Heave Ho 2

Review

Fun, farts and the occassional frustration

July 26th, 2026 by William Thompson

reviewed on PC

Back in 2019, my daughter and I sank hours into the original Heave Ho. Controlling those legless, orangutan-like creatures as we grappled and swung toward the finish cup was an exercise in equal parts family bonding and absolute agony. It was hilarious, chaos-fueled fun, but a single accidental slip of a finger could send all your hard work plummeting into the void.

Now, Heave Ho 2 is here, and it offers a healthy dose of "more of the same", with a few crucial twists. Once again, players use the left and right triggers to control each hand's grip independently while using the analog stick to direct movement, parkouring and often building up momentum to fling themselves across treacherous levels. The major shift this time around? Heave Ho 2 leans fully into its cooperative identity as a purely co-op experience.

Grip, Swing, and Think

Where the original often felt like a physics-based obstacle course, Heave Ho 2 shifts a lot of its weight into fiendishly clever puzzle design. The variety here is fantastic, consistently subverting expectations and forcing you to communicate. One moment you're tackling a level that feels straight out of Overcooked, scrambling to gather burger ingredients and stack them in precise order, and the next, you're plunged into pitch-black rooms, relying on nerve-wracking trial and error to locate the next safe handhold.

The game isn't afraid to let you scratch your heads, either. In one level, four of us spent far too long hunting for a non-existent key to open a locked door in a room filled with lightbulbs. The real solution? Spoiler alert: Realizing there were four lightbulbs of each color, requiring us to time our movements and grab matching colours simultaneously. That lightbulb moment (pun intended) represents the exact kind of collaborative joy Heave Ho 2 excels at.

Teamwork (and Trolling) is Key

Because of the heavy puzzle focus, true co-operation is non-negotiable. Many stages feature mechanics—like step-blocks that can only be triggered by a teammate—that literally leave you stranded if you try to go rogue.

Thankfully, the developers included a fantastic quality-of-life feature: once one player reaches the exit cup, a helper drone becomes available to carry struggling teammates to safety. Beyond acting as a rescue line, we quickly discovered the drone is a brilliant tactical tool for swooping in to grab the golden coins scattered across the levels, which serve as tricky secondary objectives.

Of course, it wouldn't be Heave Ho without a little friendly sabotage. The fan-favorite fart button makes a triumphant return. When playing with younger co-op partners, it inevitably gets spammed more often than humanly necessary (though I'll refrain from naming which one of us was the main offender). Just be warned: the fart burst actually pushes nearby players away, making it downright lethal when you’re teetering on the edge of a narrow platform.

Sleeker Look, Same Frantic Fingers

Visually, Heave Ho 2 gets a noticeable upgrade. While it retains a hint of the pixelated charm from the first game, the presentation is vastly cleaner and sharper. Given how dense and detailed some of the puzzle environments are, this clarity is a very welcome improvement.

Where the game still stumbles slightly is in the sheer spatial chaos. The control scheme remains simple on paper, but in the heat of the moment, brain-wire cross-talk is real. You will forget which trigger corresponds to which hand while hanging upside down from a friend's arm, and letting go of the wrong grip after five minutes of meticulous climbing is devastating.

There is a visual aid option that labels hands with 'R' and 'L', which helps, but when up to four players are tangled together in a tight spot, it still devolves into a confusing mass of limbs. The levels are generally larger this time around, but four-player sessions in smaller rooms remain gloriously, hopelessly frantic.

The Verdict

Heave Ho 2 takes everything that made the original a party staple and doubles down on clever, co-op puzzle design. It strikes a brilliant balance between genuinely rewarding teamwork and chaotic hilarity. If you have a dedicated co-op partner - or a kid who takes immense joy in accidentally blowing you off a cliff with a fart button - this sequel is an absolute blast.

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8.2

fun score

Pros

Puzzles are varied, and cleverly designed

Cons

Co-op only