Split Fiction

Split Fiction is an excellent continuation of the split-screen co-op joys that Hazelight has made their own. It takes a little while to get going, both in terms of gameplay and narrative, but once it hits its stride, there's just so many moments that will fill you with joy and delight.

Hazelight Studios has outdone itself with Split Fiction by innovating and expanding upon its earlier work. Mio and Zoe’s worlds are fully realized locales that pay loving homage to their real-life inspirations, and the optional Side Stories prompt many a smile. It's an impactful look at the creative writing process and an essential co-op adventure.

An expertly crafted and absorbing co-op adventure that pinballs from one genre extreme to another, Split Fiction is a rollercoaster of gameplay ideas and styles that are usually discarded as quickly as they’re introduced. This keeps it fabulously fresh for its full, 14-hour duration. With no idea sticking around long enough to get stale before making way for the next, it’s a victory of imagination and restraint in equal measure.

Everything feels so polished, and is executed with such confidence and style that it's impossible not to fall in love with it. And as the credits roll and you look back on everything you've done - all the wild places you've been, all the mad moments you've experienced, and all the properly great fun you've had together - it doesn't take two to realise that, co-op or not, there's really nothing else quite like Split Fiction in games today.

Split Fiction could very well be the best cooperative game I've ever played. At the very least, I firmly believe it sets a new standard for the genre. And yet, it's more than that. Split Fiction is a love letter to creativity--to stories, games, and the people who make them. It is funny, dark, joyous, childish, tender, cheesy, thrilling, and remarkable.

There are far more egregious examples of a weak narrative dragging down a gaming experience, and in much worse games overall. In the end, Split Fiction is, against the odds, a smile-inducing charmer. But it’s for that exact reason that it deserved a script that put its best face forward. Split Fiction offers up a meticulously crafted playground, but it’s disappointing that the framework around it feels like it was fashioned by the 10-year-olds who’d play there.

It's perfectly paced, throwing new experiences at players rapidly enough to keep things constantly fresh and sometimes even leaving you wanting more, but nothing outstaying its welcome. Not only the best game Hazelight has yet made, but a contender for one of the best co-op games ever.

An incredibly inventive, rapid-fire co-op adventure that never breaks its stride, despite its dull protagonists.