Hand in Hand Review

Hand In Hand is a 2D split-screen title in which you will take control of two soulmates living in a fairytale world. As evil descends upon their realm, however, our protagonists, Lina and Minho, are separated and must defeat the dangers that have overcome their world to be reunited.

You can play this title in one of two ways — single-player, taking control of both characters and controlling them simultaneously in order to complete puzzles, or split-screen co-op, where each of you takes control of a character and cooperate to the end. For the purposes of this review, I tried both versions to test the mechanics individually.

While it seems like a great adventure to embark on with a friend, I'd say that Hand in Hand doesn't really work well as a multiplayer title. Though it's nice to see more co-op games to enjoy with friends and family, the major hurdle this game has to overcome is remaining interesting for both players, which it doesn't deliver on.

The screen is split horizontally, and both of you will be in charge of taking control of either Lina, who has the power to go invisible, become invulnerable to some environmental hazards, and make hidden objects appear in the world, or Minho, who can punch. If that ended too abruptly and it feels disjointed, it is because it does feel that way — there is an inequality in player tasks depending on who takes control of which character.

The problem I had with Hand in Hand as a co-op experience is that it doesn't really feel like a proper co-op title, and that makes complete sense once you play through it as a single-player experience. While Minho's straightforward ability and level design feel boring to play as, it makes complete sense when you're going to be controlling both the lovers at the same time. Were both characters and worlds to be built with the same complexity as Lina's, it would have been a much more arduous journey to pass in single-player.

It's weird because Lina can interact with Minho's world a lot, and it becomes an integral part of puzzle building, but Minho barely ever interacts with Lina. I loved being able to despawn hazardous thorns or bringing new platforms to life, making a puzzle element of communicating and finding the right approach necessary, but Minho just exists through the entire playthrough, instead depending entirely on the co-op partner throughout most of it.

What’s more, however, is that there are various single-player moments throughout the experience wherein only one player can partake. Boss battles and some levels are character-exclusive, with the other co-op partner waiting by the side as you finish your world. Even the final boss is focused on Minho for the great majority of it, meaning that Lina will have to sit around and wait until their turn has come, by which point, a lot of time will have passed, as it’s a memory-based platforming section with little to no checkpoints and one-hit-kill mechanics.

In single-player, Hand in Hand makes a lot more sense, and it's actually a pretty enjoyable experience at the end. Controlling both characters is a joy because of the split-screen gimmick, wherein you can look at the top of the screen to control Minho and the bottom for Lina, but you can also click D-Pad up or down to fullscreen either of the two and focus on passing the world through there. It is very smooth to experience the game alone, as being able to jump between the two felt like an interesting mechanic that I wish more games employed when controlling two characters at once.

I spent most of the time trying to control both characters simultaneously because it made the experience more enjoyable. But Hand in Hand comes with a caveat to its gameplay design — sometimes, it's a bit too simplistic. The puzzles are pretty straightforward aside from a select few (one of which hides the exit behind an invisible passage hidden behind a wall with no tells), and it doesn't encourage cooperation among both characters nearly as often as I'd wished. For the most part, it's a puzzle-solving adventure taking place in two simultaneous worlds with few moments of overlapping.

Taking the game slow, I finished it in about four and a half hours, but I didn't start enjoying the experience until near the end when MaxMedia stopped holding back punches and gave the more challenging levels. It felt like a genuine experience and more formidable challenge, but it didn't lean on that strength enough throughout the rest of the game. I was sad to see Hand in Hand end because I was enjoying the final levels, which is excellent for its level design in the last parts of the game but not as fantastic a feat when two hours in, I felt I wasn't enjoying it.

This might be a per-person basis — while some have already praised the game for its difficulty, I found that I passed it with ease and had to try to play both characters simultaneously to simulate a more engaging experience. Aside from that, the characters move too slowly, the puzzles are pretty straightforward, and the few interactable moments between both means that you could easily finish Minho and then Lina without many problems.

Overall, I sort of enjoyed my time with Hand in Hand, and I'd still recommend it as a unique indie experience. It has simple puzzles, and it isn't very complex, but it's visually appealing and it offers enjoyable gameplay; at the end of your evening-sized experience, you will have found some fun to be had.