Games Like Fireboy and Watergirl: Two-Character Puzzles

What makes Fireboy and Watergirl work

Fireboy and Watergirl is a puzzle platformer series by indie developer Oslo Albet. The first game, Fireboy & Watergirl in the Forest Temple, came out in 2009 as a free Flash game and was later moved to HTML5; newer games in the series are sold on Steam and mobile stores (Wikipedia).

The rules are simple and the puzzles are not:

• Two characters, two sets of rules. Fireboy can cross lava, Watergirl can cross water, and each dies in the other’s element. Green acid kills both.
• Split controls. On a keyboard, Fireboy moves with the arrow keys and Watergirl with WASD, so one player can steer both or two players can share a keyboard.
• Buttons and levers. One hero stands on a button or pulls a lever so the other can pass.
• One shared goal. Both must reach their exit doors. Getting one hero through is never enough.

That last point is the heart of the genre: you are not playing a hero, you are playing a team.

Catnip Heist: the same idea with two cats

Catnip Heist is a free puzzle-stealth game by Token Tails that runs in your browser. You pick a crew of two cats, sneak into Kibble Corp, grab catnip coins and free a shelter cat. You control both cats and swap between them, so it plays like Fireboy and Watergirl solo.

How the two-character puzzles work:

• Swap cats with Q or Tab (SWAP on a touch screen). The cat you leave behind stays exactly where it is.
• Hold a plate. Doors open only while a cat stands on a pressure plate, so one cat holds it while you swap to the other and walk through.
• Meow (Space) to lure a guard dog off its post. It walks over to sniff, which buys your other cat a few seconds.
• Both cats out. You win when the shelter cat is free and both cats reach the exit portal.

Instead of lava and water, the danger is being seen: guard dogs patrol with vision cones, and a cat on a plate can still be spotted. There are 16 levels in two acts, three stars per level (win, collect every catnip coin, and win unseen at or under par time), and glowing ghost paw prints show the route if you are stuck for 20 seconds. On the first three levels you can rewind 5 seconds ® instead of restarting.

Our Catnip Heist guide has every control, all 16 level names and tips for three stars.

Other two-character puzzle games

• Fireboy & Watergirl: Fairy Tales (Oslo Albet, 2021). If you have finished the classics, the series continues: 30 levels where the forest fairies help the two heroes. You can steer both alone or play with a friend on one screen (Steam).
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (Starbreeze Studios, 2013). A fairy-tale adventure where you steer two brothers at once, one with each thumbstick of a single controller. It needs a controller (Steam).
• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios, 2021). A big platform adventure built only for two players, side by side on one screen or online with a Friend’s Pass, so a friend can join without buying the game. There is no solo mode (EA).
• Snipperclips: Cut it out, together! (published by Nintendo, 2017). Two paper characters cut each other into new shapes to solve each puzzle. On Nintendo Switch, for 1 to 4 players (Nintendo).

Quick comparison

Tips that carry across these games

1. Park one character somewhere safe first. In Fireboy and Watergirl that means away from the wrong pool; in Catnip Heist it means out of the guard dogs’ sight lines.
2. Plan who goes first. Before you move, ask which character can open the way for the other. Often the one who looks less useful has to go first.
3. Count the plates and buttons. If a room has two plates and two characters, both are probably needed at the same time, and the order matters.
4. Move one step at a time. Swap often. Short moves beat long runs when two characters share one puzzle.
5. Replay for the extras. Gems in Fireboy and Watergirl and catnip coins in Catnip Heist are easier on a second run, once you know the route.

More cat games to try

Want more games with cat heroes? See our list of free cat games online and our round-up of virtual pet cat games. If you would rather save kittens than sneak past dogs, Pink Paw Knight is a free 3D kitten rescue game in the same browser.