Le Cartel Studio and Devolver Digital’s Heave Ho was one of my favorite games released back in 2019, all thanks to its sheer simplicity (and stupidity): Intentionally janky physics, coupled with having to individually control each of your hands, grabbing onto solid objects, and figuring out a way to reach to the end of a level. A great couch co-op party game, one featuring lots of laughs, as well as many moments in which I was shouting at whoever was next to me. There was one little thing hindering Heave Ho from being an even bigger success: online play. And that’s what Heave Ho 2 is promising.

You try to make a cohesive chain, but you always end up creating a monstrosity like the one in this picture.

I got to play a demo of Heave Ho 2 at Gamescom Latam 2026, but I wasn’t able to see the actual main improvement over its predecessor in action. For obvious reasons, I was playing the game in a booth, with a colleague from fellow website Entertainium, so I was only able to witness some brand new level designs, traps, and more ridiculous ways to fail miserably while telling my friend it was HIS fault for letting our chain go, leading to our deaths.

Between a ski slope mountain climb featuring actual enemies messing with our platforms, and an actual art gallery that felt less like a platforming gauntlet, and more like a logic puzzle, the demo offered a bit of everything to showcase that this won’t just be a mere update of the original game with the inclusion of online co-op. There was also an arena mode, something akin to what the first game had to offer as well – the only true difference, this time, being the design of the level. Again, what we were able to witness was Le Cartel Studio going nuts, once more, with some interesting level designs, which just make me wonder how crazy the end product will eventually look like.

Heave Ho 2 is promising some levels that feel less like a platform hurdle, and more like Escape the Room puzzles.

From what little we were able to test, Heave Ho 2 is shaping up to become yet another hit title for Devolver Digital. I just need to wait and see if the promised online co-op support will work as intended, as the show itself locked the demo to couch co-op only. I am not worried about it; given how good the original game was, and with how much time Le Cartel Studio was given to craft the sequel, I know we’re in for a treat, whenever Devolver Digital decides to release this mayhem party game onto digital storeshelves.

Heave Ho 2 is slated for a 2026 release on Switch, Switch 2 and PC.