Split Fiction

About the Game

Game: Split Fiction
Genre: Platforming Action Adventure, Multiplayer
Consoles: PS5, Xbox Series X, PC
Published:Electronic Arts, EA
Developers: Hazelight Studios
Released: March 2025

A studio that is very well loved and respected which rose to glory since 2019 is Hazelight Studios. Hazelight is a small swedish studio that is known for making some of the best Co-op games ever. As of 2025, the studio developed 4 games and all of them are well received. Brothers was the first game deleoped which was a single player experience that was well received. A Way Out was the first multiplayer game that managed to introduce most to the studio. Their rose to glory came in 2021 with the release of It takes two. It takes two was the studios greatest success which earned them various nominations and awards including the title of Game of the Year 2021. Since then Hazelight studios is consider the GOAt studio for local coop games.

In 2024 Game Awards, Josef Fares, the face/director of Hazelight studios took the stage to present his latest game Split Fiction. The ammount of cheers Josef received even from before the trailer released was phenomenom. You really had to be there( or simply watch the video). Split fiction looked like it took a glance on It takes two, and said ok lets take what we learned and elevate it to another level. The trailer was one of the biggest highlights of the game awards.

Leading to the release, Game director Josef Fares mentioned that the Friend Pass will make its return and so many people can enjoy the game. He mentioned that the team expanded to 80 passionate devs, and that once again they partner with EA who would be their publishers. Josef also make sure to re assure the people that no DLC or microtransactions were planned. Additionally he addressed people's "woke comments" regarding the idea that the 2 lead protagonist were females. Last but not least, he always made sure to hype the ending of the game with the statement that "we will experience something that was never been done before in gaming." A statement that many believed was his attempt to hype the game more but also given that the person saying it is the person that exceeds expectations every single time, made the statement more intriguing.

Upon its release the game was well received making it not only one of the highest rated games of the year (91/100 & 97%) but also Hazelights studios highest rated game. The first two weeks sold more than 2M copies and a movie adaptation seems like a possible idea. Mickey and painting

Story of the Game

The story follows two main protagonists, Mio and Zoe. Both of them dreaming of publishing their works. Their dream seems to be plausible after both of them as well as other four writers were invited by Rader Publishing to join them at their building. The six writers were going to be used as test subjects to the company's new machine which would allow them to live a simulation of their story. Most of the writers including Zoe, seem excited and eager to try the machine and become authors whilst Mio is only there for the pay check. The CEO J.D.Rader explains them the process and the writers take their positions. The machine starts working and it encloses every writer into bubbles and they re all placed into suspended animations whilst their cautions experience their story. Watching everyone "sleeping into their bubbles" Mio worries and steps off her position. Rader insist she stays to thei point of forcing her. A scuffle occurs between them leading Mio falling into Zoe's bubble and thus allowing her to join Zoe's story.

Mio wakes up in a fantasy world that came out of Zoe's story. Zoe loves fantasy and thus all of her unpublished work is always fantasy related. Both of them are confused for different reasons but before they can discuss it, a glitch appears and sucks both Zoe and Mio in. They both got transferred into a Scifi environment. Mio reveals that this place was based on her story as Mio is more interested into Sci-fi environments. The duo decides to search for the glitch as they believe its their main way out of the story. Throughout their adventure, they come to realise that the machine did not only take their submitted story and convert it into reality but instead it took every single story ever written or thought including unfinished ones. By finding the glitch, the heroes enter a loading zone between this and the next story, however whilst in the zone, it seems they can hear whats happening in the outside world. Turns out the company, does not want to publish them as writers, but instead is trying steal their ideas and their creative juice through their machine. Since they experience stories that were not submitted by them, they understand that this is more serious and that they have to escape the machine.

With their new goal, the heroines decide to work together to find the glitch and escape the machine before is too late. However this task will be harder than expected since they dont even know each other.
Will the heroes make it out on time?
Will they be published?
What's never done in gaming before?

Thoughts on the story

I personally really enjoyed the story that developer Hazelight tried to potrayed. I was invested to both the narrative and the heroines from beginning to end. First of all the main story was straight forward and thats something i appreciated. Authors with dreams of being published for their own personal reason, join a company who promised them just that with them being part of their machine project in return. Then things go south and the heroes try to escape. Simple yet effective. Then we have the main characters themselves, Mio and Zoe. Both of them have different background and point of views and thus their chemisrty aint working, however the more they experience, the more vonurable and open these characters become. For example, Mio's tuff persona lead her to create a dynamic Alter ego which did help her in the beginning but then became an obstacle on her growth. On the other hand we have Zoe, who is always cheerful and optimistic making sure to keep on smiling. However behind her smile theres a pain and a burden that wont go away. The two heroes go through changes and get to understand each other not through dialog alone but through experience. The machine let them experience stories that came to live throughout their stories and all have common elements together that each piece together. The music, dialogue and cinematography allowed for these moments to shine throughout the gameplay.

Gameplay

Similarly to it's predecessors, Split fiction is a 100% split screen cooperative experience. This means that you can only play the game with one additional player. It can be played both online and offline. Locally all you have to do is boot the game, connect the two controller and select the heroes. Online the Friend pass makes its return. One player can purchase the game and the other one will download a version of the game called the friend pass. They both boot the game and the player with the game can invite the other and they can play the experience. The person who own the friend pass on the other hand cannot play the game on their own nor invite someone else. What they can do is they can go on the game's community and then request for someone who owns the game to play with them.
Mickey and painting

When loading the game, the players can choose whether they should play as Zoe or Mio. By default the 2 heroes play similarly, just like with Its Takes Two. The heroes walk and sprint in a 3D space unless they re required to complete a 2D section. There's a dash button that can be used to side step towards a direction. Double pressing the button will allow them to dodge roll covering longer distance. The 2 heroes can also jump and double jump in order to reach higher ground. Dodge roll and jump will allow the players to reach the highest level of the game. Both the heroes are also equiped with a roap that they can used when prompt. Wall ride can also be used on certain areas by simply jumping on the wall.

What makes Hazelight studio's games unique is the fact each level makes the game completely different. The heroes obtain different weapons and abilities based on whose story they re at. In Mios stories, the heroes have a lot of Scifi equipments with their own unique gimmicks, for example, in one of her stories both of them are cyber ninjas and they obtain different weapons, Mio gets a Katana capable of traversing in purple areas and Zoe gets a whip that can also lift and throw items where as in other stories they re both gunmen with unique granates. Zoes stories are fantasy based. In some stories the heroes can shapeshift into two different transformations each with their own unique usage and abilities and in others they obtain baby dragons whose abilities change the more the dragons mature. Keep in mind that each level has its own arcs and the more the player progress the more things are added to the gameplay. As mentioned during the dragons story, the beast begin as eggs, then into small children, then into ridearble teen dragons andd then into full fledged beasts.
Mickey and painting

What makes the gameplay unique as well is the excellent level design and level gimmicks that make good usage of everything the game has to offer. Furthermore, the levels also have their unique mechanicks to keep the players busy. For example, as seen from the trailers theres a famous section where the heroes are on motorcycles fighting off the enemies. In another part of the game the players are "chained together" in the form of a two headed caterpiller with each player controlling a head. Its also worth stating that the unique abilities and unique level design can also be found in side stories. Exploration is also part of the game as minigames can be found around the world which have their own game mechanicks or can be played by using the current "story abilities."

The main way of progressing through these levels usually consist of platforming, puzzle solving, using the individual equipment and ofcourse team work. Collaboration is the key 80% of the time. The plaers need to work together as in most cases if not in all the hero abilities complete each other. Without spoiling it, think of it like May and CodiY(It takes two) during the squirels and bee chapter. Cody's weapon was doing things on its own, but againts enemies all it could do was slow down the enemies and it was up to May's match riffle to set it off or cause the explotion. So when a wall of sticks was blockig their path, Cody had to doze it with Honey for May to explode it. Similar things are here for the adventures of Mio and Zoe.

Thoughts on the Gameplay

Well, to say that Hazelight Studio is the masters of Co-op games is a statement that is already been told since 2021 when It Takes two not only elevated the standards from the already aclaimed A way out but also gave them the Goty. The game director Josef Fares is an individual who understands what makes gaming fun and it can be seen through out all of his projects including Split Fiction. The core gameplay(movements) is smooth and its the same for both heroes. However with every world things change. The protagonists gain different abilites and weapons that keep everything fresh. None of the power ups feel like they re in favor of one hero over the other. This time around, because of the whole fantasy/scifi built, the cool factor of the game is on another level. For example, there's a boss fight where both heroes are riding on motorbikes whilst shooting at a target. The usage of slowmotion which we ve seen before is back more often than before and helps the impact of the scene. Unlike it takes two competitive minigames scattered around the levels, Split fiction barely has any. Just like Dr.Hoakim said Collaboration will be the key on completing the game. In order to progress certain places the players need to work together, which means in certain sections one will be at the mercy of the other which also translates to, "yeap, time to troll."

Post Game Content

The game is fun and honeslty one of its great aspects is that the player can play the excact same game but this time change control of the hero. For example if in the first playthrough you play as Zoe, you can play it again a Mio. The narrative wont change but the gameplay will as each protagonist gain different abilities based on the level and occasionally take their seperate paths before reaching a common ground. Another change that can happen is Changing your player 2. You can always invite a different person to play the game with. Most likely, the "new" teammate will play different than the original partner.

Aside from that the players can find side stories while progressing through the story. Around the levels you ll find a floating bubble with an aura and a backround that resembles each hero's type(Fantasy/scifi). For example, in a space ship you might notice a floating bubble with mushrooms and grass. Approaching and interacting with the bubble will bring the protagonist inside a smaller scale level with a small adventure. These re small minimissions with fun activities. For example, in some you re the famous pigs, in others you fly with kites, in others you go through an SSX court and many more.

Exploring the world of splitfiction can be a fun activity to do as there are plenty of Easter Eggs and secret interactions that can be easily skipped on the first walkthough. Some are necessary for trophies such as sitting on the benches, whilst others are completely random and do not have a trophy shuch as the skipping rocks, flower painting and others. Last but not least, the real post game content is Laser Hell. I kid you not, this secret level will have you throwing yourselves in the lasers for hours. For context, me and my duo completed the game and achieved the platinum on 18 hours, however as of the writting of this, we are at 28hrs and the closests we ve been was middle of the 4rth part. In laser hell, both players need to clear the same level and stepped on both triggers to progress, if one dies, then the other one will have to kill themselves to reset because if not the moment they stepped on the triggered a timer for the second player will begin and if they dont make it, the player on the trigger will die. Each room/challenge is locked, thus if one dies at stage 3, they cant go pass stage 1 without the other. True Hell.

Sound and Graphics

Unlike the previus games, It takes two(2021) and A way out(2018) which were limited to their world, Split fiction allowed for creativity to run free as everything takes place in fantasy and futuristic worlds. A way out, was based on reality and It takes two was a bit more free, however they were toys in a much bigger world. For example, the story takes place in the basement, out in a garden etc. They did use creative ways to make the places stand out but they were limited. In splitfiction, each world could have been its own seperate game. From big kindoms in the sand, to a level straight out of Final fantasy vii. All of them are well designed and whats more important is that all the worlds make you want to move around and explore to find hidden interactions or references to other games, movies, media etc. The heroes themselves constantly change outfit to fit the world which is a nice addition to the magic of their adventure and i wont even touch the last chapters visual representation. I would also draw attention to the different art-styles some side stories have. From being fully hand drawn, to be teeth in a candy world and many many more.

The music department of this game i would say its the weak part of the game in the essence that although its perfect during the game, theres no track that you ll add to listen to. The tracks are suitable for their representing levels and theres a decent variety of them. In the example prior, during the hand drawn side story theres more of a medival vibe audio in the background whereas in the SSX minigame an action track is played instead. The voice acting on the other hand, is fantastic, all the actors did a fantastic job delivering their lines. Whether they re from the main cast or the side, they all delivered their lines with motion and energy. I personally didnt notice any references in the audio in comparison to the visual(for obvious reasons) but i wouldnt be surprised if someone comes out and lists some.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, as of the writing of this, i wouldnt be surprised if Split fictions wins Game of the Year 2025. The games plot is straight forward and its very effective. It allowed the developers to run their creative juice when creating the levels for the gameplay. Two heroes with two different backgrounds followed their dreams of being published and ended up joinning Raded Publishing's experiment in hopes of achieving their goal. The experiment allows them to live inside their stories as if they were dreamming. One of the protagonist had second doubts and her actions caused her to enter the fantasy of the other. The two learn that there are alternative motives behind the company and have to work together to escape the simulation. Through their adventures, the heroes go through a nice development whilst the narrative remains the same. Gameplay wise the game keeps everything fresh by changing the levels and the abilties of the heroes throughout. During long lasted levels, there are mini missions which despite being short in length, they have their own gimmicks and mechanicks which keeps everything fresh.. Throughout the levels, there are many secret interactions and easter eggs wich reward the players for exploring. Since this is a coop experience, the adventure will differ based on who you chose to play the game with. Upon completing the game, you can always complete the minigames and punish yourselves in Laser hell. Last but not least, as mentioned, you can replay the game by controlling the second protagonist this time and once you do, you can always play it again with another friend.