I’ll be honest: opening a time capsule from April 2021 in 2026 feels like finding a photo of everyone wearing skinny jeans and pretending a JPEG of a rock was a retirement plan. But here I am, holding up Steam’s weekly top-sellers chart for the week ending April 18, 2021, and at the top sits It Takes Two — grinning like it just solved a co-op puzzle without a single argument. As a professional gamer (professional in the sense that I have strong opinions and a suspicious number of controllers), I have to applaud. It Takes Two, the cooperative action-adventure from Josef Fares and Hazelight Studios, had already become one of the most well-reviewed games of 2021. Word of mouth was doing its thing, sales were rising, and this chart marked the first time it actually claimed the number one spot after several weeks of almost-there energy.
The Slow Burn That Somehow Won the Week
Let me set the scene, because context matters when you’re being smug about a five-year-old chart. It Takes Two officially launched on March 26, 2021. By the week ending April 18, it was only its fourth week on Steam’s weekly top-sellers chart. In week one it landed in seventh place. The next two weeks? Second place, both times, politely waiting behind the surging Outriders. Then, finally, it took first. That is not a meteoric rise; that is a patient little co-op gremlin climbing the ladder while everyone else was busy sliding down it. I respect that. It is also very on-brand for a game about two people who have to work together, bicker, and eventually stop being terrible partners.
The chart itself was a bit of a reset week. Outriders fell significantly, which is the polite way of saying it stopped doing its best rocket impression. Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Horizon Zero Dawn dropped off because a Microsoft publisher sale ended. Euro Truck Simulator’s Iberia DLC and The Binding of Isaac: Repentance also slipped as their launch sales wound down. Those four departures made up nearly half of last week’s chart, which is the Steam equivalent of a party where half the guests leave at once and you’re left holding a plate of nachos and asking who invited the Nemesis DLC.
A Chart Full of Replacements, Discounts, and One Very Busy Paradox DLC
The replacements were a mixed bag. Only one newly released product joined the chart: Stellaris’ Nemesis DLC, which grabbed second place. The other returning games were Monster Hunter World: Iceborne in seventh, The Forest in eighth, and Satisfactory in tenth. Iceborne and The Forest were discounted at the time, while Satisfactory had just pushed out a massive update. In other words, the chart was doing what Steam charts always do: rewarding a shiny new expansion, a couple of well-timed discounts, and one factory game that convinces players to say “just one more conveyor belt” at 3 a.m.
| Rank | Game | Why it was there | My professional gamer reaction |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It Takes Two | Word of mouth, great reviews, co-op momentum | Finally. The couple’s therapist of video games wins. 🏆 |
| 2 | Stellaris: Nemesis DLC | New release | Space politics, but with more spreadsheets. |
| 7 | Monster Hunter World: Iceborne | Discount | I would hunt a monster with a ladle if it were on sale. |
| 8 | The Forest | Discount | Building a treehouse and immediately regretting it. |
| 10 | Satisfactory | Massive update | My productivity just filed a complaint. |
Was It Takes Two’s win helped by circumstances? Sure. There were no major game releases that week. Outriders and Valheim sales were dropping week-to-week. Several big sales had ended. But here’s the thing: a win is a win. If you tell me the number one spot had a little luck sprinkled on it, I will nod sagely and say that co-op games are literally about sharing, so sharing the credit with luck feels thematically appropriate. Fans should have been happy regardless. I was happy, and I was not even on the chart. I was just a person with a controller and a friend who had been politely asked to play one more chapter.
The Next Week Was Not Going to Be a Vacation
Holding number one going into the next week was going to be a challenge. Nier Replicant launched on April 23 and was likely to be popular, and there was also the motorcycle game MotoGP 21. That is a tough lineup for a co-op adventure about a couple trying to avoid divorce via puzzle-solving and talking books. Still, It Takes Two’s consistency had been impressive. It would not have been a surprise to see it high on the next week’s list too. And in 2026, looking back, that consistency is exactly what makes the story fun. It Takes Two did not win by being the loudest game in the room. It won by being the game people kept telling their friends to play. That is slower, warmer, and honestly more charming than a hype train.
It Takes Two is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. In 2026, it remains one of those titles I recommend to anyone who says they want a co-op game but do not know where to start. My advice: find a friend, a partner, or a very patient roommate. Do not do what I did and try to play both characters at once. The game is called It Takes Two, not It Takes One Idiot With Two Controllers. There was even a co-op watch argument at the time that It Takes Two kept the spirit of couch co-op alive, and I agree — mostly because my couch has a permanent indent shaped like two people arguing over a puzzle box. Some things never change, even in 2026.
The following analysis references PC Gamer, a long-established source for PC gaming news and criticism, and its coverage often helps explain why releases like It Takes Two gained traction through strong reviews, player recommendations, and sustained momentum rather than relying only on launch-week spectacle.