Split Fiction

In the wake of A Way Out and It Takes Two, Hazelight Studios and EA Originals once again raise the bar for co-op adventures. Split Fiction is a creative, playful and highly entertaining experience - and a contender for Game of the Year 2025.

As is typical for a co-op adventure, two protagonists take centre stage. This time it's Mio and Zoe. They are contrasting writers, one writes sci-fi and the other writes fantasy, and become trapped in their own stories after being hooked up to a machine designed to steal their creative ideas. Together, they'll have to work together, master a variety of skills, overcome various challenges and rely on each other to escape with their memories intact, while jumping between sci-fi and fantasy worlds in this unexpected tale of friendship and other more serious themes.

This story about the power of imagination and the strength of friendship is full of ideas and highly creative gameplay, with a pacing that makes it seem like it could be the material for more than just one game. The production values and technical quality are of the utmost quality. Mio and Zoe must put aside their differences to break out of the simulation of their own stories. With each level of their adventure, they will discover new mechanics and abilities - and there is plenty of variety in both the environments and the gameplay, which includes platforming, puzzles and more. They must escape a sun that's going supernova, challenge a monkey to a dance-off, try out some hoverboard tricks, dodge hover cars thrown by a robot car park attendant, and fight an evil kitten. Elsewhere players can tame and ride dragons, fight as a cyber ninja, escape from terrifying trolls or play a horizontal scrolling shooter arcade. Still, players of It Takes Two will recognise a thing or two, but that's not really a problem.

Much more variety comes in the form of the side stories, which easily complement the main story, which lasts around 12 to 15 hours. These are the really creative ideas, but they are all optional and, as 'unfinished drafts and creative story concepts from your writing', bring further ideas into play - such as climbing a giant-infested mountain, surfing across the desert on the backs of sand sharks, or water-skiing behind a flying train.

"Split Fiction is filled with the wildest stuff you'll ever see in a co-op game. The gameplay variety is insane and I'm incredibly proud of the level of polish that we managed to do. You're going to visit some really incredible sci-fi and fantasy worlds, collaborate, and have a lot of fun - you guys are gonna love it." - Josef Fares, Game Director and Founder of Hazelight

The game was developed by Hazelight Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, which was founded in 2014 by Josef Fares, film director and creator of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. In 2018, the studio released A Way Out, a co-op-only third-person action-adventure about a prison escape and revenge story, as part of the EA Originals programme. In 2021, It Takes Two, another co-op adventure, was released by EA Originals - a game about the clashing couple Cody and May, two people who have been turned into puppets by a magic spell. Compared to A Way Out, the game's gameplay dynamics and creative co-op ideas have been strengthened, making it a long-running success (23 million units sold worldwide) with excellent user reviews. On Steam, for example, 95% of the over 173,000 user reviews are positive. Hazelight and Electronic Arts are also continuing their collaboration on Split Fiction. Whereby only a few selected games were released under the EA label. No EA Originals games were released in 2022. In 2023, Wild Hearts by Omega Force (Koei Tecmo) and Immortals of Aveum by Ascendant Studios were released, and in 2024 only Tales of Kenzera: Zau by Surgent Studios.

"Split Fiction is a bombastic, no-holds-barred celebration of what video games do best – entertain! Once again, Josef and the fantastic team at Hazelight have proven themselves champions of cooperative adventure gaming. I'm as confident as anyone could be that gamers, their friends, families and loved ones will lose themselves completely in this extraordinary co-op journey." - Jeff Gamon, General Manager of EA Partners

Split Fiction is available for €49.99 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam, the Epic Games Store and the EA App. It can only be played cooperatively with two people, either in local multiplayer or online. However, only one person needs to own the game to play online, thanks to the Friend's Pass. The Friend's Pass is a free version of the game that can be downloaded from the distribution platform. The owner of the full version of Split Fiction can then invite the Friend's Pass user to play. As with the base game, cross-play options are enabled for Friend's Pass on PlayStation, Xbox and PC. It is currently the most critically acclaimed game of the year on Metacritic, ahead of Monster Hunter Wilds, Kingdon Come: Deliverance II, Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders and Citizen Sleeper 2.

Conclusion

After It Takes Two, Hazelight and EA Originals release a co-op adventure that almost matches it in terms of creativity, gameplay ideas and variety.

Features

• Creative co-operative adventure full of ideas, charm and surprises
• Strong emphasis on variety
• High production values and technical quality