.
The Burrowing King Fight
This boss is a nightmare if you don't understand the aggro mechanic. The King follows whoever is moving more. Cody needs to bait the boss into a specific area while May prepares the environment to trap him. If you both run in circles, the AI gets confused and just spams its ground-pound attack, which is almost impossible to dodge repeatedly.
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Practical Tips for Your It Takes Two Walkthrough
Forget the buttons for a second. The real way to beat this game is through communication. If you're playing online with someone who doesn't have a mic, good luck. You're going to need it.
- Watch the other half of the screen. Half the time, the solution to your puzzle is visible only from your partner's perspective. If they have a lever and you have a door, look at their screen to see when they're about to pull it.
- Abuse the infinite lives. There is no "Game Over" in It Takes Two unless you both die at the exact same time. If one of you is about to fall, the other should play defensively. Stay on safe ground until your partner respawns. This makes the boss fights infinitely easier.
- The "Find My Partner" button is your friend. In the open-world-ish sections like the Clock Tower or the Snow Village, it’s easy to get separated. Hold the button to see a literal beacon pointing toward your friend.
- Mini-games are optional but necessary. You don't have to play the tank game or the snowball fight, but they actually teach you the mechanics you’ll need for the bosses. Plus, they're fun.
- Don't rush the story. The game is long—about 12 to 15 hours. If you try to power through it in one sitting, you'll get frustrated. The puzzles get more complex as the game goes on, and fatigue leads to stupid mistakes.
The Symphony of the Final Act
The Music chapter is the most "feel-good" part of the game. Cody gets a cymbal-shield and May gets a singing voice that can shatter glass. It’s beautiful. But the flying sections? They’re janky.
When you’re flying through the clouds, the person in the lead controls the camera for both of you to some extent. If you’re struggling to stay in the air, let the more experienced player take the lead and follow their "trail" exactly. The jetpack mechanics are floaty, so small taps of the trigger are better than holding it down and overcorrecting.
Actionable Next Steps for Stuck Players
If you are currently staring at a screen wondering what to do next, try these three things:
- Switch Controllers. Sometimes a puzzle just "clicks" better for one person’s brain. If Cody is struggling with the time-rewind puzzle, swap roles for a minute.
- Look for the Yellow. Hazelight uses "Yellow" as a universal signifier for things you can interact with. If you see a yellow pipe, a yellow handle, or a yellow button, that is your objective.
- Stand on everything. If a puzzle seems impossible, one of you likely needs to be standing on a pressure plate that doesn't look like a pressure plate.
It Takes Two is a rare game that manages to be a mechanical masterpiece while also telling a deeply human (if slightly exaggerated) story about why relationships are hard work. It's not about being the best gamer; it's about being the best partner. Whether you're swinging through the trees or dodging lasers in a toy chest, the answer is always the same: stop trying to do it alone.
Go back to that puzzle. Talk it out. And for the love of everything, stop letting Cody fall off the ledge during the fan sections. You’ve got this.
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Key Takeaways:
- Always prioritize the "Support" role over the "Action" role; the support sets the win conditions.
- Use the split-screen view to your advantage to spot environmental cues your partner might miss.
- Don't panic during boss fights—death is cheap, and you have infinite retries as long as one of you stays alive.
Stay patient. The end of the game is worth the struggle, especially the final concert sequence. It's one of the most rewarding endings in modern gaming history, providing a sense of closure that makes all those deaths in the Clock Tower feel worth it.