At the 2024 Game Awards , Hazelight revealedSplit Fiction , the studio ’s follow - up toIt take Two . The co - op game , which combines sci - fi and fantasy , will once again be published under EA ’s Originals Label . It launches on March 6 , 2025 , for PS5 , Xbox Series X / S , and PC .
Like Hazelight ’s previous game , Split Fictionis a story adventure game build exclusively around co - op sport . It follows Mio and Zoe ( name after director Joseph Fares ’ daughters ) , two shoot for writer who join a bring out company that can bring their writing to lifespan . One is a sci - fi writer , while the other specializes in fantasy , so both worlds total to life in a clank of styles . It ’s similar in social organisation toIt consume Two , but with more spectacular production economic value and a wealth of surprising side mission . Buying a copy of the plot will grant that owner aFriend Passthat will earmark one other person to download it as well .
forwards of its reveal , I sat down with Fares , who took me on an eclectic tour ofSplit Fiction . The wide demo showcased the biz ’s musical style - hop carbon monoxide - op action , which once again gives each actor completely unlike ability to play with in each chapter . It ’s an impressive step up fromIt Takes Twoconsidering its three - and - a - half - year maturation cycle and ambitious tech . What ’s the secret to Hazelight ’s success ?
“ We fk sh*t up without fking up , ” Fares tells Digital Trends .
A tale of two worlds
Before I can even sit down to get a proper introduction toSplit Fiction , the refreshingly filter - less Fares lets his trademark expletives loose . He devise me for how much my judgment is about to be botch and swear that players are go to have sex this one . The last time he narrate me that was in an interview ahead ofIt Takes Two ’s launch . That deed of conveyance go on to winGame of the Year at the 2021 Game Awards . This sentence , I know not to take his agitation lightly .
After a warm cutscene setting up the premise , we ’re both drop down into a sci - fi world where we go through some basic movement tutorial in a split - cover view . What ’s directly apparent is thatSplit Fictiongoes heavy on military action thanIt Takes Two . In addition to some standard jumping , we ’re wall - running like we ’re inTitanfalland dodging blasts from a far - off starship . Movement is spry and precise , building on the strong foundational roots of Hazelight ’s last game but turn up the intensity just a bit .
In the full game , each chapter will take a hop between the sci - fi existence and the phantasy one . Once again building onIt involve Two ’s formula , each level admit its own specific power for each role player . In one , Fares ’ character gained a wrestling come-on that countenance him drop over to surface and pull objective . I had the power to slash thing with a scrimmage rack up and phase geological fault onto walls that had pink aerofoil . That leads to a chronological sequence where I ’m on the ceiling of a elbow room while Fares is on the floor below me . I slash some pillars to knock them down and create a platforming path for him below . It ’s a brain - bending succession that forces us to coordinate since my left is his right and vice versa .
In another sci - fi degree , we ’re both point in ascendance of two drone balls . He can magnetize to surfaces , like Samus ’ spider morph ball kick upstairs inMetroid Prime . My ball can deconstruct into a swarm of nano drone pipe , allowing me to sidestep under surface his ball ca n’t reach . Later in a fantasy - themed level , I ’m able to transubstantiate into a elephantine monkey that can climb vines and demolish rocks with one trigger and turn into a swim otter with the other . fare ’ character morphs into entirely unlike animals , so we need to process together to get each other through the level .
While that gameplay flow may vocalize like toIt Takes Two , Hazelight is have much bigger originative swings this time around . The cardinal difference is that each level bear optional side missions that take five to 10 minutes to complete each . These are n’t just extra platforming challenge you may find off - the - beaten path ; each one introduce an entirely new mechanic , and sometimes art flair , that ’s nowhere else in the main story . It ’s a lot of originative energy to put into entirely skippable side content , but Fares believes that speaks to the spirit of the studio .
“ There ’s a exemption at Hazelight . We ’re dogs without leashes ; we just go crazy , ” fare say . “ We have an idea of what the game is . We have a storyboard and what we desire to do . But then we have these Roger Sessions where we go godforsaken and do unlike epitome and see what we can do . It can be whatever . We say ‘ that ’s cool , that ’s nerveless , that ’s cool , ’ and then we match it into the plot . ”
Fares tours me through several side missionary work in our session . In one , we ’re both check pigs on a farm . When I exhort the good trigger , my hog farts out rainbow and rocket engine forrader . Another drop down us into anSSX - similar snowboarding minigame where we compete to see who can extort up the highest score . The most surprising one throws us into a diary page , where we both check 2D pencil doodles and fend off high-risk cat with nunchucks . Each one I see is entirely unlike the other , make for an entirely irregular demo session .
Hazelight even had too many ideas for its own good . Fares tells me that a level was cut just two week prior to our session because the squad could n’t get it svelte enough . That ’s how high the bar is for Hazelight . That quality commitment was unmistakable in the demo too , which ended with some jaw - dropping technical showcases that player will have to wait to see for themselves . That ambitiousness is n’t amount at a technical cost either , says Fares , who affirms that it will all unravel at a unruffled 60 form per second at launch .
At the final stage of it , Fares and I sit down to jaw about how the game came together . AfterIt use up Two , the squad instantly father to work on the project after coming up with an theme forSplit Fiction ’s terminate first and working from there . Hazelight ’s head count originate from 60 to 80 in the fourth dimension between spillage . What puzzles Fares , though , is that no other developer stress to do its own version ofIt lead Twoin the three and a half eld Hazelight was toiling away onSplit Fiction .
“ I ’m just surprised considering the number we ’re doing that not more [ plot are doing this ] , ” Fares says . “ No one was doing it before like we do . You could argue that with a Soulslike game , a lot of people do them and they do pretty well . But I retrieve more people should do games like this , because people want to dally it plain — even if they do n’t do it as good as we do , just do it ! … I ’m not saying that we ’re FromSoftware , but we make our own subgenre in a sense . ”
fare sound sincerely stumped by his own inquiry , eventually involve me why I thought no one else is making a Hazelight - like despiteIt Takes Twoselling20 million copy . I posit that it might just be a matter of time . With how long plot development can be , it can take four old age to really see major studio capitalizing on a trend . It ’s why we did n’t see adult - budget open - globe games that look likeThe Legend of Zelda : breather of the Wilduntil 2020’sImmortals : Fenyx rise . menu agrees , confident as ever that punt likeSplit Fictionwon’t always be exceptions to the rule .
“ We are n’t essay to adapt to the mart ; we create the market , ” fare says .
Split Fictionlaunches on March 6 , 2025 , for PS5 , Xbox Series X / S , and PC .
