Split Fiction: Co-op masterpiece redefining creative chaos

In an era when single-player epics and enormous online battlegrounds rule the gaming world, Hazelight Studios has carved out a stubborn niche with its uncompromising dedication to cooperative play. Their recent product, Split Fiction, which was released on March 6, 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, exemplifies the studio’s bold ambition. Building on the success of It Takes Two, the 2021 Game of the Year winner, Split Fiction is a flurry of creativity, merging sci-fi and fantasy into a co-op adventure that is as surprising as it is thrilling. As of March 17, 2025, the game has sold over two million copies in its first week, solidifying its position as Hazelight’s fastest-selling product to date.

Split Fiction is a narrative about Mio and Zoe, two aspiring novelists with opposing personalities and artistic approaches. Mio, a realistic science fiction fan, creates gritty stories of cybernetic insurrection and galactic intrigue. Zoe, an effervescent dreamer, creates colourful tales including dragons and enchanting landscapes. Their quest begins at Rader Publishing, where a strange machine promises to make their stories come to life. However, when the technology fails—later revealed to be a purposeful attempt to steal their minds—the couple becomes locked in a simulation in which their genres overlap. What follows is a buddy-movie story about hesitant allies who become friends and must negotiate one other’s environments in order to escape with their memories intact.

The theory is straightforward, but the execution is everything but. Split Fiction isn’t happy with letting players fall into a single rhythm. Instead, it hurls them through a kaleidoscope of environments and mechanics, with each level serving as a new canvas for bold, genre-defying strokes. You move from being cyber ninjas mounting a neon-drenched tower to herding newborn dragons in a foggy alpine region. This continual innovation is the game’s pulsing core, ensuring that no two stages feel the same.

Split Fiction is a co-op-only experience developed just for two players—whether on the same couch or across platforms thanks to its crossplay-enabled buddy’s Pass, which allows one owner to invite a buddy to play for free. Like its predecessors, it thrives on split-screen synergy, necessitating communication and collaboration at all times. Whereas It Takes Two focused largely on platforming and puzzles, Split Fiction takes a broader approach, combining action, adventure, and a dizzying assortment of one-off elements.

Each level adds a new flavour to its sci-fi or fantasy background. In Mio’s universes, you may use a gravity-defying whip to swing across a future motorway or ride a hoverboard across a falling space station. In Zoe’s kingdoms, you may transform into a pixie to get around barriers or ride a sandshark over a desert expanse. The game’s diversity is never-ending—think pinball-inspired puzzles, twin-stick shooting sequences, and even a dance-off with a cheeky monkey. Side tales, accessible via portals, delve into the protagonists’ unrealised childhood dreams, providing bite-sized bursts of brilliance such as a hot dog simulator or a gravity-flipped sports match.

This outpouring of inventiveness seldom falters. Hazelight’s 80-person team, helmed by the effervescent Josef Fares, has honed each element to perfection, delivering intuitive controls despite their short lifespan. While not every idea is executed flawlessly—some early sci-fi sequences feel more showy than substantive—misses are brief, swiftly overshadowed by the next big surprise. The game’s 12-14 hour playtime flies by, leaving players both happy and wanting more.

Visually, Split Fiction represents a significant step forward for Hazelight. Built on Unreal Engine 5, it replaces It Takes Two’s cartoonish appeal with a more grounded yet bright design. Mio’s cyberpunk cities sparkle with rain-slicked streets and throbbing lights, whilst Zoe’s fantasy landscapes conjure epic grandeur with sweeping castles and dreamy forests. On consoles, the game operates at a smooth 60 frames per second, which suits the fast-paced action. The soundtrack, too, adjusts seamlessly—intense synthesisers for sci-fi, orchestral swells for fantasy—to heighten the immersion.

Split Fiction has a strong emotional impact. Mio and Zoe begin as strangers, their conversation cutting and sceptical, yet their journey uncovers layers of sensitivity and progress. The novel also serves as a love letter to human creativity, mocking the idea of art as a commodity to be mined by machines—a pertinent dig in an age of AI controversies. A late-game scene in which the trio confronts the cost of letting go seamlessly combines gameplay and narrative, leaving a lasting impression long after the credits roll.

Split Fiction is not faultless. Its adversary, James Rader, resembles a cartoonish tech-bro stereotype, and certain stages require skill that may annoy inexperienced players. These little quibbles, however, pale in comparison to the game’s overall ambition. It’s a joyous ride, demonstrating what two players—and a studio with a clear vision—can do together.

Split Fiction is crucial for gamers who play with a companion. It’s more than a game; it’s an experience that honours cooperation, inventiveness, and the messy, wonderful process of creation. Hazelight has once again lifted the standard for co-op gaming, demonstrating that in an age of solitary adventures, there is still beauty in playing together.