In the wake of Hazelight Studio’s success withA Way OutandIt Takes Two, the reveal ofSplit Fictionat The Game Awards has already warranted praise for its creative direction. As the studio’s founder and continued creative director, Josef Fares' narration paints a promising picture of what to expect: a wild ride full of explosions, nuanced mechanics that vary with the game’s levels, and an incredibly clever premise that sees its main characters, Mio and Zoe, venture into two different genres based on their own stories as writers. Pulling from fantasy and sci-fi imagery and themes,Split Fictionsets its adventure up as its name would suggest, leaving ample room to indulge in the tropes of its genres while subverting and even blending them to some accord.
As writers aspiring to be published,Split Fiction’s Mio and Zoe are thrust into simulations based on their work through the powers of Rader Publishing, a shady tech company that looks to be stealing authors' stories. When an accident leaves them stuck inside the same simulation, their objective becomes navigating the stories they have written to return to reality, working alongside each other, and their respective genres, to survive. From the get-go,Split Fiction’s premise is as adventurous as it is exciting, providing the perfect backdrop to experiment mechanically with the many tropes ofthe fantasy and sci-fi genres, with Josef Fares' promise of unique mechanics for each level being a boon to the game’s narrative set-up.
Two Genres, Two Simulations
Drawing on Genre For Combat and Traversal
In the fantasy world, not only willco-op protagonistsZoe and Mio have dragon allies that grow (in both size and ability), but it looks as though they’ll be able to transform themselves; jumping into water shows Mio change into a fish-like creature able to dive and traverse below the currents, while Zoe is able to twirl in the sky like a bird to bridge the gaps between land. These powers seem to be drawn from animal familiars, which look to be controllable in all sorts of situations, from enlisting the help of a centipede-like insect while moving up rocky walls, to riding on the back of a giant stick bug shaped from tree trunks. The latter creature can be seen emitting some kind of energy ray, which could be a direct influence from Mio’s sci-fi world, showing the two genres overlapping mechanically as the game progresses.
Similar to the animal forms of Zoe’s fantasy world, Mio’s sci-fi world looks to tap into the technological side of its genre with droids that magnetize and shift, allowing the protagonists to move up and down walls, glide above air vents, and turn panels to make it across obstacles. Later, the ability to hack into machinery and attack enemies, with the droids becoming exosuits, opens up further combat and traversal abilities. From side-scroller segments where the two characters wield laser guns, to thrilling action sequences where they ride a motorcycle across the side of a building, Mio’s work encapsulates the genre’s many tropes through the world’s diversity of levels. There even looks to be the use of captchas that players must complete, which, alongside its violent AI machines trying to destroy the protagonists, shows the humorous side ofSplit Fiction’s narrative.
A Premise with Potential
The emphasis onSplit Fiction’s mechanical variationis clear, which makes its delving into the sci-fi and fantasy genres even more exciting. The premise of writers being thrust into their own stories leaves so many opportunities to lean on the usual tropes while also subverting them, both narratively and through gameplay. Considering that Mio and Zoe are agents of their own stories, having a level of influence over their respective worlds that is called into question as they are put into all sorts of dangerous situations is a brilliant way to show Rader Publishing’s antagonism in trying to trap them in the simulations, while also demonstrating how stories evolve as they are written. Just as conflict helps drive stories forward, the obstacles ofSplit Fictionwill be a great way to tap into its fantasy and sci-fi influences while showing the strengths of Hazelight Studio’s cooperative gameplay.
