Split Fiction News

In the build up to Split Fiction’s launch, we’ve shared information on Side Stories, player characters Mio and Zoe, and The Friend’s Pass. Now we’re diving into the more technical aspects of the game, which you’ll be able to experience with your co-op partner starting March 6th. Read on to learn more about the PC requirements, Steam Native support, Steam Deck verification and more!

[h2]Steam Deck Verified[/h2]
For starters, we’re happy to announce that Split Fiction will be Steam Native and Steam Deck verified! Similar to It Takes Two, Split Fiction will not require the EA app either, meaning you’ll be able to play the game using just the Steam Client on PC, no other application needed. You will be able to easily send game invites and join your friends on Steam directly through the Steam Friends List system, allowing you to get into the chaotic action quicker. Please note, however, that you’ll need a free EA account if you want to connect with a friend who’s playing on a different platform through crossplay, such as Xbox or PlayStation consoles.




[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Whether you’re at home or on the go, you will be able to transport yourself into the world of Mio and Zoe’s mind-boggling adventure as Split Fiction is Verified on Valve’s Steam Deck handheld device, giving you even more options to take advantage of Split Fiction supporting crossplay. You will also be able to take advantage of the Steam Cloud Save functionality, meaning you can play on your PC, save and close the game, then carry on where you left off on your Steam Deck and vice versa! We’re excited to see all the unexpected locations the community will end up playing Split Fiction at launch and beyond.

[h2]PC Specs[/h2]
For those of you who will be stepping into Mio and Zoe’s shoes on PC, the below chart lists the Minimum and Recommended Specifications the game will require, giving you an idea of what will be needed from your PC to experience Split Fiction’s immense variety of environments and gameplay challenges in their true glory. We have worked tirelessly to ensure the game will be optimised on launch, completing hours and hours of performance and compatibility testing with the goal of making sure that the game will run as smoothly as possible, even on PC’s configured at the games listed minimum system requirements.





[h2]Ultrawide Resolution Support[/h2]
Ultrawide monitors are becoming more and more popular for gaming, which is why Split Fiction will support ultrawide resolutions for PC players alongside more standard resolutions. With support for 21:9 and 32:9 resolutions, you will have even more screen real estate to soak in the dystopian sci-fi and out-of-this world fantasy environments.






[h2]Accessibility Options[/h2]
Split Fiction has a wide range of accessibility options that you can enable and disable as you see fit, ensuring everyone can comfortably enjoy Mio and Zoe’s story.

• Subtitles with optional backgrounds
  
• Closed captioning
  
• Skippable checkpoints for sections players may get stuck at.
  
• Toggleable option to replace button mash prompts/analogue stick spinning/stick wiggling prompts with more simplified inputs.
  
• Adjustable damage modifiers to reduce the amount of damage enemies inflict on the player
  
• Persistent aim dot
  
• Ability to swap the left and right analogue sticks
  
• Remappable input controls, allowing custom inputs
  
• Adjustable camera sensitivity
  

[h2]Preload details[/h2]
We know that you and your co-op buddies are keen to get into the action packed fantasy and sci-fi simulated worlds of Split Fiction as soon as possible, which is why we’re enabling you to preload the game on your systems of choice. You are now able to preload the game to your system right now in anticipation of the game launching on March 6th!



If all that has you excited to learn more about the game, we recommend joining the Hazelight Discord to discuss all things Split Fiction! Make sure to follow Hazelight on both X and Instagram to see more aspects of the game showcased ahead of launch.

You can also check out our previous blog post – which explains how The Friend’s Pass and Crossplay work – here.

Split Fiction is coming to PC on March 6th, 2025.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2001120/Split_Fiction/

*Friend’s Pass requires installation of the Friend’s Pass, persistent internet connection, and applicable platform account. One user must own the full game in order for the co-op player to play the full game.

[h2]The Friend's Pass[/h2]


The Friend's Pass*, a staple feature from Hazelight Studios, returns once again in Split Fiction! As Split Fiction is a true co-op adventure you experience alongside a partner, Hazelight wants to make the process of finding someone to be the Mio to your Zoe as simple as possible. The Friend's Pass allows anyone who owns the game to invite a friend to join the fun online for free, even if they don't own a copy!

Better still, the Friend's Pass lets you connect and play with friends across different platforms with crossplay for the very first time in a Hazelight game. And you can do this as many times as you like, even if you invite a new friend to play through the sci-fi and fantasy adventure each time!

[h3]How Friend's Pass Works[/h3]

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Getting someone to play with you can be done with these four simple steps:

• Step 1. I own Split Fiction
  
• Step 2. Friend installs Friend's Pass on their chosen platform
  
• Step 3. I send an invite to my friend, who then accepts the in-game invite
  
• Step 4. Play The Entire Game Together
  

[h3]Friends Pass Trial[/h3]
Even if neither you and your co-op partner own a copy of Split Fiction, you can both experience a Trial of the game for free using the Friend's Pass! Once you both download and launch the Friend's Pass version of the game, you will be able to invite each other to play the opening stages of the game together, and then continue your progress if one of you purchases a full copy of Split Fiction!

[h3]Cross-Play[/h3]
No matter what platform you and your friends are playing on, you will be able to team up and experience Zoe and Mio's story through Split Fiction. Connect between PC and PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S all combinations are possible! Playing Split Fiction via cross-play will require a free EA Account, so be sure to sign up.

If no one on your friends list is available to play Split Fiction with you, you can also use the "Looking for Player" channels on the Hazelight Discord server to arrange game sessions with other players in the community, letting you both journey through the incredible sci-fi and fantasy worlds Mio and Zoe have to escape from!





If all that has got you excited to learn more about Split Fiction, make sure to follow Hazelight on both X and Instagram to see more aspects of the game showcased ahead of launch.

You can also check out our previous blog post introducing Split Fiction's main characters, Mio and Zoe, here.

Split Fiction is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on March 6th, 2025.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2001120/Split_Fiction/

*Friend's Pass requires installation of the Friend's Pass, persistent internet connection and applicable platform account. One user must own the full game in order for the co-op player to play the full game.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


If you've played a Hazelight Studios game before, you know that the characters they create for you and your co-op partner come with unique personalities, backgrounds, and motivations that produce unforgettable moments as their stories unfold. In A Way Out, you take control of Leo Caruso and Vincent Moretti, an unlikely duo who team up to escape from prison. Meanwhile in It Takes Two, you play as married couple May and Cody Goodwin, trying to save them from a seemingly inevitable divorce.




Hazelight Studios are keeping that trend up as they introduce two brand new player characters in Split Fiction. You will take control of two unpublished authors, Mio and Zoe, who you will quickly find are worlds apart! When you first meet Mio and Zoe, they have been lured into Rader Publishing Headquarters with the promise of a potential publishing deal which goes horribly wrong, trapping them inside a simulation of their stories which you have to help them escape. In this blog, we're going to dive deeper into their characters so that you can confidently pick your favourite when you get your hands on the game!

Mio Hudson - Science Fiction Author
Reserved. Decisive. Realist. Introvert.

Raised in the city with her father, Mio has barely scraped by for the last couple of years. She isn't looking for fame or recognition as an author, she's just in it for the money. Her love for all things sci-fi is reflected in her literary works, taking place in neon lit cyberpunk cities, harsh futuristic weapon plants and even in the coldness of outer space.

Expect to see her love for sci-fi shine through in the abilities she gains inside the simulations, where she may become a gravity defying ninja equipped with a lethally sharp energy sword, wear an advanced exosuit that grants remote control of drones, or dual-wield laser blasters in futuristic combat armour.



Zoe Foster - Fantasy Author
Charismatic. Empathetic. Optimist. Extrovert.

A cheerful country girl with a deep need to prove to her family that she's not a complete failure. Zoe hopes that a publishing deal will solve all of her problems. Fantasy is her favoured genre, with her portfolio containing works of fiction about escaping towns overrun by trolls, battling through forests against an impending ice age, and protecting the last dragons from extinction.

Given her love for the fantastical, you can look forward to seeing Zoe as a magical shapeshifter flying across the lands as a fairy, wield a mythical sword whilst riding a dragon into a battle of the ages, or soar between floating islands with a magical kite.




As our characters are clearly such polar opposite personalities, they will have to come to terms with their differences, uncover hidden secrets about themselves, and realise that in order to escape the simulations they find themselves trapped in, they will have to work together and overcome the odds through the power of friendship.

During the game announcement at The Game Awards in December, Josef Fares revealed that the characters' names mean a great deal to him, as Mio and Zoe are in fact named after his daughters!

Now for the tricky question for you and your co-op partner: who is going to play as Mio and who will play as Zoe…?



[h3]The Friends Pass[/h3]


Like A Way Out and It Takes Two, Hazelight Studios' staple feature, The Friend's Pass*, returns again, allowing one player that owns the game to invite a friend to play online for FREE! Hazelight also plans to introduce crossplay, making playing with friends even easier across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC (via Steam).



If all that has got you excited to learn more about Split Fiction, we recommend joining the Hazelight Discord to discuss all things Split Fiction! Make sure to follow Hazelight on both X and Instagram to see more aspects of the game showcased ahead of launch.

You can also check out our previous blog post where we introduced Split Fiction's Side Stories here.

Split Fiction is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on March 6th, 2025.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2001120/Split_Fiction/


*Friend's Pass requires installation of the Friend's Pass, persistent internet connection and applicable platform account. One user must own the full game in order for the co-op player to play the full game.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h3]The Story So Far[/h3]

You and your co-op partner play together as Mio & Zoe, two writers stuck in a simulation of their own stories while visiting the shady new Rader Publishing headquarters in pursuit of a lucrative publishing deal. An accident puts Mio and Zoe inside the same shared simulation, throwing them back and forth between their own sci-fi and fantasy fiction while the nefarious publishing company tries to steal all of their ideas.



[h3]What Are Side Stories?[/h3]

If you’ve played A Way Out or It Takes Two before, you’ll know that Hazelight Studios are masters of co-op gameplay variety. In addition to all of the incredible sci-fi and fantasy variety featured in the Split Fiction main story, you will encounter mysterious, out of place portals that you can enter to explore all new and vastly different worlds and locations that are completely optional.

These are Side Stories! Side Stories are anomalies that occur as a consequence of Mio and Zoe being stuck in the same simulation. These portals are attempts by the simulation to steal unfinished stories and ideas that Mio and Zoe wrote when they were younger, leading to some truly weird, wonderful, and chaotic situations.




Without wanting to spoil them all, you can look forward to experiencing Side Stories featuring a daring mountain climb filled with Giants, riding Sandfish across a desert and snowboarding while performing killer tricks down a mountain - under heavy fire. Other Side Stories will have you become pigs and finding out exactly how sausages are made, chasing enemies while water-skiing and exploring the depths of space on a spacewalk gone wrong – these are just a few examples of Mio and Zoe’s imagined Side Story scenarios, which they now have to live out (and escape from) all the while adding even more crazy and chaotic gameplay variety on your adventure through Split Fiction.




As these stories have been deeply influenced by our authors' pasts, they will experience long since forgotten ideas and secrets about themselves. Once a Side Story has been completed, our characters return back through the portal to the main level where they first entered the encounter, filled with even greater determination to escape from Rader’s machine with their memories and stories intact… so, going back to our original question, are you up to the challenge?

Fun Fact - Hazelight Studios host internal Game Jams in their studio alongside regular game development where they all work together to come up with all kinds of crazy new gameplay mechanics and unexpected story moments. Hazelight then takes the best ideas and creations and adds them into their games ready to give you never before seen co-op experiences and mind blowing moments. This is how Side Stories are brought to life for you to experience at launch!


[h3]The Friends Pass[/h3]

Like A Way Out and It Takes Two, Hazelight Studios’ staple feature, The Friend’s Pass*, returns again, allowing one player that owns the game to invite a friend to play online for FREE! Hazelight also plans to introduce crossplay, making playing with friends even easier across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC (via Steam).


If all that has got you excited to learn more about Split Fiction, we recommend joining the Hazelight Discord to discuss all things Split Fiction! Make sure to follow Hazelight on both X and Instagram social channels to see more aspects of the game showcased ahead of launch.


Split Fiction is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on March 6th, 2025.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2001120/Split_Fiction/

*Friend’s Pass requires installation of the Friend’s Pass, persistent internet connection and applicable platform account. One user must own the full game in order for the co-op player to play the full game."

It feels like two minutes since Josef Fares revealed Split Fiction live on stage to the world back in December 2024 at The Game Awards, and here we are, just under 2 months away from the game launching on March 6th.

Today we are excited to share our “Road to Launch” road map to give you an idea of what we have planned for you before you get your hands on the game.




We hope you will enjoy everything we have planned for you above, and we’ll have PC specific news coming as well before launch. Come March 6, we can’t wait to see the incredible things our community can do with the game - sharing your gameplay clips, cosplay attempts and amazing fan art!



Looking for a place to chat about Split Fiction? Join the Hazelight Discord and get involved with the community! Make sure to also follow Hazelight on both X and Instagram social channels to see more aspects of the game showcased ahead of launch



https://store.steampowered.com/app/2001120/Split_Fiction/