Since its inception in 2014, Hazelight Studios has been slowly dominating the co-op market. Led by the wildy eccentric Josef Fares, Hazelight’s games feature gameplay that encourages teamwork around every corner, incredibly engaging stories, and a plethora of variety in level design and mechanics. Its formula was introduced in its debut game A Way Out, but it was their next game It Takes Two that shot Hazelight into the limelight. Now Fares and Hazelight are back again for their next co-op adventure Split Fiction — a genre-hopping adventure between sci-fi and fantasy worlds from the minds of two young writers. Not only does the game continue to deliver Hazelight’s genre defining formula, but it manages to tweak it so well that it is easily their best game to date.
Gameplay
For those familiar with Hazelight’s previous work — especially It Takes Two — Split Fiction will feel right at home. The game doesn’t include a lot of needlessly complicated button prompts and keeps everything relatively simple with a jump, dash, wall-run, and grapple action for both players. However, in every level the game will introduce a new mechanic that is core to the world the characters are in. For example, one player will have a futuristic sword that you can use to cut through objects and change your gravity perspective, whereas the other player will have a gravity whip which allows them to move objects or throw them at targets. Much like Hazelight’s previous work, the mechanics that each player is given must be used to advance the level. This is where the game excels at its co-op aspect. Communication is key in Split Fiction, if no one is talking then no progression can be made. The game forces both players to talk to each other, whether that is with timing specific actions or assisting each other to reach a certain area. Trusting your co-op partner and working together is the core aspect of Split Fiction’s gameplay.
All in all, the gameplay is pretty simple to master, the controls are smooth and it’s incredibly fun to play. If you’ve played It Takes Two then you should feel right at home as nothing has particularly changed, except for one noticeable difference — the difficulty. Split Fiction is not a game where you can breeze through easily and it does provide some challenge. Most sections will test your timing and patience as you continuously try over and over again to get to the next section. This is most prevalent in the game’s numerous boss fights which, whilst fun, are often incredibly brutal. Whilst the game is forgiving in most areas by giving you multiple retries, certain areas like boss fights will restrict this. If both players have been defeated then you will be sent back to a previous point that can either set you back a couple of seconds or all the way to the beginning. Compared to It Takes Two which felt accessible for all kinds of players, Split Fiction seems to have increased the difficulty exponentially. Whilst it’s not difficult to the point where it becomes unfair, it definitely isn’t as accessible for new players as their previous entries were.
Much like the mechanics you’ll be playing around with, the levels are incredibly varied. You’ll be consistently hopping between sci-fi and fantasy worlds, each with their own unique settings. For example, in one sci-fi world you’ll be transported to a futuristic, neon-lit Cyberpunk city filled with flying cars, dirty nightclubs, and towering skyscrapers. Then the next level will put you in a whimsical and colorful fantasy world where you must stop an evil ice king who has taken over the lands. Each new world you visit is a delight and will keep you in anticipation for what setting you’ll find yourself in next. Scattered throughout the world are additional adventures you can go on. These side stories as they’re called, will put both players in a short segment or mini game which are based on some of the protagonists’ more crazier ideas. These can range from a game show where you play a deadly game of hot potato, to a hand drawn 2D side scroller, or the infamous pig level that teaches you how sausages are made. They’re a major highlight of the game and will have you grinning from ear to ear when you come across one.
Story
Split Fiction’s story sees players take on the roles of Mio and Zoe, two aspiring writers who are dreaming to finally be published. After receiving a once in a lifetime invitation from a publishing company, they are to be test subjects for a new revolutionary machine that ‘brings their stories to life.’ Mio gets cold feet and accidentally stumbles into Zoe’s story causing the machine to glitch out and switch between Mio’s gritty sci-fi settings and Zoe’s colorful fantasy worlds. It’s up to the two of them to figure a way out of the machine, whilst learning more about each other, their past and what drives them to create their stories.
From the offset the plot may seem a little predictable. Two people with different personalities are trapped and must work together to escape, but they become good friends by the end and learn to understand each other. Whilst the plot is incredibly familiar, the main driving force of the story is the two main leads. At the start they are polar opposites of each other, Mio is evasive and cold whereas Zoe is bubbly and optimistic. However, as the game goes on both the characters and the players learn more about them and what is hidden beneath the surface. Each level chips away at the characters outer shell to reveal the pain, guilt, and trauma that they are keeping inside before it is finally revealed at the end what demons they are dealing with. However, there’s a strange beauty to their pain and what they decide to do with it. They channel the events that haunt them into their stories as a way to cope with their feelings, taking their darkness and turning it into something beautiful.
However, most of the time this is told to us through expository dialogue. This is isn’t particularly new in Hazelight’s games. A Way Out had a lot of moments like this where the characters would just spout exposition to make you care. Split Fiction is no different, although not to the same degree. The game’s writing manages to keep you interested in the character’s past through small teases and mentions of things they have repressed. The exposition is not egregious, but considering how creative the game is with its levels and mechanics it would have been interesting to see events play out to better convey the narrative’s themes. However, the narrative still does justice to its themes which leads to some truly emotional moments, especially one particular scene focusing on Zoe towards the end of the game that surprisingly made me tear up.
Whilst the two leads are thoroughly expanded on throughout the game’s run time, the same can’t be said for the game’s main villain. Rader is a typical one note bad guy that has been seen quite a lot in other stories. He is a man who has put decades into his creation, and when things start to go wrong he does everything in his power to protect it even if that means stomping on anyone who gets in his way. Whilst it’s easy to understand what his motivations are, they lack any significant depth compared to Mio and Zoe. There’s no attempt to expand on his character or why this machine is so important to him, and instead he is just labeled as yet another generic villain. However, the main bread and butter of the story is the journey with the two main leads, and thankfully it’s done so incredibly well that it nearly negates all of the narrative’s shortcomings.
Conclusion
Split Fiction is an absolutely engaging delight from start to finish. It isn’t a perfect game by any means, and does have a few shortcomings that affect the narrative and accessibility for new players, however, these are minor problems. The game is an absolute ton of fun from start to finish, and it has an emotionally charged story that deals with a number of different relatable themes. Hazelight’s streak of providing exceptional co-op games continues, and Split Fiction further improves on their formula by providing us with their best work yet. With three amazing co-op experiences under their belt it’s hard to see them stopping anytime soon. Split Fiction continues to shows us why Hazelight is still the king of co-op games.
The Review
Superb
