Review

Split Fiction

A co-op adventure from Hazelight, the studio behind It Takes Two, in which two writers are trapped inside a simulation built from their own science fiction and fantasy stories. Almost every chapter introduces new mechanics, and optional side stories add even more variety. It requires two players, locally or online, and the Friend's Pass lets a friend join for free. Is it your kind of game?

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Games like Split Fiction

9/10

Game Avant verdict

A relentlessly inventive two-player adventure that spends a bigger budget than It Takes Two on variety instead of length, held back only by a story that never quite matches its own gameplay.

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By GameAvant · Published Oct 1, 2026 · Updated Oct 9, 2026 · 13 min read

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IGDB

90%

245 ratings

Steam:

97%

78,518 reviews

Fits you if

you have a co-op partner and want constant variety and big set pieces.

Skip it if

you want a game to enjoy alone – it requires two players.

Availability

Where to play

Steam

$32.49

Buy

Facts

Platforms: Xbox · Switch · PC · PlayStation
Release date: March 6, 2025
Length: About 16 hours
Difficulty: 3/5 (estimated)
Genres: Platform · Puzzle · Adventure
Themes: Action · Fantasy · Science fiction
Perspective: Third person
Modes: Online up to 2 · Couch co-op up to 2
Languages: 3 languages
Text in your language: Yes
Steam Deck: Verified
Microtransactions: None
Crossplay: PC · PlayStation · Xbox · Switch

More about Split Fiction

Split Fiction is built on a premise that sounds like a writing-workshop exercise and turns out to be the backbone of one of the most inventive co-op games Hazelight Studios has made. Developed by the team behind It Takes Two and published by Electronic Arts, it released on 6 March 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, with a Nintendo Switch 2 version following on 5 June 2025. Two authors, with incompatible writing styles and even less compatible personalities, get trapped inside a machine that pulls their unfinished stories out of their heads and turns them into a shared, physical simulation. Neither of them asked to collaborate. The machine does not care. The game requires exactly two players, either on the same couch or online through a free Friend's Pass that lets a second player join without owning a copy themselves, and it spends that two-player requirement more aggressively than almost any co-op game released before it. Because the two authors write in wildly different genres, one leaning toward grounded science fiction, the other toward high fantasy, the simulation they are trapped in never settles into a single consistent world. Instead, it swaps genres, mechanics, and even camera perspective every few minutes, forcing both players to learn and discard entire new skill sets at a pace most single-player games would never risk. One stretch might hand you a jetpack and a grappling hook in a crumbling space station; the next drops you into a storybook forest where your abilities work completely differently, and neither player ever gets comfortable long enough to feel like the ideas have been exhausted. What makes this work rather than exhaust the player is the sheer density of distinct ideas packed into the runtime. Hazelight has built its reputation on one-off co-op mechanics that most studios would stretch into an entire game, and Split Fiction spends that same inventiveness at a far higher rate than its own predecessor, It Takes Two, did. The budget clearly went toward variety rather than length, and the trade pays off almost every time a new segment begins. Where the game falls short is the part most co-op adventures lean on hardest: the story holding the gameplay together. The two authors' personal arc, about learning to collaborate despite their differences, follows a fairly predictable path, and it never quite earns the same level of surprise that the mechanics deliver minute to minute. That gap between a relentlessly inventive toy box and a story that plays it safe is the one thing keeping Split Fiction from a flawless score. It does not stop the game from being Hazelight's biggest, most varied achievement yet, built for exactly the kind of two-person audience willing to be thrown into a new idea every few minutes without warning.

The thing you'll love. Or hate.

Constant reinvention

Mandatory two players

A predictable core story

Not quite for you?

Three alternatives, one line each on why.

Shorter

Similar, but noticeably shorter.

With co-op

Similar, but playable together.

Cheaper or free

Similar, for less money.

Frequently asked questions

How long is Split Fiction?: About 16 hours to finish the main story.
Which platforms is Split Fiction on?: Split Fiction is available on Xbox · Switch · PC · PlayStation.
Does Split Fiction have co-op?: Yes — Online up to 2 · Couch co-op up to 2.
Does Split Fiction run on Steam Deck?: Verified
What does Split Fiction cost?: $32.49 on Steam.