Hazelight Studios has quickly gained a reputation for producing compelling co-op experiences. A Way Out delivers a dramatic co-op game with believable characters, a story that has some punch to it, and some truly inventive gameplay moments. It Takes Two lightens up the mood somewhat while also going a bit freeform in terms of how the various co-op moments are handled. While both games feature great online experiences, they shine in local co-op, especially since that's still considered rare in the modern gaming landscape. Split Fiction is the third game from the studio, and it's been highly anticipated. The good news is that the end product lives up to the hype.

The story in Split Fiction goes for more of a sci-fi bent than the studio's previous titles. The game opens with a woman named Mio arriving at the offices of Rader Publishing for a meeting about a possible publishing deal for her sci-fi work. As she goes up the elevator, she meets Zoe, a woman who has also arrived to discuss a publishing deal. Her personality is the complete opposite of Mio's, and she works primarily in the fantasy genre. As the duo arrives alongside a few other potential writers, they meet up with the head of the company, who explains that they'll be the first ones to test out The Machine, a device designed to manifest all of the writers' ideas into a virtually real world. Sensing that something isn't right, Mio tries to back out of the project, but she accidentally gets into the same pod as Zoe, resulting in a merging of worlds that has the potential to cause the Machine to malfunction. Stuck in an ever-shifting world, both Mio and Zoe need to work together to find a way out of the clutches of the Machine via the world's glitches before Mio's suspicions are proven right.

The setup of having two polar opposites work together for a common goal is a familiar one, especially for Hazelight's games, but it keeps getting revisited because it is a solid premise that everyone can understand. It helps that all of the characters, both heroes and villains, feel fleshed out instead of being caricatures, and the small twists that you encounter as the game goes forward don't feel out of place when they are revealed. The interesting bit is the story's premise of a machine stealing ideas, since it's a hot topic in technology and human creativity. The game isn't using this argument due to the current AI debate between creativity versus technology, but the game's use of this as a plot device makes the experience feel timely.

For the most part, Split Fiction is a platformer. Both Zoe and Mio can run through stages with an extra dash that kicks in on command. They can jump, but they can also perform a wall-run for long distances. There are many points where they can unleash a grappling hook to swing across large chasms and reach the ledges to pull themselves up. Enemies are scarce, but attacking foes is easy enough since the action button for this never changes. The game is full of puzzles that are all about co-op, as you may need to hold a switch to let your partner open up something later, or you'll need them to toss something your way to break an obstacle that's blocking your path. You'll rarely find anything that can be solved solo, and the same can be said for most of the boss fights.

Like all of Hazelight's games thus far, Split Fiction is a purely co-op experience, so those hoping to play the game solo are out of luck. Split screen co-op is available, as is the ability to play co-op online. The game can be played online with only one person owning it thanks to a free friend pass available to everyone. The big change is that the game is now cross-play compatible, so those on PC can play with someone on Xbox or PlayStation, which greatly widens the game's reach. The only knock is that an EA account is needed, but that's a small price if you want to ensure that everyone who can play the game gets a chance to do that.

Where the game stands out, aside from its emphasis on co-op, is in its use of genres. Except for the very end of the game, each level takes place in either a sci-fi or fantasy world. The various tropes of each genre are on full display, including taming dragons, shapeshifting into different creatures, fighting a mob boss in a nightclub, and evading the police on floating highways. You get both Mio and Zoe commenting about each world in positive and negative ways, but all of the commentary is balanced out for fans of each genre. Like many of Hazelight's titles, each of the levels provides small chances to goof around in the world by doing things like hanging out at the pool or chucking snowballs from a high castle platform. The levels also take moments to be playful directly in the quests, such as having to defeat a talking cat boss or evading a giant robot that is trying to kill you for unpaid parking tickets.

This genre split is emphasized in the use of side stories, which can be found within four of the main chapters. The side stories are easy to spot since they always contrast with the environment, so exploring in a fantasy world means you'll stumble upon a warp sphere surrounded by sci-fi environmental pieces. Each side story is a tale that's different from what you'd encounter in the main levels, and this is where the developers got really creative. One side story might have you going through a mystical world inside of an hourglass. One tale might have you trying to contain an exploding sun, while another has you going through a farm as pigs. The only lament is that the side stories are only present in half of the main levels, so the game leaves you yearning for more of those stories.

The use of different genres comes with a few benefits in gameplay. The most notable is the fact that the game can change genres on you without feeling like the change is coming out of nowhere. The level featuring the mob boss, for example, has Mio using a gravity sword to slash at enemies and walk on different platforms, while Zoe uses an electric whip to reel in and toss enemies. That same level features bike chases and turret sequences, both with and without combat elements. Journeying to stop the ice king will have you directly controlling the environment to open up passages for your partner. A train robbery sequence might start with some air gliding but end in a shoot-'em-up boss fight, and a game show has you playing a lethal game of hot potato while trying to navigate an obstacle course to deposit said bomb in the goal. Each of these sequence changes lasts about the right length, and there's enough variety that the game never feels stale — even if some sequences appear with a different skin.

The other benefit of the ever-changing genres is in story coherency. You're always reminded of the overall goal of trying to get out of the simulation created by the Machine. There are several cut scenes that play between levels that deal directly with the main story, but every major level and side stories all come with their own self-contained tales. This makes each level compartmentalized and addresses the one complaint that some players had of It Takes Two, where they felt that the game went on longer than expected. This game still clocks in at roughly the 15-18 hour mark for completion, but it never feels that way since you're coming into each story fresh, and some basic gameplay mechanics are shared between those levels. As a result, there's a better chance of seeing the ending, even if you're playing with someone who isn't into long games but still likes the gameplay.

There's not much to complain about in Split Fiction, since the game seems designed to address some of the potential pitfalls. The game will sometimes pull the camera so far back that it might be difficult to see your characters at times, but it tries to compensate by only doing this when the controlled character is large or when their suits provide enough of a glow to make them more recognizable. There's a good deal of platforming on small poles and other narrow surfaces, but the game does a good job of locking you onto those surfaces unless you really overshoot. The same goes for jumping between poles and wall climbing, but the game does a good job of respawning you quickly when you die and placing you at a checkpoint that greatly reduces backtracking. There are also options to eliminate QTE segments, and you can also press a button to get past any segments that are overly difficult. There are plenty of options to make the experience easier or more challenging, so it'll take a great deal of effort to not beat the game.

The presentation for all of Hazelight's games thus far has been top-notch, and Split Fiction doesn't change anything in that regard. The character models look gorgeous, and the animations are superb. The environments also look well detailed, and the game is helped greatly by the fact that load times are only a second or two at the most, even when there's a level transition. This feat is even more impressive when you realize that there's no texture pop-up that's practically synonymous with the Unreal Engine. The same can be said for the high frame rate, which is accomplished without any stuttering. The only upscaling technology the game has is FSR 3.0, but the game seems optimized enough that you'll only bother to use upscaling if you're trying to reach really high resolutions with very underpowered hardware.

Split Fiction has already been labeled as Verified for the Steam Deck, and we can verify that the game deserves that designation. The game runs with the device's full 1280x800 resolution, and the frame rate hits roughly 40fps on average with it peaking at close to 60fps, and it dips closer to 30fps when things get hectic. The graphical options are preset to a medium/low mix, and while the game looks quite nice, you may want to tweak the settings further if you want better battery life. You'll only get roughly 90 minutes on a full charge when using the LCD version of the Deck.

Split Fiction is fantastic. The story and characters are great thanks to the nuance sprinkled throughout to give everything and everyone some unexpected depth. The constant switching of various genres keeps the game fresh, since none of the tales linger for too long, and the same can be said for the various gameplay additions in conjunction with the solid platforming. Combined with the cross-platform play and accessibility features to ensure that everyone can get through the title, the only reason to not pick up Split Fiction is if you despise co-op play. For everyone else, grab this early contender for "Best Of" lists for 2025.

Score: 9.0/10