Director Josef Fares is most well known for two things: giving improvised and expletive-laden speeches at The Game Awards, and helming inventive co-operative adventure games for two players. It Takes Two was a breakout hit for Fares and the team at Swedish studio Hazelight in 2021, marrying unique and zany co-operative gameplay with a deeply uneven story about a divorcing couple. Split Fiction is a compelling and worthy follow-up, improving on the genre’s strengths while occasionally doubling down on its weaknesses.There really are no other games like these. Mandating exactly two players, either sitting together on the couch or connecting over the internet, the story pushes dual protagonists through a rapid-fire set of evolving and unexpected challenges, meaning you and your partner are constantly figuring out the best ways to co-operate. At its best, Split Fiction is the ideal game-night for two, especially if you prefer traditional console games to competitive online fare. At its worst, it may have you wishing you opted to binge a TV show instead.The setup here is that a giant Amazon-type tech behemoth has come up with a way to steal stories directly from writers’ brains, turning them into realistic VR simulations in the process, and has tricked a group of would-be authors into being its guinea pigs with the lure of a lucrative publishing deal. But an unexpected incident leads to a pair of writers – Zoe and Mio – getting their simulations entangled, with their consciousnesses trapped inside.It’s a premise that doesn’t hold up to a lot of scrutiny, but the upshot is that you have a kind-hearted fantasy writer from the country paired with a hardened sci-fi-loving city slicker, and they have to work together to survive the dangerous tales they’ve each created.Every level (and, frequently, in smaller asides within levels) you’re given new powers and abilities relevant to the story, with Zoe and Mio typically serving distinct roles. In one fantasy setting Zoe can shrink into a fairy while Mio can grow into a beast. In one sci-fi setting they’re both cyber ninjas, where Mio can alter gravity for herself and Zoe for other objects. So one of you ends up on top of a flying truck, while the other runs along the sides of the traffic, and you both need to organise platforms for each other.At its core this is a platforming adventure game of the kind you might have played in the early 2000s, but with constant gameplay switch-ups and the need to co-operate throughout, and that variety is absolutely the highlight. One brief side story is set in a giant hourglass, themed like a blend of Prince of Persia and Dune, where you have to ride skeletal sand worms. In another you play as pigs, one with a springy body and one with magic rainbow farts, through a story Zoe conceived as a child while learning about some of the grim realities of the farm.In contrast to the sillier sections, the longer standard running and jumping can drag on a bit. But the
Video game auteur’s latest two-player tale is another bizarre hit
