{"id":595,"date":"2025-03-04T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/?p=595"},"modified":"2025-03-06T18:20:25","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T18:20:25","slug":"split-fiction-review-the-best-co-op-game-of-the-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.isshicare.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/04\/split-fiction-review-the-best-co-op-game-of-the-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"Split Fiction review \u2013 the best co-op game of the generation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Split\t<\/div>
Split Fiction can only be played with two people (EA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The makers of It Takes Two return, with an enormously entertaining follow-up that cements their position as the masters of two-player co-op.<\/p>\n

Sweden\u2019s Hazelight Studios has built its entire reputation on the increasingly rare concept of two-player co-op-only video games<\/a>. Whilst that went okay in their first game, A Way Out<\/a> (and retroactively in director Josef Fares\u2019 previous title Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons<\/a>), the formula worked considerably more smoothly in It Takes Two<\/a>, which learnt from both the successes and failures of the earlier titles. Its humour, kinetic action, and well-designed, collaborative puzzles made it both a major commercial and critical success<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hazelight\u2019s third game is Split Fiction, which to the surprise of nobody retains the two-player structure of its forebears. It also sees the return of the Friend Pass system, which allows a second player to join in online without having to own their own copy of the game – it even works cross-platform now. That generosity immediately bypasses most co-op games\u2019 biggest problem, which is finding a friend who\u2019s bought the same game at the same time as you.<\/p>\n

The other winning feature that Split Fiction keeps is the ability to play not only online but in couch co-op mode. While online gaming is great in its ability to bring large groups of players together at all hours of the day and night, playing a game with the person you\u2019re sitting next to remains one of the best – and funniest – ways to enjoy interactive entertainment.<\/p>\n

Despite the somewhat unforgiving stipulation that you simply can\u2019t play Split Fiction without a co-op partner, it\u2019s a game that brings together all of Hazelight\u2019s experience in new and exciting ways, from the variety and intensity of its action sequences to the way the screen splits and re-merges so cinematically, whilst always keeping both players in view.<\/p>\n

The game\u2019s plot and general set-up is very contrived, but it gets the job done. Taking place in the offices of Rader Publishing, its ebullient tech bro CEO has invented a device that lets readers experience books though VR. To rip stories into his new format, authors have to don a body suit and get suspended in a glowing pod, which then captures their ideas.<\/p>\n

Split Fiction\u2019s protagonists are Mio and Zoe, two aspiring, un-published authors desperate to get their big breaks. They\u2019re the epitome of opposites. One\u2019s chatty and outgoing, the other introverted; one\u2019s a city girl, while the other grew up in the country; one writes sci-fi, the other fantasy; and one\u2019s American, the other English.<\/p>\n

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