I have, admittedly, never gotten around to playing 2019’s Heave Ho. It’s a game I’ve long wanted to try, but with a wealth of couch co-op puzzle games already out there and scientifically engineered to break up friendships at any function, it’s just never come up. But after playing just a few rounds of its upcoming sequel, aptly titled Heave Ho 2, I understand what I’ve been missing out on. And how many friendships I’ve unknowingly saved.
The premise of this one is pretty much exactly that of its predecessor – Heave Ho 2 is a physics-based puzzle platformer where each distinct stage tasks you with reaching a goal. Sometimes it’s as straightforward as traversing a series of platforms and obstacles, other times the goal is something more involved than that, but in every case the true challenge begins and ends from one set of fingertips to the other. Because in this game, you control only your little, round body and your left and right hands. One analogue stick, two triggers, zero legs.
Heave Ho 2 is playable with anywhere from 1-4 players, so it’s at that limit that I was able to try out around eight levels with some fellow media and creators at a preview event. This sequel will introduce online multiplayer for the first time, but four folks huddled around a screen is undoubtedly still the best way to play. Here, we learned the ropes gently enough by attempting to swing our gangly bodies across some gondola carriages to reach a goal flag, figuring out the crucial skills that would get us through subsequent levels. Because you’re only able to affect the sliding/rolling around of your head-body and the grip of your individual hands, getting around tends to involve grabbing onto bits of the environment and swinging yourself through the air in the hopes of clutching the next ledge.
In multiplayer, the ability to cling onto each other’s hands and bodies naturally adds an extension of this, allowing you to form freaky daisy chains or ‘heave’ each other to get across larger gaps. It’s a process that can look incredibly planned and graceful when executed well, but half the fun is in that not happening, especially when the person next to you yells “Let go of my right hand and I’ll swing you!” and, amidst the chaos, you let go of the left and fall to your death. Attempting to figure out what to do, how to do it, and where the fuck your hands are amongst a writhing mass of bodies is hilariously fun, and just makes every success feel even more miraculous and earned.
Not all stages are simply about swinging from A to B, though. In our time we also encountered physics-based riffs on escape rooms, where we had to find clues to the correct arrangement of objects to open a door and then somehow manage to arrange them, or an Overcooked-style stage where we assembled a burger by flinging ingredients and mustard around in the correct order. In our final victory we even co-piloted a rocket through a field of asteroids by pulling at levers to activate jets (while also being thrown around inside the rocket, naturally). This was a bespoke demo designed to take us through a number of different experiences in the game, but the variety on show definitely bodes well for the full thing, and I’m excited to see more.
Of course, the fun in these sorts of games is in earning the increasing ire of your co-op teammates, until somebody eventually cracks the shits and threatens to go home if I say “This is why McDonald’s fired you” one more time. Luckily for them, Heave Ho 2 once again features a competitive mode, offering a chance at revenge. We didn’t get to try any of this out, but I look forward to proving whatever correct point I’m making at the time.
Heave Ho 2 will release on Steam and Nintendo Switch/Switch 2 in the coming months.
Previewed at an event hosted by Devolver Digital.