I played the sequel to It Takes Two, Split Fiction, with Josef Fares

On the Recreation Awards 2024, Hazelight revealed Divided fictioncontinuation of the studio for It takes two. The co-op recreation, which mixes sci-fi and fantasy, will as soon as once more be launched below EA’s Originals label. Launches March 6, 2025, for PS5, Xbox Collection X/S, and PC.

Like earlier Hazelight video games, Divided fiction is a story journey recreation constructed solely round co-op gameplay. It follows Mio and Zoe (named after the daughters of director Joseph Fares), two aspiring writers who be a part of a publishing firm that may convey their writing to life. One is a science fiction author whereas the opposite focuses on fantasy, so each worlds come to life in a conflict of kinds. It’s comparable in construction to It takes twohowever with extra spectacular manufacturing worth and a bunch of peculiar aspect missions. Buying a replica of the sport will grant that proprietor a Good friend Move that can enable one other particular person to obtain it as properly.

Earlier than its unveiling, I sat down with Fares, who took me on an eclectic tour Divided fiction. The intensive demo showcased the sport’s genre-bending co-op motion, which as soon as once more offers every participant utterly completely different skills to play with in every chapter. It’s a formidable step from It takes two contemplating its three-and-a-half-year growth cycle and bold expertise. What’s the secret of Hazelight’s success?

“We got here out with out f**king up,” Fares tells Digital Tendencies.

A story of two worlds

Earlier than I can sit right down to make a correct presentation Divided fictionRefreshingly unfiltered fare lets free his trademark expressions. He prepares me for a way mind-blowing it’ll be and claims the gamers will find it irresistible. The final time he instructed me this was in an interview earlier than It takes twohis departure. This title went on to win recreation of the yr on the Recreation Awards 2021. This time, I do know to not take its pleasure evenly.

After a fast scene establishing the premise, we’re each thrown right into a sci-fi world the place we undergo some primary scrolling directions in a split-screen view. What instantly stands out is that Divided fiction goes heavier in motion than It takes two. Other than some customary jumps, we’re wall working like we’re inside Titanfall and dodging blasts from a distant spacecraft. The motion is quick and exact, constructing on the sturdy elementary roots of Hazelight’s final recreation, however rising the depth a bit.

Within the full recreation, every chapter will bounce between the sci-fi and fantasy worlds. As soon as once more below building It takes twoBased on the system, every degree contains its personal particular skills for every participant. In a single, Fares’ character gained a kick that allowed him to swing on surfaces and pull objects. I had the power to chop issues with a melee shot and section shift on partitions that had pink surfaces. This results in a sequence the place I’m on the ceiling of a room whereas Fares is on the ground beneath me. I minimize some pillars to knock them down and create a path of platforms for him beneath. It is a brain-bending sequence that forces us to coordinate as my left is his proper and vice versa.

On one other sci-fi degree, we’re each accountable for two drone cannons. It may be surface-magnetized, like Samus’ spider-form cannon improve Metroid Prime. My cannon can disintegrate right into a swarm of nano drones, permitting me to get below surfaces his cannon cannot attain. Later in a fantasy-themed degree, I will remodel into an enormous monkey that may climb vines and smash rocks with one set off and switch right into a swimming otter with the opposite. Fare’s character transforms into utterly completely different animals, so we now have to work collectively to out-level one another.

Whereas the gameplay might sound just like It takes twoHazelight is taking a lot larger artistic swings this time round. The principle distinction is that every degree incorporates non-obligatory aspect missions that take 5 to 10 minutes to finish every. These aren’t simply further platforming challenges you will discover alongside the best way; every of them introduces a totally new mechanic and generally artwork model that’s not discovered anyplace else in the principle story. It is numerous artistic vitality to place into totally skippable aspect content material, however Fares believes it speaks to the spirit of the studio.

“There’s a freedom in Hazelight. We’re canines with out leashes; we simply go loopy,” says Fares. “We now have an thought of ​​what the sport is. We now have a narrative and what we wish to do. However then we now have these classes the place we go wild and make completely different prototypes and see what we are able to do. It may be something. We are saying ‘that is lovely, that is cool, that is cool’ after which we put it into play.”

Fares walks me by means of some aspect missions in our session. In a single, the 2 of us are checking pigs on a farm. Once I press the fitting set off, my pig pops out of the rainbow and rockets forward. One other one places us in a single SSX-like a snowboarding mini-game the place we race to see who can get the best rating. Probably the most stunning one drops us right into a journal web page the place we each management 2D pencil digs and dodge dangerous bush guys. Every one I see is totally completely different from the subsequent, making for a totally unpredictable demo session.

Hazelight even had too many concepts for his personal good. Fares tells me {that a} degree was dropped simply two weeks earlier than our session as a result of the staff could not do it sufficient. That is how excessive the bar is for Hazelight. This dedication to high quality was additionally evident within the demo, which ended with some gorgeous technical showcases that gamers must wait to see for themselves. That ambition is not coming at a technical value both, says Fares, who claims it would all run at a easy 60 frames per second at launch.

On the finish of it, Fares and I sit down to speak about how the sport got here to be. after It takes twothe staff instantly began engaged on the undertaking after developing with an thought for it Divided fictionend first and work from there. Hazelight’s headcount grew from 60 to 80 within the time between releases. Nonetheless, what worries Fares is that no different developer tried to make their very own model It takes two in three and a half years Hazelight was struggling Divided fiction.

“I am stunned contemplating the numbers we’re doing and no more (video games are doing this),” Fares says. “No one was doing it like we had been earlier than. You can argue that with a Soulslike recreation, lots of people do them and do them fairly properly. However I believe extra folks ought to make video games like this, as a result of folks positively wish to play it – even when they do not do it in addition to we do, simply do it! … I am not saying we’re FromSoftware, however we type of created our personal subgenre.”

Fares sounds genuinely bemused by his query, finally asking me why I believed nobody else was making one like Hazelight regardless of It takes two promoting 20 million copies. I suppose it could simply be a matter of time. With how lengthy recreation growth may be, it may well take 4 years to actually see main studios capitalizing on a pattern. That is why we did not see big-budget open-world video games that appeared prefer it Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild till 2020 Immortals: Fenyx Rising. Fares agrees, positive as ever that video games like Divided fiction they won’t all the time be exceptions to the principles.

“We’re not attempting to suit the market; we create the market”, says Fares.

Divided fiction releases March 6, 2025, for PS5, Xbox Collection X/S, and PC.