Split Fiction

Written by Joseph Moorer on 3/4/2025 for PS5  

Joseph: When my daughter and I started It Takes Two, we had no idea what sort of adventures we were in store for us. We missed A Way Out by Hazelight Studios, so this was our first foray into the co-op game of the year craze. Regardless of the annoyances caused by the Book of Love trying to keep our characters together, and the fact that it took us two years to complete it, we enjoyed It Takes Two enormously. We thought it was fantastic. We completed it right after the announcement of Split Fiction.

There are some things you need to know about this game, and one of those things is that Hazelight has done it again. This is one of the best games I've had the opportunity to play. But don't just take my word for it. This is a co-op game, online or couch, and I brought it Gaming Nexus' own Jason Dailey to help me get through the 13-15 hour adventure. It was worth every single solitary second. Every single one. I will be peppering in Jason's viewpoint for this review too, and I will say, the force is strong with this one.

Non-spoiler story time. Mio and Zoe both show up at Rader Publishing for a book publishing opportunity. They end up on the same elevator together, and while Zoe is a warm and optimistic sort of person, Mio is the exact opposite. She shuts down any getting-to-know-you in the first conversation the two strangers have. As they meet the man of the hour, Radar, he explains to them that they are actually there for an experiment with something he refers to as "The Machine". The Machine is capable of turning authors' ideas into real life simulations. The authors step into a sphere shaped portal of sorts, and go into a stasis while watching and fully interacting with their own stories. Mio, questioning everything, starts to get a little uneasy about this, and tries to bails out. As she's trying to flee, she stumbles into Zoe's pod, and the two of them find themselves in one of Zoe's fantasy stories. As the two try to figure out what's going on, a fragment of energy appears before them, called a glitch. They both touch it, and then end up smack dab in the middle of one of Mio's science fiction adventures. They vow to put their differences aside to get to the next glitch and try to figure out what's going on. Lead on, adventurer. Your journey awaits. Jason had a similar thought. 

Jason: "If I have anything close to criticism about Split Fiction, it’s that the story starts off a little slow, but by the end, it hits like a Mack truck, just like we expected it to. We kept talking about waiting for the other shoe to drop when we were playing, and it certainly did. EA has directed us to avoid spoilers, which is virtually the entire game (and not just its narrative), but I understand why. We were playing as two aspiring writers, Mio and Zoe, both of whom are looking to get published. The two occupy entirely different genres – Mio science fiction and Zoe fantasy – but it doesn’t take long for both of their worlds to collide."

Joseph: The game kicks you into action, but the first segment also doubles as a basic tutorial. Mio and Zoe are extremely fun characters, and very easy to control. The can run, double jump, slide, dodge, double dash, and wall run. All these controls feel really tight and extremely responsive. Kudos to the research team. They left no stone unturned. If you miss a jump, 9.9 out of 10 times it's because of something you did. That's not the last time you'll see that number. They each have a grappling hook for reaching distant places, and the game tells you exactly when you use this, so you're not just using it randomly. This tutorial, however, is just for your basic movement, and you will use all of these moves to navigate each area, no matter the genre you've glitched into. This is where the game changes. Depending on whose story or idea you're in, you will get weapons, transformations, and even full on vehicles. Split Fiction excels here, as it reminds you of your move set depending on if you're controlling a turret on the top of a space ship, or you're a sea creature that can swim through water. It helps that if you die, you just respawn a little ways back. There are spots where you will die a lot, and yes, it's because you're missing something. Take some time, and look around the level with that free roaming camera right stick.

Split Fiction is all about cooperative play, with that comes puzzles that you have to help each other through. None of these puzzles are frustratingly difficult. They are pretty well-paced, and you often have an "OOOOHHHHH" moment completing them. The game is all about working together, and using whatever is available to your specific character. Some of those puzzles will require the same skills, but will only react to a specific character, whilst some puzzles have to be done by the characters' given skill set based on the story. If you're in a shooter, your guns will trigger different color coded pads. If you're controlling a mythical being, one of them can float while the other one can roll into a ball. The game is filled with these, and the entire time, Jason and I were wowed by the way things worked out.

The platforming here is remarkable. Anywhere you think you can't go, you can. And with ease. There are marks or painted platforms that tell you where to go next, but this doesn't happen all the time. So yes, you should try to make that junp. Or transform and use that creature. Or use that lighting whip. Do all the things. The game wants you to mess around and experiement. Its the only way to progress. Do or do not. There is no try.

Jason: "Split Fiction’s gameplay is simply some of the best I’ve ever experienced in a game. It is non-stop action with almost non-stop wow moments that are sublime from start to finish, thanks in large part to brilliant level design. The game is full of jaw-dropping moments with things that I’ve never seen before in a video game. It boasts extremely clever puzzles that utilize almost every tool available, from physics, to timing, to sleight of hand, and oh yeah, it’s all designed for two players to boot."

Joseph: Each section takes about an hour or so, and there is plenty to do, depending on where you are. At Split Fiction's core, you're playing a story, and that story will flesh out regardless of what you do. More interestingly, there are things you can do in the game to trigger more dialogue, or story. Some of the worlds are literal playgrounds to give you a break from the action. You can go down a water slide, or play hopscotch, in some instances. There are also side stories, which are unfinished ideas of Zoe and Mio, and they are fantastic. Once you set foot into these, you are sometimes reminded of a different game genre. There are times, however, where someone's boardroom story board ideas made it to the game, and knocked it out of the park. Hazelight as a full studio seems to have implemented every single idea into this game they could think of, and maybe some ideas you never thought would come into fruition. The side stories are so much fun. Feel free to take in-game breaks and complete the side stories. They're skippable, but don't do that. You'll be kicking yourself.

Jason: To that end, I wish so very badly that we could discuss the side stories which are miss-able, though impossibly so, but let me be abundantly clear – these should not be skipped under any circumstances. These are not your typical side quests. On the contrary, side stories are the developers flexing their creative muscles to further blow your mind at precisely the right moment in various levels. Again, Split Fiction incorporates things into its design and gameplay that I’ve simply never seen done before, at least not in this way. As Mio and Zoe’s fictional worlds collide, so do multiple genres, art styles, and mechanics – and it’s amazing. Then, after you’ve experienced it all as one character, you can play through it again as the other for a somewhat different gameplay experience.

Joseph: We would be remiss if we didn't talk about the larger than life, multiple-level-crazy-insane, highly creative boss fights. These are some of the most gameplay-rich I've boss fights seen in a game. And with as many genre's as the game visits, some attacks you will be familiar with, while others had us screaming interjections all through the fights. There are a few that are absolutely mind blowing. You will die, a lot, and you will be punished for thinking you're the sweetest gamer in the world. But you're not. Not in this game. You will get wrecked. Red or blue pill, you die and you learn. 

Jason: ...the boss fights, oh the boss fights, Joe – my word, what a game. Somewhere around hour two, I lost count of how many times you or I exclaimed, “Oh my God!” during our playthrough, which is to say that Hazelight and director Josef Fares threw the kitchen sink into Split Fiction. Not in a “throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks”, kind of way, but rather a “we have this cool idea, and we can make it play immaculately well, so let’s put that in the game”, kind of way.

Joseph: The co-op element is a game changer. Previously, you could only play the game with a friend online if that friend had the game as well. Hazelight has made a friend code available with each purchase, which means you can hand over a friend pass to someone, and play the game together, NO MATTER WHAT SYSTEM YOU HAVE IT FOR! That means, if you have a Playstation 5, you can play with someone on Steam or Xbox, regardless if they have the game or not. We usually don't discuss price points in our reviews, but to get this game, for two people, where you can literally choose the other person, for $49.99 USD, is not just a deal, it's a steal. Your companion does have to sign up for an EA account if you choose the cross-play option, otherwise, you can just use the invite system your friend is on. This game ran pretty seamless for Jason and I, and watching me run around in his screen with absolutely no loss in quality is mesmerizing. So before you link up with that friend, remind them that's it's dangerous to go alone, take this.

Jason: My goodness, what a remarkable gaming experience we just had together. I don’t want to bury the lede here at all – Split Fiction is one of the best video games that I’ve ever played. My honest advice is to find a friend – hell, find a stranger – and play this game as soon as possible. Skip the reviews, skip the YouTube videos, skip the social media talk, and just go play the game. I know I’m sounding rather hyperbolic, but I assure you that my praise is not unfounded. Split Fiction is a magical gaming experience that manages to take the medium to new heights in unexpected ways. Simply put, Joe, I haven’t stopped thinking about the game since we finished our 15-ish hour playthrough, and while the fiction may be split, I don’t think our opinions about this game are.

Joseph: Visually, audibly, and graphically, the game is phenomenal. I wish there was more I could tell you about the experiences we had playing this. The character models look alive. The backgrounds are awe inspiring. I don't know if I've played a better game in ages. It's an amazing journey to go through with Mio and Zoe. It's so much that I will probably play this multiple times, with multiple friends, just to get their reaction, or just to play as Zoe, since I played though as Mio. The options are fully customizable, from the sound, to the controls, to everything you can imagine. In this era of gaming, one of the largest complaints is that the games don't release in a completed state. That there's always a patch, or DLC, or some download or another needed to keep the game sustainable. With Split Fiction, the replay value is built in. You'll want to play it to go back through and do the things you missed. The entire game, dare I say it, is more than complete. It's truly a game to remember. It's truly a work of art. I was a little turned off by Josef Fares' Game Awards presentation, but I'm glad that didn't sway me. He said in an interview he didn't think he could make a bad game. After playing It Takes Two and Split Fiction, I think he's probably right. Insert victory fanfare here. 

Jason: There are tons of moments that I wish we could talk about, especially with a game as good as Split Fiction, but everyone should and must discover those moments on their own. It’s one of those gaming experiences that I will never forget, one that everyone is going to be talking about, and one that no studio, except perhaps Hazelight themselves, will be able to top. I know that I’ve been gassing up Split Fiction and Hazelight a lot in this review, but I don’t know how else to impress upon our readers that this is a truly exceptional video game, and perhaps one of the best games ever made. At the very least, it is one my all-time favorite games because of how it reaches a level of craftsmanship rarely seen in the medium. I know Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled to be released this year, but even if it makes it out, I don’t know that it can topple Split Fiction for Game of the Year. I’ll put it this way – I’ve been writing for Gaming Nexus since August of 2022, and I’ve yet to award a game a 10/10 review score. That changes with Split Fiction.

Joseph: And there it is. This is how games should be made. This is how much fun we had. This is what gaming is about. Jason is right. I agree. It took two to find a way out of this review, and even though the game is called Split Fiction, this review is not split. The review doesn't even cover the game fully. This is a masterpiece. It's how gaming should be done. Game of the Year contender in March? You bet your D20.