I was kinda thinking the same thing @JDINCINERATOR this year is really pushing platformers to pretty high heights.
I've only played It Takes Two and everything you do in that game exists in other games: jump, double jump, roll, sprint, shoot, spin. But the way it contextualizes the simple platform mechanics in open world segments encourage a ton of exploration. It's kinda like Astro's Playroom in that you can interact with almost everything. So you'll run around a big open area for a while, jump on some stuff, maybe try attacking or pulling some random objects. My girlfriend is running around somewhere else and tells me to run over to her. So now I kinda put on pause whatever dinking around I was doing to go find her and we'll team up to finish this little side activity. Not a level or a goal but just something small like splashing paint on her then she runs around a canvas.
Those little moments are just for fun and amusement but add so much to the overall game. In that regard alone, I feel like ITT is pushing boundaries we haven't seen pushed in this genre for a while.
