It’s the Game Awards this evening, which means another year of Josef Fares appearing on stage to performatively say “fuck” like he thinks it’s naughty. Thankfully this year he also had a game to show: Split Fiction, a new co-op action adventure. It’s about two aspiring authors, one who writes science fiction and one who writes fantasy, being sucked into and having to survive inside their own fictions.
Split Fiction takes place in a near-future where a tech company is able to turn people’s stories into virtual worlds. Insert your commentary about generative AI here. In this instance, protagonists Mio and Zoe are shoved into their own stories, but they’re strangers, and they have to survive in those dangerous, collapsing worlds as they get to know one another.
Levels seemingly alternate back and forth between sci-fi, with robots and explosions and cybercops, and a trad fantasy world of dragons. Both worlds seem… a bit cliché? But perhaps that’s intentional given that these worlds are, in the fiction, created by newbie writers. Perhaps they will grow and learn and become better at worldbuilding by the end of the game.
Yes, I’m giving it too much credit. Split Fiction is from Hazelight, the developers of other co-op games such as A Way Out and It Takes Two. I played It Takes Two and it’s pretty good, because it constantly shifts setting and mechanics in a way that keeps it fresh and surprising. It’s not particularly narratively coherent, however, and there’s often very little connection between the plot or emotional beats and the mecha-insect you’re piloting while murdering wasps for some reason.
In any case, I’m looking forward to Split Fiction. It’s already got a release date, too: March 6th, 2025.
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