Fortunately, there’s a workaround so that Hazelight Studios’ great co-op game won’t cause so many awkward moments when we revisit it later, even on Valve’s portable PC…

Released in 2021, Josef Fares’ game won Best Multiplayer at the Golden Joystick Awards and Best Family Game, Best Multiplayer Game, and Game of the Year at The Game Awards. It currently has over 141,000 reviews on Steam and is in the very positive category, but until now it required the EA App Launcher.

That’s no longer necessary, but if you still want to play with others through the Electronic Arts app, you can do so by selecting the EA Friends List option within It Takes Two. We can add their EA account to our friends list and send them the invitation through EA,” says the Q&A. However, the EA app cloud saves may cause problems. Those are no longer available due to technical limitations, but not everyone may be affected because many people probably have their saves in the cloud… on Steam.

It Takes Two is going all-in on @Steam features in our latest patch!

First off, the game is now Steam native, meaning you can play directly with your Steam friends and the EA App is no longer required to play the game! 🎮🎮😃

Secondly, It Takes Two has also been Steam Deck… pic.twitter.com/JPyEQjOnGE

— Hazelight Studios (@HazelightGames) May 29, 2024

But Electronic Arts has come up with a solution to the problem: they’ve released a finished save that’s available on the Hazelight website. Download it and put it in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\ItTakesTwo. Once there, start the game and access any chapter from the chapter selection menu. It seems like a rather old-fashioned solution, but if something works, why should we criticize it? After all, it’s a save, and it serves its purpose anyway…

There’s just one hitch with the new update: if you’re playing online with a friend, you’ll still need an EA account to connect to the servers. However, if you’re playing local co-op or using Steam Remote Play together, you don’t need to register with Electronic Arts. If you want to access It Takes Two through Friend’s Pass, you can do so through the EA app or by installing the new Steam version.

At least the game works on Steam Deck, and that’s a good thing.

Source: PCGamer, Valve, Hazelight