Heave Ho 2 is a two to four player couch and online co-op party game. As the name suggests, you’ll be heaving yourselves (and your friends) towards the next objective by grabbing, swinging and inevitably screaming at each other along the way.
After several hours of online co-op, I can safely say Heave Ho 2 is joining my permanent party game rotation — reserved exclusively for friendships that have already survived games like Overcooked. If they made it through that, they might just survive this.
Better Together
Frankly, the biggest challenge isn’t the gameplay — it’s convincing three other people to play with you. Having never played the original Heave Ho, I imagine getting four people together for couch co-op isn’t always easy, so the addition of online multiplayer is very welcome (and, frankly, what made this review possible). While Heave Ho 2 supports two to four players, some levels clearly shine with a full party, even if they’re still perfectly playable with fewer.
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There are two game modes: Co-op and Showdown. Co-op is where we spent most of our time. Across eight themed worlds, you’ll work together to complete increasingly ridiculous objectives while uncovering hidden tasks scattered throughout each level. One thing I really appreciated is that Heave Ho 2 rarely explains everything outright. Instead, it encourages your group to experiment, communicate and figure things out together.
Then there’s Showdown, which throws teamwork out the window in favour of pure chaos. You can choose teams or have each person for themselves. One had us flying around with jetpacks collecting swords to eliminate each other, while another had us endlessly bouncing around an arena trying to wrestle control of a single lever. It felt wildly chaotic and challenging, but still enjoyable.
More Arms Than Head
You’re essentially a head with a pair of long, flexible arms attached. There are plenty of costumes to unlock, and I loved that your character changes to suit each themed level. There’s even an option to wear different coloured gloves so it’s easier to tell your left hand from your right.
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It sounds like a tiny detail, but trust me — once four players become a tangled mess of limbs, you’ll be thankful for it. Even then, we still grabbed the wrong thing more than once. It all adds to the fun. Or the rage. Depends on the day.
The physics are where much of the comedy comes from. Swinging yourself to build momentum before launching across huge gaps was extremely satisfying, and the zero-gravity space levels were a highlight. Every world introduces a fresh twist that keeps things from feeling repetitive.
While technically playable with mouse and keyboard, controller is easily the best way to play. We tried both, and keyboard controls felt awkward by comparison. If you want the best experience, plug one in.
Variety is the spice of Heave Ho 2
The themed co-op levels offer plenty of variety, ranging from cooking and outer space to detective mysteries. Each introduces its own mechanics that fit naturally within the setting. The cooking stages, for example, had us preparing increasingly elaborate dishes, while the final level cleverly combined everything we’d learned throughout the game into one frantic finale.
My biggest reservation is replayability. Once you’ve seen every level, there isn’t a huge amount of fresh content waiting beyond hidden objectives and unlockables. Completionists (it’s me, hi) will still have plenty to chase, but casual groups may only revisit it when friends come around.
We also appreciated one particularly thoughtful feature. If your group spends too long struggling on a section, a helpful cat eventually swoops in and turns all players into drones, giving you an easier way to progress. It seems to trigger after enough failed attempts and goes a long way towards preventing rage quits without removing the challenge entirely.
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The art style also deserves a mention. Its goofy, cartoon aesthetic perfectly matches the game’s personality, with sketchbook-style visuals that make everything feel playful and delightfully chaotic.
“Let go of my hand!”
That quickly became one of the most common phrases during our Heave Ho 2 play sessions.
Players can grab onto one another, and sometimes refuse to let go even after the other person has released them. It’s often a useful mechanic when you need an extra pair of hands, but it’s equally capable of creating complete chaos.
We occasionally had moments where characters unexpectedly let go of objects or failed to grab them correctly. It didn’t happen often, but it did lead to a few colourful exchanges over voice chat. On the flip side, it was pretty funny when you grabbed someone’s face or hair and the avatars reacted accordingly — with disgruntled moans and groans, coupled with eye twitches.
Another pleasant surprise was how seamless online play felt. When one player experienced connection issues, they were able to leave and re-join mid-session without forcing the rest of us to restart. It’s a fantastic quality-of-life feature for a game that’s already demanding enough.
Along the way, you’ll also unlock costumes, accessories, and farts (yes, that’s right), to further personalise your little head.
Chaotic Co-op
Heave Ho 2 is absolute chaos in the best possible way. Between the physics-based platforming, constant communication, and inevitable accidental betrayals, it’s the kind of game that creates memorable moments almost every few minutes.
It has all the wonderfully weird DNA you’d expect from a Devolver Digital-published party game, balancing frustration with laugh-out-loud moments so well that even our biggest failures became the stories we laughed about most. I can’t wait to pull it out the next time friends come over.
Quest Daily scores Heave Ho 2:
8.5/10
Heave Ho 2 is out today on PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.
Early access to Heave Ho 2 was supplied to Quest Daily for this review.
