Heat and cold as your tools
Degrees of Separation is a 2D puzzle platformer built around two characters with opposing powers. Ember works with heat, Rime works with cold, and the world reacts to both. Water freezes solid under Rime's touch and thaws under Ember's, and the same goes for other temperature-sensitive parts of each level. The screen is split between the two characters, so what happens on one side changes what the other can do. Every obstacle is a question of how your two elements interact with the environment and with each other.
Playing together
The game supports both single-player and cooperative multiplayer. In co-op, one of you takes Ember and the other takes Rime, and neither of you can finish a section alone. One player might freeze a stream into a bridge while the other crosses, or melt a path open from the far side. Communication matters more than reflexes here: you need to agree on who acts first and how your two effects combine. The puzzles are designed so that your powers work separately and together, which means coordination is the core skill rather than fast platforming.
Before you start
The story follows Ember and Rime falling in love while an enigmatic force keeps them apart, written by Chris Avellone. Levels are non-linear, and each new area introduces a fresh mechanic, so the difficulty shifts as you go rather than staying flat. Expect a mix of relaxed exploration and genuinely tricky environmental puzzles that ask you to think about cause and effect across the split screen. The hand-drawn art style leans heavily on the contrast between warm and cold, and the whole experience is meant to be played at a thoughtful pace rather than rushed.