'Split Fiction' director wants video games to bring people together

Two aspiring authors. A high-tech machine that knits their story ideas into a virtual reality playground. And the powerful corporation that wants to steal these stories for its own ends.

That’s the premise of “Split Fiction,” out Thursday. The co-op video game casts players as Zoe and Mio, two antagonistic writers who must work together to escape the simulation that accidentally entangled them.

“You are jumping between sci-fi and fantasy throughout the game — these two people are not a fan of each other's genre and are not a fan of each other,” says game director Josef Fares. “But this game is ultimately about friendship and about two extremely different people that still can find a connection.”

Fares’ company, Hazelight Studios, specializes in two-player games that require intense collaboration. In 2018, “A Way Out” featured an audacious prison break. In 2021, “It Takes Two” followed a couple on the brink of divorce, scrambling to reverse a spell that transformed them into tiny dolls.

“It's an experience that is not common these days,” Fares says. “You want to experience stories together — why not play a great narrative where you actually can sit on the couch and enjoy it together?”

Hazelight Studios found incredible success through this approach. “It Takes Two” won Game of the Year at The Game Awards and went on to sell more than 20 million copies. But Fares asserts that his games aren’t just fun — they also demand teamwork.

“If you want to test your relationship, go play ‘It Takes Two’ or ‘Split Fiction’ and see how it is with the communication skills,” says Fares. “Some friends have married each other, and we've also had couples who actually broke after this game.”

The action-packed “Split Fiction” may even be tougher than “It Takes Two,” which otherwise focused on comparatively mellow puzzles. Fares, however, doesn’t want to smooth over skill disparities between players. “We don't make them too challenging,” says Fares, “[but you] got to learn the hard way, my man.”

Ultimately, Fares hopes that “Split Fiction” wows players. Self-censoring his famously colorful language, he prophesied that players “will walk away with ‘what the bleep happened’ — they will be amazed.”

“You will experience something that is extremely rare — and the final chapter is something that hasn’t been done in video games before.”

James Perkins Mastromarino and produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Michael Scotto. Perkins Mastromarino also adapted it for the web.