The creators of It Takes Two, one of the surprise hits of 2021 and it was so good in fact that it won the Game of the Year award. It was made by Hazelight Studios, the creators behind ‘A Way Out’ and ‘Brothers’.
Split Fiction follows the recipe that ‘It Takes Two’ showcases, a way to integrate co-op to solve puzzles and go through combat, it tries to iterate on it as much as possible. Split Fiction released on PC, Xbox and Playstation on March 6th of this year.
An Interesting Story
This is a story about two writers, Mio and Zoey who are on the cusp of signing their publishing deal. They assume they would have to go into a room and sign some papers but things take a weird turn when they get asked to wear these white jumpsuits and put inside a machine.
This machine, admittedly, is designed to peer into the minds of creators and record their ideas for the company’s benefit. However due to some glitch Mio’s and Zoey’s minds cross and this lets them experience each other’s ideas and creativity.
This type of setting gave Hazelight more than one way to represent each character’s traits and personalities, Mio is a sci-fi writer and writes stories that deal with dystopian settings while Zoey is the complete opposite, hers are stories of fantasy, magic and are more cheerful.
Amazing Puzzles And Gameplay
The puzzles of this game and the gameplay switch ups are the main reason for buying this game and Hazelight have beautifully iterated on It Takes Two’s gameplay and puzzles. As it was with the previous game, two players control the two characters and have to work to solve a variety of puzzles.
The puzzles range from being mind benders to those that promote team building and working together, for example there is a puzzle in a sci-fi world where the players are given SMGs of two different colors and they have to match the color and shoot at barriers in order to progress.
Enemies then start appearing bearing these color coded shields which force the duo to work together by coordinating which enemies to shoot first. Puzzles like these are laid out in the entirety of the game’s 12 hour span. Each level always manages to out do the last in both design, mechanics and experience.
Jaw Dropping Visuals
The visuals are just drop dead gorgeous, each world that we enter are completely unique from each other, some being futuristic set in a large spaceship while others are set in fantastical worlds similar to earth and more inline with nature, no doubt complimenting the personalities of the characters.
Each of these scenarios are extremely detailed and speak to the experience of the artists and designers at Hazelight. The lighting always seems perfect whether one is in a sci-fi setting or in a more fantastical natural setting the game never fails to look spectacular.
The environment is laid out in a manner that builds up to that particular level’s penultimate moment of facing a boss, each being a mini journey of their own, whether they are huge robots or stone dragons.
Conclusion
Hazelight is even continuing the system they had before with It Takes Two, where even if one person owns the game, the other person can download a copy of the game for free and now this functionality is supported even cross platform now.
This means if one person bought the game on Steam his or her companion can buy it on any of the other platforms being it Xbox or Playstation and still play together. There are many praises to speak of for this title however the writing was not as strong as it was compared to Hazelight’s previous title.
Split Fiction is a brilliant title for friends to enjoy and is extremely replayable as it is an almost never ending barrage of puzzles that promote team working and environments that players can just get lost in. It is well worth its price and is perfect for those wanting to play something relaxing and exciting at the same time with their close buddy or significant other.
