The Game Awards are happening tonight, which means Josef Fares once again appears on stage and performatively says “fuck” as if he thought it was rude. Luckily, he also had a game to show off this year: Split Fiction, a up-to-date co-op action-adventure game. It’s about two aspiring writers, one writing science fiction and the other writing fantasy, who were drawn into and had to survive in their own fictions.
Split Fiction takes place in the near future where a technology company is able to transform human stories into virtual worlds. Insert your comment about generative AI here. Here, the characters Mio and Zoe are thrust into their own stories, but they are strangers to each other, and as they get to know each other, they must survive in these unsafe, collapsing worlds.
The levels seemingly alternate between science fiction, robots, explosions and cyber cops, and the established fantasy world of dragons. Both worlds seem… a bit cliché? But perhaps this is intentional, given that these worlds are created in fiction by first-time writers. Perhaps by the end of the game they will have grown, learned, and become better at world building.
Yes, I attach too much importance to it. Split Fiction comes from Hazelight, creators of other cooperative games such as A Way Out and It Takes Two. I’ve played It Takes Two and it’s quite good as it constantly changes the 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.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to Split Fiction. It also already has a release date: March 6, 2025.
Geoffening has begun! For the latest Game Awards announcements, visit our Game Awards 2024 hub page. You’ll also find the latest news on our live blog.
