The cooperative experts at Hazelight Studios have released Split Fiction on Steam, PS5, and Xbox as their next highlight for all fans of cooperative couch and online gaming. At the Scholz household, both young and old are equally thrilled, albeit with some reservations.
My wife and I are big fans of It Takes Two, the delightful cooperative hit from Hazelight Studios released in 2021. Accordingly, our anticipation for the next cooperative adventure from the Swedes was huge: Split Fiction, which was released on March 6, 2025, for PC (Steam and Epic Games), PS5, and Xbox Series.
What I did not expect beforehand: While my wife curses like a sailor during the sci-fi sections, our youngest celebrates certain levels of the game as if he has discovered the holy grail of video games.
Split Fiction in the trailer:
Varied but somewhat generic adventure
What is Split Fiction about? In the new game from Hazelight, you control the two writers Mio and Zoe through their own, once imagined sci-fi and fantasy worlds. Just like in A Way Out (2018) and It Takes Two (2021), you can expect a cooperative split-screen experience, online or in couch co-op, where you must work together to complete the levels.
The success proves the developers right. It Takes Two was awarded Game of the Year 2021 at the Game Awards and has sold 20 million copies (via X). Split Fiction has already sold 2 million copies in just one week (via X).
Split Fiction offers a varied mix of jumping, reaction, puzzle, and action sequences. The perspective changes frequently, and you gain access to new gadgets or transform into various forms for certain levels, each possessing unique skills.
Even more variety comes from the constant switch between the imaginative worlds Zoe has created throughout her life and the futuristic missions written by Mio. Expect giants, trolls, cyber ninja moves, disco apes, a creepy robot dentist, growing dragons, and much more.
As diverse as Split Fiction plays for long stretches, many of the levels seem disjointed, arbitrary, and generic. Especially in some of the interchangeable sci-fi sections, we felt a certain fatigue after a while.
If you are looking for a proper review of Split Fiction, check out the colleagues:
– GameStar’s review of Split Fiction (Plus article)
– Gamepro’s review of Split Fiction
The fatigue increased with longer playtime, as the futuristic shooting and reaction tests occasionally become quite exhausting – especially for my wife, who prefers playing on PC with mouse and keyboard and rarely holds a gamepad.
It is definitely good that the checkpoints are fairly set and the character sometimes spawns closer to the much farther co-op partner after dying. This keeps frustration from the numerous virtual deaths within a certain range.
Don’t get me wrong, this is complaining at a very high level! Despite this experience, Split Fiction is clearly one of the best cooperative games on the market. Overall, my wife and I had a bit more fun with the quasi-predecessor It Takes Two because, from our perspective, everything fits together a little better there.
The kids are thrilled
Unlike, for example, an Astro Bot, which was my game of the year 2024, Split Fiction is not suitable at first glance for my youngest (3 years old). However, he loves to play cooperatively with Dad or Mom on the PS5 (something that is unfortunately not possible in Astro Bot). So he keeps asking for the gamepad to try his luck.
And lo and behold: Some levels are so much fun for him that we have to play them over and over again. Two of his absolute highlights:
- In a colorful fairy-tale section, you control two pigs, where one of the animals farts rainbows at the push of a button, while the other transforms the love handles into a trampoline. You jump over obstacles, feed doors with apples, blow a house over, and … eventually get processed into hotdog sausages that you have to steer over the grill, bathe in ketchup, and place in a bun. Pretty weird, somehow.
- Another level is designed like a sketchbook and is colored live by a pencil while you control Zoe and Mio from left to right. The little one finds it particularly funny when one of the characters transforms into a horse, on which the other protagonist then rides. But there are also sections with swords and bows, dark caves, riding on rams, and much more – all of which creates a rather short yet lovingly designed and very enjoyable side quest.
If all this sounds exciting to you, definitely check out Split Fiction with a co-op partner. Last year, we put together alternative, fairly recent co-op recommendations for you: The coolest couch co-op games – What the MeinMMO editorial team is playing in 2024
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