Simply Art
Game director Josef Fares is almost as much as a character as the ones he writes. Having made a huge splash in the public zeitgeist with his now iconic viewpoint on the Oscars; the founder of Hazelight Studios is back again with their follow-up game to the GotY winner It Takes Two and spoiler alert; I am almost certain we will see Josef and their game Split Fiction on the stage at the 2025 Keighley’s aka The Game Awards.
Split Fiction tells the story of two young, aspiring writers; Mio and Zio (named for Josef’s own daughters) who are brought together by a company who is promising to publish a group of young authors. The group is told to stand on platforms for this machine and things go awry and both Mio and Zio end up in the same pod which has some dire consequences. The machine brings to life the writers’ stories and since both girls who have vastly different genres are forced to bond and play out each other’s tales.
MSRP: $49.99
Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $49.99
Mio is an angst-filled science fiction writer and prefers cyberpunk neon-lit cities, futuristic weapons and of course space travel to dealing with the real world; the mark of a true introvert and unlike some authors she doesn’t care about being famous, only about securing the bag. This is because she has had it rough the last few years living with her father in poverty, so she is looking at this opportunity as a way out. (pun intended). While Zoe is a cheerful country girl who fancies fantasy stories about dragons and magic. While her family life isn’t as bad as Mio’s; Zoe has a deep need to prove to her family that she isn’t a failure and sees the opportunity of being published as the way to do that.
I love both of these characters so much, they both are so fleshed out and feel like real people, which can be rare in games sometimes. I do wish that the backstories were switched though, it just seems to feed that stereotype of brown skinned people struggling financially while folks of the paler persuasion have different struggles. I would have loved to see this flipped on its head here and Zoe being the one coming from the struggling family while Mio is from the more secure one. Mind you this isn’t a critique of the game; just what I would personally have liked to see with the characters.
Through their journey both girls develop a strong friendship and both end up helping one another with much more than just their writing. This makes the first Hazelight game that I have played to completion, I have played various amounts of both A Way Out and It Takes Two; but the most common thing I hear about them is that their stories are touching and deep; and I can tell you right now that Split Fiction is no different. The journey that these girls take with one another will leave the player laughing, crying and maybe even something to think about when it comes to the prevalence of A.I. in today’s world.
But having a good narrative alone does not make a great video game; gameplay is extremely important and in Split Fiction the varied and sometimes unexpected gameplay mechanics are some of this year’s best. I’m going to start with one of my favorite parts about Split Fiction and that is the side stories. These stories can be found around each level, and I am telling you, DO NOT SKIP THEM. Each one is extremely different from each other, for instance one side story had Ken and I change into pigs running around in the mud and another we are doing our best ‘Cool Boarders’ impression ramping off mounds and pulling off some tricks in a race to see who can get first. There are some who change the art style and players are playing in a ‘sketch’ like world where everything is drawn with pencil and uncolored. It cannot be overstated how much fun these stories are and in addition to that players will also get more story beats and personality from each of the main characters.
This variety in gameplay also goes through the main story beats of the game. Hazelight has clearly taken loads of inspiration from a broad spectrum of games: players will seamlessly move through shooters, platformers, stealth, puzzles and often times a mix in the same level. Each level sees players given new powers going from being cyberninjas, to shapeshifting into a giant ape and so much more. Of course, this game is built for co-op play and each of the segments were a blast to figure out and complete. Sometimes we had to die a few times to figure out what was being asked of us, and I messed up the timing on more than one occasion but oh boy I don’t think Ken would disagree with me saying we had an absolute blast. The team at Hazelight really did their thing for sure as each of these very different parts of the game all feel polished and most importantly, FUN; Even when we died, which thankfully players can quickly respawn by pressing a button is a simple minigame.
There were parts where we would just goof off and skip stones on water or in one case we terrorized a village of creatures with magic. This magically charged village was full of random side things to do like finding a wand that turns the people into toads, chickens and even chairs that you can then, very hilariously and disrespectfully sit in. There was even a balloon vender, and some little kid how had a balloon that Ken quickly stole, and we cracked up as the kid started sobbing. None of these things were important to the story and didn’t have to be added but its these little moments of side activities really helped to not only make the game shine brighter and provide variety but also really put the focus on these two girls, who while yes are in a horrible situation but they are also kids who are having fun too.
Split Fiction is an absolutely stunning video game, the gameplay is polished and fun and the team has created some visually beautiful levels throughout the adventure. This game has some tremendous set pieces, most of which are on the sci-fi levels at the beginning; there are so many explosions that I would say the team consulted Michael Bay, but we know how Josef feels about the movies. That’s not to say that the fantasy setting doesn’t have some great moments, because it absolutely does; each new level we experienced was more fun than the last; which I think in this day and age sometimes just being fun, is oftentimes overlooked and to me it’s really what video games are all about.
Split Fiction is a clear and early frontrunner for my Game of the Year for 2025. Every moment of this game was enjoyable, even just sitting on a bench and overlooking some epic landscape while the characters shared a bit about themselves. It cannot be understated how fantastic the voice actresses are for each Mio and Zio; players will really be able to feel the emotional journey that these characters go on and that is in no small part to these two incredible women; Kaja Chan who voiced Mio and Elsie Bennett for playing Zoe. Any lover of video games of their truest form will find joy with Split Fiction, whether it is the various genres that are playable, the relatable story of the main characters or just playing a game with a good friend either via online co-op or split screen. Split Fiction is a wonderful piece of art, made all the more accessible with the included Friend Pass, which allows two people to play with only owning one copy of the game. Don’t skip this video game, it’s a story that is well worth experiencing.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
