Split Fiction PS5 Review

Gameplay

Graphics

Audio

Value

Summary: A heartfelt, spellbinding co op masterpiece that needs to be in your library

4.6

Wrapped Up in Books

Split Fiction is an early contender for Game of the Year. That’s all you need to know. find a friend or make a new one, grab a copy of the game (go halves if you have to) and go and spend the next few days making it your entire life.

You need more convincing? Fine.

How about that it effortlessly takes everything that made It Takes Two so enjoyable and refines, improves, and builds upon it in every conceivable way.

OK, what if I told you Split Fiction is a near-perfect platformer that pushes what we even thought was possible in the medium of video games forward while telling a heartfelt and compelling tale about the power of creativity and friendship?

If you’re still here I guess you’ll just have to read on. (Some people. Humph!)

Players take on the role of Zoe and Mio two young, unpublished writers contacted by a publishing company with promises of a book deal.

However, on arrival at the futuristic HQ or Radar they’re invited instead to plug themselves into a Machine that it’s creator. JD Radar, says will allow them to see their stories come to life.

Mio, being a cynical and guarded sort, feels that something fishy is going on and refuses, however during an argument, where JD is getting a little too insistent, there’s a fly-style mishap and Mio falls into the same pod and simulation as Zoe.

This breaks the system creating glitches throughout the simulation that the pair must navigate to make it back to the real world.

Oh, and Mio was right. It’s all a massive scam. Radar’s machine is stealing all the writers’ story ideas so they can cut creatives out of the creative process. Sound familiar?

It’s a clear, allegory for the current struggle against AI, but also could be seen as a statement on the state of the industry that takes creative talent, drains them of everything they have, and spits them out.

However, the core of the story is about Mio and Zoe’s growing friendship and how creativity can be a vector for healing and growth.

What sets Split Fiction apart from It Takes Two though is that the characters are likeable and you want them to succeed. You care about Mio and Zoe you really feel for them when the inspiration for some of their darker stories is revealed l and the resolution is touching and at times, legitimately tear-jerking.

It Takes Two mechanically was a tons of fun, but both times, but Cody and May were awful and should have just got a divorce. Thankfully Split Fiction remedies this and then some. The writing and characters are just in a whole other level. Save for (), who by the end seems cartoonishly evil.

The main bulk of the gameplay alternates between Mio’s science fiction stories and Zoe’s fantasy tales. You start in an industrialised area where you are taught the basics of the platforming system from It Takes Two in its entirety. The triple jumps and grappling that took half a game to get in Hazelights’ previous outing are liberally doled out in the early stages of Split Fiction, which leaves plenty of space for other forms of variation, all built around this solid foundation.

It delights in throwing new gameplay types and different genre tropes at the player with reckless abandon. Not everything hits, but the misses don’t last long enough for them to be anything but a blip on an otherwise impressive thoroughly enjoyable game.

You’ll raise dragons, sneak through a town full of trolls, fight your way through a dystopia to avoid a parking ticket and dance with a monkey king, and that’s only in the main campaign.

Throughout Split Fiction, you’ll also stumble across side stories. Abandoned ideas, scribblings in notebooks (sometimes literal), and stories written long ago that have found their way to the bottom of numerous drawers.

In gameplay terms, it’s an excuse for Hazelight to flex its creative muscles and add an even greater level of variety to the experience. Highlights include childhood tales about a rainbow-farting pig, battling a terrifying mechanical dentist, and playing the closest thing we’ll probably see to a Trickstyle sequel. Every last side story is an absolute treasure and you will want to find every last one.

Split Fiction is also packed full of little nods, winks, and Easter eggs referencing Hazelight’s previous games. There is a cheeky one ( that includes a trophy) recreating a section in It Takes Two that still haunts me to this day. (If you know, you bloody well know.)

The presentation is also absolutely jaw-dropping at times, with scenes that i genuinely didn’t know how they managed to pull it off with how quickly new assets are pulled in or adjusted, or the sheer scale and scope of some of the set pieces. Its absolutely brilliant, and in many ways feels like the first game I’ve played that feels properly next gen.

The sound design and performances from the cast are all top notch too. Zoe and Mio are obvious standouts, with excellent chemistry and its great to watch the two of them, though in many ways an odd couple, Mio is cynical and guarded while Zoe is very optimistic and open, grow to trust and depend on one another throughout the story going from strangers to the closest of friends and collaborators by its end.

You’ll also be happy to hear that the Froend pass makes a welcome return for Split Fiction and even better it now features crossplay. So if you have a PS5 and your friend only has a Series X/S you can still play Split Fiction together with only one copy of the game.

Final Thoughts

You may have noticed I’ve been a little cagey describing Split Fiction throughout this review, well there’s a reason for this. I don’t want to spoil any of it and you need to play this game.

It may be a little on the nose with its narrative at times, (especially following news of Microsoft’s dunderheaded AI initiative) but Split Fiction tells a compelling story, with likable leads, a dastardly villain (that bares more than a passing resemblance to EA CEO Andrew Wilson.) and some legitimately innovative set pieces and gameplay sections that demand to be experienced.

Though some parts are better than others the ideas come so thick and fast that if anything doesn’t quite land, there’s some new gameplay twist or clever mechanic just around the corner.
Most of all though Split Fiction is a touching tale about the power of stories and how its our duty to value, cherish, and protect them.

About the Author

Gareth Newnham

Split Fiction PS5 Review