As the days passed, many players following It Takes Two were getting more and more excited.
During this time, Nebula Games also did some pre-launch promotion to build hype for the game.
In terms of scale, this was Nebula Games' second biggest game after Dark Souls.
Although, right now, neither players nor industry insiders and media really believed that.
Still, the necessary promotion had to be done.
And compared to last year's Dark Souls, the marketing costs for It Takes Two were much lower.
One big reason was that the gaming scene recently had no standout releases, leaving players in a dry spell—so any game that looked even a bit promising could grab a lot of attention.
Game media, lacking major news stories, were also eager to cover anything that seemed good.
And after Lucas practically swept the Game Awards earlier this year, his new project naturally came with a built-in spotlight.
All these factors together meant that even though It Takes Two had high requirements for players, it still attracted plenty of attention.
It was the perfect timing.
As for the "human" factor, that came from Nebula Games' loyal fans.
Unlike regular players who were unsure about It Takes Two's quality, Lucas and Nebula's fans had only one word: buy.
In a certain neighborhood in the capital, Hannah was already prepared.
Both PCs were logged into the Nebula Games platform, just waiting for the game to unlock.
Beside her, Zack looked at his girlfriend's eager expression with a rather complicated face.
He remembered the unfair "treaty" he had signed a year ago.
Because of a game called Overcooked, he had been washing dishes for a whole year.
Still, he couldn't resist a Nebula Games title.
From Mirror—a hidden gem only known to fans who had followed Nebula for two years—to last year's breathtaking Dark Souls, he had loved them all.
Now, with It Takes Two about to unlock, he had to admit he was pretty excited too.
From the trailers, the game seemed packed with things to do.
"It's unlocked, it's unlocked! This game is huge! It's almost the same size as Dark Souls!" Hannah bought it the moment it unlocked, then stared in surprise at the download screen.
Of course, a bigger game size doesn't always mean a better game—and compression can make a big difference.
But both It Takes Two and Dark Souls were made by Nebula Games, so compression wasn't the reason here.
That left only one conclusion—It Takes Two was just as big in scale as Dark Souls.
That made Hannah even more excited.
Zack, however, snapped back to reality after a brief moment of hype. Looking at the screen, he told himself one thing in his head:
"Impulse is the devil!"
He had to stay calm—otherwise, once they started playing, he might lose his cool.
If that happened, it wouldn't just be dishes—he'd be doing laundry too.
Even though everything so far showed It Takes Two was a completely different type of game from last year's Overcooked, Lucas's reputation and the way the official account hyped it up, plus the fact that it required two-player cooperation, made him wary.
Every time he thought about it, Zack remembered how worked up he got playing Overcooked back then.
And how that had led to him loudly agreeing to become "the dishwashing good man."
He repeated his mantra three more times, but just then, Hannah said, "Quick, it's downloaded! Get in the game, I'll invite you right away."
"Alright, I'm coming," Zack nodded and entered the game.
After briefly skipping past the Nebula Games logo, the game opened.
The scene was a yard on what looked like a farm.
Cody, who had come out to throw away the trash, was talking to May, who had just pulled in with a briefcase.
The couple's relationship had already broken down—they were about to divorce.
Even over small everyday matters, they blamed each other and argued. Both felt the other didn't understand them or the stress they were under.
The two argued in the yard, while up on the windowsill, their daughter Rose looked down sadly, holding two dolls and quietly voicing her wish—clearly, she hoped her parents would stop fighting.
At this moment, the screen froze.
In the still frame, Rose was holding two dolls—one male and one female.
Cody was a clay doll, while May was a wooden one.
Zack and Hannah, having seen the trailer, were already familiar with them.
And on this frozen screen, the UI clearly showed they had to pick their characters.
"Do these two characters have any differences?" Hannah asked curiously.
"Of course they do!" Zack jumped in.
"What differences?" Hannah asked.
"You don't see it? One's male, one's female, one's clay, one's wood," Zack said with a cheeky grin.
Hannah gave him an exasperated look.
As if she didn't already know that.
Seeing her expression, Zack stopped joking and shared his guess: "Didn't Lucas's official account and the trailers show that the two characters have special abilities in the game and have to work together? I think the male and female characters have different abilities."
"Oh, I see!" Hannah nodded in realization.
But since they didn't know exactly what the abilities were, they just picked according to gender.
Hannah picked May, and Zack picked Cody.
Once they confirmed their choices, the screen went black.
A second or two later, the video and sound returned.
But instead of starting gameplay right away, it played a cutscene.
At the dining table in the living room, Cody and May finally told their daughter Rose that they were getting a divorce.
On the surface, Rose acted like nothing happened, quietly taking her little elephant plush and heading back to her room.
But the next moment, she grabbed the two dolls representing her mom and dad, climbed out the window, and went to the shed.
Under a table in the shed was a red book with the title "Book of Love."
"Dr. Hakim, you have to help me… they need to be together."
"Look, it says here: Love takes work. See?"
"You have to work at it. You can't just give up."
"Mom, Dad… I hope you can be friends again."
Holding the dolls of May and Cody, tears began to fall from Rose's eyes.
After a brief moment of darkness, the scene cut back to the two dolls.
Cody and May woke up from their sleep, terrified to find they had turned into a clay figure and a wooden puppet.
That's when the personified Book of Love—Dr. Hakim—appeared, giving a quick explanation of the situation.
It seemed like he was talking to May and Cody, but it was clearly meant to explain the game's premise to the players.
"This feels just like watching an animated movie!" Hannah said in awe.
"Yeah, and the surroundings look really well made too," Zack nodded in agreement.
Now in control of his character, he looked around in amazement.
If we're only talking about graphics, It Takes Two wouldn't be considered top-tier.
But unlike realistic games, It Takes Two used a cartoon art style.
With its detailed models, the world around them felt dreamlike.
And because the characters were tiny clay and wooden figures, the sense of being shrunken down gave players a special kind of visual experience.
The wooden floorboards, the table legs, the cardboard boxes—
all now looked huge. This change in scale and perspective made the game feel fresh and fun for everyone playing.
(End of The Chapter)
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