From a conceptual standpoint, Cut up Fiction is an absolute house run. A co-op sport that modifications genres and types primarily based on the protagonist’s personal tales – tales that presumably delve into mentioned character’s psyche? Sure, please. And coming from the developer that received many Recreation of the 12 months awards in 2021 with It Takes Two, it’s subsequent to inconceivable to name Cut up Fiction a dropping proposition. Effectively, after ending it with my co-op associate, we will say it’s actually not dangerous or something, nevertheless it’s not fairly the GOTY-contender we had been hoping it to be.
The plot of Cut up Fiction begins when our two unpublished authors, Mio and Zoe, head to Raider Publishing in hopes of lastly getting their tales acknowledged. Issues don’t go as deliberate, as Mr. Raider, the CEO and titular villain of the sport, lures them right into a simulation of the duo’s quite a few tales. For those who’ve seen any isekai plot, this one received’t blow your socks off. My co-op associate and I managed to guess the whole plot in addition to the character’s motivations and developments from a mile away. However I can ignore a predictable plot if the narrative ingredient of the sport , one thing that Hazelight is understood for, nails it.
The studio’s earlier video games featured attention-grabbing relationship hooks that few different video games explored throughout the co-op house. A Method Out adopted the journey of two prisoners as they carry out a jailbreak, and It Takes Two famously portrayed a married couple contemplating divorce as they get transported into storybook dolls. Each intriguing setups that handle to hook and compel us, a minimum of initially. In the meantime, Cut up Fiction provides us a state of affairs that has been performed out time and time once more: two younger rivals compelled to work collectively regardless of being polar opposites. There’s nothing improper with a extra formulaic premise, however Cut up Fiction does little to heat the participant as much as these characters and the acquainted scenario they discover themselves in.
“My co-op associate and I managed to guess the whole plot in addition to the character’s motivations and developments from a mile away.”
So, a minimum of the characters and villains are stuffed with character and allure, proper? Effectively, that’s what I hoped, however the sport falls flat in that side too. Raider is such a one-dimensional villain, and an incompetent one at that. The sport would’ve been higher off with no villain in any respect, merely throwing the 2 protagonists into the weird scenario like It Takes Two did. Mio and Zoe aren’t precisely all that attention-grabbing both, however a minimum of they undergo arcs and develop all through the sport a bit, even whether it is as predictable because the plot.
The duo discover themselves trapped collectively of their distinct tales with an preliminary distaste for each other’s firm. Mio is extra reserved and introverted, whereas the extroverted Zoe can’t assist however pry some private data whereas divulging her personal tastes in literature. The right match, proper? As you play the sport, you’ll be barraged with a relentless stream of chatter from the pair. The duo’s banter is stuffed with drained cliches, Marvel-esque quips, and your normal exaggerated reactions (and many screaming) to each little factor taking place within the sport. For those who don’t look after these characters, the sport will put on on you exponentially, as their presence inescapably envelopes the whole expertise.
In fact, the upside of the duo’s distinct personalities and distinct tastes in tales is we get some neat selection in gameplay. Cut up Fiction, because the title implies, is structured via chapters primarily based on Mio’s sci-fi worlds and Zoe’s wild fantasy escapades. Fortunately, on this entrance I used to be impressed. The sport makes good on this basis with oodles of distinct mechanics, views, themes, and gameplay gimmicks. Not like the story and characters, you’ll not often anticipate the place or what you’ll be doing subsequent.
Mio’s sci-fi setting lends itself nicely to bullet hell shoot-em-up sequences, stealth infiltrations, and a few enjoyable third individual shooter action-platforming. I discovered the controls for Mio’s ranges to be a tad extra intuitive and snappier than Zoe’s fantasy sequences. One fantasy chapter has the pair elevating some child dragons in an effort to protect them from the devastating dragon eater (itself a large stone dragon). Lugging round dragon eggs via puzzle-laden swamps and ruined fortresses is enjoyable and all, however the dragon flight doesn’t management in addition to different facets of the sport as a result of its floaty and imprecise nature.
We bumped into some small glitches and snags via Mio and Zoe’s numerous worlds too. Objects often clip via characters and getting caught on terrain isn’t that uncommon. The most important gripe we had had been the quite a few invisible partitions. The sport emphasizes platforming and curiosity, so it feels incongruent simply how a lot punishment there’s for leaping to that far-off platform or seeing what’s off to the space. It’s not game-breaking or something, however nonetheless price mentioning. As a complete, the gameplay of Cut up Fiction feels responsive and intuitive and the platforming and capturing is about what you’d anticipate from the respective genres the sport always shifts between.
“Cut up Fiction, because the title implies, is structured via chapters primarily based on Mio’s sci-fi worlds and Zoe’s wild fantasy escapades.”
Some gameplay sequences, although, went above and past the norm. One chapter places the duo in charge of some rolling energy balls harking back to Samus’ morph ball in Metroid Prime. Tunnelling via tight intricate floorboards and snapping from wall to wall is an absolute blast. I received’t spoil it, however my ball remodeled into one thing that assisted my associate via some actually cool environmental puzzles, forming what I’d contemplate the height of Hazelight’s inventive and enjoyable opus via the years.
After which there’s the seamless perspective shifts from top-down, side-scrolling, to the aforementioned ball tunnelling seen in video games like Metroid Prime and the like. There’s a degree of Nintendo-esque high quality to some puzzles, which deeply impressed me regardless of my misgivings with the characters and plot. Navigating via the mazelike labyrinths in ball-form using every character’s distinctive talents to help the opposite ahead was addictive. In actual fact, the massive assortment of various playstyles and mechanics parody or outright rip-off different well-liked video games. You’re sure to see dozens of references to different sport franchises right here, typically prompting one to say “Ah! That is like that dungeon in such and such Zelda sport!”
In addition to the number of puzzle-platforming sequences, there’s additionally some important boss fights awaiting the duo on the finish of ranges and chapters. These fights require teamwork and quick reflexes (image a boss from the Ratchet and Clank collection). The pacing of those battles kind of echoes the remainder of the sport with its regular rapidity of fixed movement. There’s little or no downtime in Cut up Fiction, and on these uncommon events when there’s, the sport helps you to discover a tiny bit with little interactable props within the setting. Strolling as much as some chalk on the bottom as Zoe performs hopscotch is usually a enjoyable little diversion, however these moments sometimes don’t reward or progress your character in any method (though, chances are you’ll get some obscure trophies). Cut up Fiction is above all, a linear co-op expertise. So linear, in truth, that there’s nary a collectable, no rating tallies to maintain monitor of, or ability/levelling development in any way.
It’s considerably of a reduction to have a sport in 2025 not succumb to the RPG-ification of every thing like different titles, however there’s additionally no denying that with nothing to gather or customise, most gamers could view Cut up Fiction as a one-and-done sport. One strategy to squeeze that additional quantity of replayability is by enjoying as the opposite character. Mio and Zoe have distinct expertise and playstyles via their various tales, so two playthroughs can really feel remarkably completely different. And what’s extra, enjoying with a unique pal doesn’t require two copies of the sport. Like Hazelight’s earlier video games, Good friend’s Cross provides entry to your on-line mates to allow them to expertise the complete sport with you.
“Yhe gameplay of Cut up Fiction feels responsive and intuitive. The platforming and capturing is about what you’d anticipate from the respective genres the sport always shifts between.”
Cut up Fiction comprises a minimum of some missable content material within the type of Facet Tales. These pocket worlds comprise a number of the most inventive concepts in the whole sport. Three to 4 Facet Tales permeate every chapter, offering incentive to return and revisit prior checkpoints, of which the sport has many, and all accessible from the menu. These aspect tales are stuffed with quirky moments that can put a smile on my face in a method the characters of the sport didn’t. The place the primary plot typically takes itself too critical with dramatic pauses and cliched melodrama between the duo, the Facet Tales exhibit true allure and outlandish situations price going out of your method for.
Regardless of the wonderful gameplay, my most important gripe all through the expertise is one which simply can’t be ignored. Mio and Zoe spout gallons of cliched quips and uninspired anecdotes, and their very own tales’ plots aren’t something attention-grabbing. It’s arduous to take these characters significantly when each single story they give you immediately displays a key second of their life or a tragic scenario they needed to take care of. At one level, Mio remarks that fiction is supposed to function an escape from actuality. A sentiment I’d take extra significantly if each single side of her (and Zoe’s) fiction wasn’t a direct allegory to a secular reminiscence or an occasion they skilled in their very own previous. I do know why this type of framing was finished – to determine Mio and Zoe’s backstory and create rapport between them – nevertheless it doesn’t make it any much less formulaic, uninspired, and maybe most unlucky of all, cringe.
The presentation of those character and story moments don’t improve issues both. The musical rating is extra ambient than thematic, however I can’t bear in mind any of it. As we had been enjoying, we’d persistently ask the place the music was and whether or not we simply had the sound too low to listen to it. Likewise, the voice appearing didn’t notably impress. Mio and Zoe’s traces are delivered competently sufficient by the actors, nevertheless it’s all so generic and rote with out the flexibility to raise the characters past how their written.
“If you may get previous the bonding between Mio and Zoe and the incongruous isekai plot, you’re in for a good time.”
The writing on the whole feels amateurish at occasions. Take the generic isekai plot and Raider Publishing’s function inside it. The CEO is an incompetent buffoon, an evil grasping man with no motivation past “metal thought, make cash”. But, the very tales he desires to steal are threadbare and half-finished. Mio and Zoe will not be good writers, not as a result of they haven’t been printed up up to now, however as a result of the tales you go to inside their simulations whittle all the way down to easy elementary image ebook situations. Why the massive dangerous genius CEO dangers his firm and livelihood on a few unpublished works is past me.
If you may get previous the bonding between Mio and Zoe and the incongruous isekai plot, you’re in for a good time. The breakneck pacing of the sport’s always shifting genres and gimmicks actually make for prime co-op gaming. The puzzles are normally inventive, whereas the motion typically controls nicely, and the fixed reliance on the opposite participant’s enter actually drives house what the essence of cooperative play is all about. Cut up Fiction doesn’t rise to the heights of It Takes Two, nevertheless it’s a strong co-op journey with enjoyable, extremely various gameplay.
This sport was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.
