Split Fiction Review

After winning nan Game of nan Year gong for It Takes Two astatine nan The Game Awards 2021 I’m definite that developer Hazelight Studios was positively brimming pinch ideas of what to do next. I’m definite of this because nan squad appears to person utilized each 1 of those ideas successful Split Fiction. An enchanting and assured two-person escapade for illustration nary other, Split Fiction is non-stop, co-op restitution that had maine smiling consistently arsenic we progressed, parkoured, and pulverised our measurement done to 1 of nan champion finales I’ve ever played. Is it a puzzle platformer? Is it a third-person action adventure? Is it an utmost sports game, aliases a side-scroller, aliases a twin-stick shooter?

The reply is yes.

Split Fiction is nan communicative of 2 young and unsuccessful authors, Zoe and Mio, lured to a mysterious tech institution by nan imaginable of yet being published. What they didn’t count on, however, was having their brains portion mined of each communicative they’ve ever conceived. When a scuffle involving a suspicious Mio thrusts her into Zoe’s perseorangan lawsuit wrong nan machine system, nan 2 find themselves forced to activity together to flight and foil nan company’s plot. Zoe and Mio are quickly and efficaciously established arsenic polar opposites successful everything from their attitudes to their accents, but Split Fiction wastes small clip tossing them together.

It’s an easy-to-grasp premise, and it’s almost baffling that it hasn't travel on successful a twelve games already. That is, nan thought of being trapped successful an interactive, virtual world is simply a trope that’s been remixed many times successful movie for decades. Of course, Split Fiction nevertheless arrives successful 2025 arsenic a peculiarly timely takedown of our grim early of being drenched successful AI slop against our will. The truth that, astatine its heart, Split Fiction is 2 proud mediate fingers to nan conga statement of entitled tech bros who’ve decided creation is simply a commodity that tin beryllium scraped, stolen, and repackaged by their plagiarism engines only adds to its charm.

Non-friction

As pinch It Takes Two earlier it, Split Fiction’s platforming is instantly connected point. With a jump, double-jump, and aerial dash astatine each character’s disposal, Split Fiction boasts nan aforesaid precocious grade of aerial maneuverability arsenic its predecessor. Wall runs tin beryllium spectacularly chained, grappling hooks are thrilling swings aliases slingshots, and rails, poles, and mini landing spots person a soft fastener that draws Zoe and Mio onto them – truthful agelong arsenic you’ve pointed them mostly successful nan correct direction.

The upshot is simply a activity strategy that’s highly approachable and easy to go adept pinch rather fast, and 1 that focuses connected momentum and timing alternatively than getting excessively bogged down punishing mini mistakes aliases a deficiency of expert-level finesse. It’s for illustration having conscionable 1 bumper up successful a bowling alley; it’s happy to springiness you a flimsy nudge successful nan correct guidance connected occasion, but it’s not going to render you immune from making mistakes entirely.

My only existent disapproval of nan platforming is that location are a fewer occasions wherever it becomes tricky to drawback up aft falling down your partner, arsenic 1 subordinate hurtles up and nan different gets stuck successful a little loop of dying and respawning trying to get backmost connected track. It’s besides a insignificant bugbear having some Zoe and Mio simply clipping done each different whenever they inhabit nan aforesaid space, arsenic it results successful a amazingly unfinished look. Make nary mistake, having 1 characteristic go an existent obstacle for nan different would wholly destruct nan snappy gait of Split Fiction, but it would’ve looked truthful overmuch amended (and still made cleanable sense) pinch immoderate benignant of digitised effect breaking up Zoe and Mio’s avatars whenever they recovered themselves perched connected nan aforesaid mini platform.

At immoderate rate, Split Fiction’s fast-paced platforming is cleanable for its exclusively co-op approach, peculiarly erstwhile played by group of differing accomplishment levels, arsenic it’s mostly frictionless. Die extracurricular of a leader conflict and you’ll quickly respawn adjacent your partner automatically. Die within a leader conflict and you tin re-enter nan fray aft immoderate little fastener mashing. Checkpoints are generously frequent, moreover during leader fights. Chip their wellness down to halfway and you won’t request to repetition an brushwood entirely, moreover if some Zoe and Mio are defeated astatine nan aforesaid time. This is invited because, arsenic incredibly imaginative arsenic nan galore bosses are, it’s not different to suffer a mates of inexpensive deaths during nan fights – commonly aft getting respawned nether a salvo of deadly attacks that swipe you retired nan instant you blink backmost into existence. As specified they were only ever little setbacks, and we ne'er had to repetition thing to nan grade it felt for illustration a chore.

Overall it’s not a peculiarly difficult crippled for, say, 2 dads pinch location successful nan vicinity 80 years of video crippled literacy betwixt them, but I don’t crave punishing trouble and ne'er have. For maine Split Fiction soars acknowledgment to its satisfying attraction connected communication, collaboration, and changeless variety. It’s figuring retired nan way and nan joyousness of suggesting nan correct puzzle solution. It’s laughing astatine untimely misunderstandings knowing nan punishment for nonaccomplishment is ne'er particularly severe. It’s deciding whether to spell connected three, aliases if it’s one, two, three, GO! Split Fiction is thing if not a crippled that makes you cognize what it would consciousness for illustration to request your champion friend to resistance you disconnected your booby-trapped toilet earlier it explodes. You’ve each seen Lethal Weapon 2, right? I did mention we’re a brace of 40-year-old dads, yeah?

Watching 2 of my kids play aft I’ve vanished it I’ve since seen a mates of imaginable bottlenecks (related to timing their measurement past a deadly obstacle) but if little knowledgeable players person nary 1 astir to swoop successful and prevention nan day, nan action to simply skip guardant to nan adjacent checkpoint is disposable arsenic a past resort. Split Fiction doesn’t want to stall anyone indefinitely. It wants to beryllium played.

Clever, bending story

Split Fiction is truthful bully astatine wanting to beryllium played it’s difficult to stop playing. It simply doesn’t enactment nan aforesaid agelong capable for it to ever go boring. If you’ve ever wondered whether it would beryllium imaginable to compression SSX and Shadow of nan Colossus into nan aforesaid story, wonderment nary more. Split Fiction recovered a way.

Zoe and Mio are imagination and sci-fi authors respectively, and nan action is fundamentally divided arsenic betwixt nan 2 genres, but nan imagination and sci-fi branches of Split Fiction are thing but static. That is, nan communicative doesn’t pendulum betwixt a azygous sci-fi world and a azygous imagination world many times for 14-hours – nan levels are ever different, each pinch their ain typical hooks. Mio’s intelligence archive of sci-fi ideas scope from a neon-splashed, futuristic metropolis afloat of flying postulation – pinch gravity-defying cyber ninjas that will person you and a partner helping each different down a high-altitude road while operating connected totally different axes – to a abstraction analyzable adjacent to a dying prima releasing pulsing blasts that will disintegrate Zoe and Mio if they’re caught retired of cover. That’s conscionable two, and I’m highly hesitant to drill down connected immoderate more. Not knowing really each caller level and broadside communicative will shingle up nan backdrop and nan gameplay is simply a immense portion of what makes Split Fiction specified tremendous nosy to scoot through.

Zoe’s imagination worlds are initially a spot twee by comparison, and mostly had maine looking guardant to nan short sci-fi diversions that are scattered throughout, but they do characteristic nan amended leader battles (I’m reluctant to spoil nan specifics of immoderate of those either but, broadly speaking, nan imagination bosses are much awesome successful size and person personalities than make them vastly much memorable). The imagination information does highest later successful nan communicative arsenic it becomes a small darker and much grand-scale, which is simply a bully springboard for nan lengthy and meticulously engineered last level. It’s not conscionable nan astir impressively executed agelong of Split Fiction overall; it’s 1 of nan astir memorable finales I’ve ever played. Split Fiction is simply a fine-looking crippled throughout, but nan spectacle of nan full ending conception is simply a existent ocular triumph for Hazelight.