Home Blogs Split Fiction Is a Game You Play for the Journey, Not the Destination [Review]

Split Fiction Is a Game You Play for the Journey, Not the Destination [Review]

Playing Split Fiction with my fiance was always going to be an interesting experience. While I would consider myself a veteran gamer, my fiance is far from that. She’s got her favorites – Sims, Silent Hill, Crash Bandicoot, and Xenoblade – but she doesn’t play as many games as me.

It’s one of the reasons I was looking forward to playing Hazelight Studio’s latest game with her. Josef Fares is well-known for his co-op adventures, like A Way Out and It Takes Two, so I thought playing one of his games with her would be fun. Plus, I thought it would be nice to get differing perspectives on Split Fiction. We’re both highly critical, but I tend to look at the overall picture while she focuses more on moment-to-moment beats. Thankfully, after each session with the game, we always came away with the same opinion – it was fun to experience, but it wasn’t the masterpiece that people are saying it is.

Don’t get me wrong, if you’re just going into Split Fiction for a co-op romp through a variety of exciting and creative levels, the game delivers in spades. That’s mostly thanks to the central premise, where you play as two different writers – the sourpuss sci-fi fan Mio and the fantasy-loving optimist Zoe. They both become involved with a publishing company called Rader, whose CEO is attempting to steal ideas from its writers by hooking them into a machine meant to simulate their works. Mio tries to escape and ends up stumbling into Zoe’s simulation, causing their simulations to fuse, with the rest of the game having both authors try to escape the simulation by destroying Rader’s machine, also hoping doing so will end Rader’s theft.

Image Source: EA via site

Now this is a fascinating concept for a story, especially in 2025. In an age where artists are growing increasingly worried about the use of AI and how corporations are increasingly more disinterested in respecting art and artists and would rather just cut them out of the equation entirely, the commentary about corporations, AI, the need for human involvement in the creation of stories, and ideas is fascinating. Shame the game does absolutely nothing with it.

One thing my fiance and I both agreed upon is just how clunky the dialogue of Split Fiction is. Zoe and Mio simply aren’t well-written. It’s not as bad as something like Forspoken, but nearly every line of dialogue never once convinced us that these were three-dimensional characters. Plus, when the game decides to get weird, the dialogue is almost intentionally trying to nudge you and say “Isn’t this funny and random???” Again, it’s not constant, but there’s a reason why we both began to tune out whenever a cutscene began to play. It’s all the more frustrating because, again, there are some great ideas within the story, but the characters are mere ciphers for Split Fiction to deliver its gameplay.

Thankfully, we didn’t care that much about the story because the moment-to-moment gameplay made up for it almost entirely. While each character has the same general moves, like a double jump, dash, and wall run, each level will offer up a few unique ideas, sequences, or setpieces for both Zoe and Mio. In the first major level, Mio gains control of a sword that allows her to invert gravity, encouraging her to get up close when fighting enemies. Zoe, meanwhile, gains access to a whip that allows her to pull and throw things around, meaning if you want to survive combat encounters, you’ll have to keep your distance. Because of this, each player will have a slightly different experience, with puzzles that will need players to communicate how to use their respective abilities to solve them.

Screenshot captured by site

Related: All Split Fiction Voice Actors and Why Zoe and Mio Sound Familiar

It was in these moments that Split Fiction was at its best. When stages decided to make each character feel distinct, it made the levels far more dynamic. The first level featured a setpiece where while Mio was driving on a motorcycle, Zoe had to unlock a cellphone to make sure the motorcycle didn’t blow up. In another level, Zoe gains the ability to manipulate the environment, and Mio has to platform across the areas that Zoe made for her. The game even features some smaller side quests, called Side Stories, that run with one-off ideas, like turning both of them into pigs, but Zoe could turn into a spring and Mio had rocket farts.

For the most part, we enjoyed everything that the game threw at us. Sometimes a few sequences were a bit forced – my fiance hated the tonal whiplash the Monkey King dance-off provided – but given how each section lasts for only 5-10 minutes, if we didn’t like a particular section, we’d be given a new task that made us forget about the old one relatively quickly. Because of this, Split Fiction throws a lot of gameplay mechanics at its players, but it never feels overwhelming since the game still eases players into each new idea. Anyone can pick up and enjoy it, regardless of their skill level, especially thanks to the game’s very forgiving checkpoint system.

Visually, the game is a spectacle. One of the Side Stories involves a collapsing star that looks absolutely marvelous from a distance. Speeding along futuristic sci-fi cities is exhilarating, and even some of the quiet landscapes of the fantasy worlds have their unique charm. The character models look a bit rough and feel just as inorganic as the dolls you played as in It Takes Two, but by and large, Split Fiction is a good showcase for how games can still visually impress in 2025.

Screenshot captured by site

At the end of the day, my fiance and I both enjoyed our time with Split Fiction. While it definitely has some narrative issues and the pacing can be a bit uneven, it’s still a great time for two players who want to experience a fully fleshed-out co-op adventure. Its highs are arguably higher than It Takes Two thanks to its numerous setpieces, and outside of a few puzzles that made us a wee bit angry, our relationship is stronger for it.

Verdict: Recommended

Split Fictionis now available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Articles View all