In some ways, Cut up Fiction feels just like the fruits of every little thing Hazelight Studios has completed within the co-op area.
The journey started with Brothers: A Story of Two Sons, a captivating fantasy that required solo gamers to coordinate each thumbs to regulate two characters concurrently. The studio then progressed to A Method Out, a jailbreak caper that launched a number of intelligent mechanics for 2 gamers, together with the now-standard Good friend’s Move system (extra on that later). With It Takes Two, Hazelight pushed issues even additional, delivering an enormous journey with a well-written, emotionally resonant story and nice characters.
Now comes Cut up Fiction, a near-flawless twin odyssey that perfects the studio’s formulation and delivers an epic expertise of staggering selection. The sport’s many co-op trials would possibly put your strongest relationships to the check, however you’ll by no means cease having enjoyable.
The story is, fittingly, about tales. Mio and Zoe are two aspiring writers lured to the shady tech big Rader Publishing by the promise of a no-strings guide deal. Upon arrival, they’re suited up in Tron-like bodysuits and instructed to enter a set of unusual, floating bubbles. Mio hesitates and, after a quick wrestle, finally ends up inside Zoe’s bubble. They awaken contained in the bodily manifestation of their mixed creativeness. The 2 unlikely companions should survive their very own concepts, whereas making an attempt to cease Rader from stealing their IP.
The journey unfolds throughout two vastly totally different mindscapes, constructed from the primary characters’ chosen theme. Mio’s selection of fiction is cyberpunk-style sci-fi, whereas Zoe prefers cosy fantasy. These contrasting settings give Hazelight the proper excuse to drop companions into dramatically totally different environments that demand teamwork, inventive downside fixing, and synchronised playstyles.
At its coronary heart, Cut up Fiction thrives on this collision of two distinct genres, utilizing the stylistic conflict as a story engine to drive ingenious cooperative gameplay. The plot is constructed to maintain momentum; Mio and Zoe are continually plunged into tense, in-media-res situations that hold the motion shifting and the gamers engaged.
After a quick introduction at Rader Corp, our deuteragonists are thrown straight into chaos, first piloting a spaceship in a frantic battle, then fleeing from a horde of big ogres. Quickly after, they’re swinging throughout the rooftop of a futuristic nightclub and bouncing round as a pair of pigs in a (surprisingly darkish) fairytale situation. This all occurs within the opening chapter.
Every world is filled with elaborate set items, and the motion hardly ever lets up. Mio and Zoe leap from one high-energy situation to the subsequent, pausing solely often for charming, character-driven moments that deepen their bond. Slowly bringing these two contrasting archetypes collectively in the midst of all this motion is a storytelling masterstroke, one which pays off within the sport’s phenomenal last act.
So, what do you truly do in Cut up Fiction? What style is it? The reply, fairly merely, is all of them. It’s a puzzle sport, a shooter, a brawler, and a platformer, generally all throughout the similar stage. Throughout its prolonged foremost story, there’s slightly little bit of every little thing. This grab-bag format means that you’ve got a constant grasp on what you’ll have to do subsequent.
The one disadvantage is that, by its very nature, the sport would not linger on anybody exercise for lengthy. That’s unlucky, as a result of lots of its concepts are robust sufficient to assist a full sport on their very own.
Every chapter grants the aspiring writers a singular capacity, and a lot of the stage’s development is constructed round utilizing that energy in inventive methods. Usually, each gamers are required to carry out totally different duties concurrently, making robust communication and endurance important. These challenges by no means really feel overwhelming, and the sport’s beneficiant checkpoint system ensures that frustration is saved to a minimal.
There are nonetheless moments that can actually check the endurance of you and your accomplice. Sooner-paced sequences, like high-speed chases or boss fights, are sometimes hilarious workouts in trial and error.
What makes Cut up Fiction distinctive is the sheer number of challenges you face. There are a whole lot of mechanically distinct minigames unfold throughout this journey and each single one feels thoughtfully crafted. Alongside the linear foremost story, elective aspect quests provide wild creative swings and among the most tough actions within the sport.
An sudden bonus of this strong Change 2 port is that it is a good showcase of the console’s capabilities, except mouse management, which is sadly lacking.
Firstly, it appears to be like nice. This can be a attractive sport, with a vibrant artwork type and busy environments that usually transfer at breakneck speeds. Efficiency stays steady all through, with a locked 30fps that has solely the slightest of stumbles in handheld mode for among the greater set items. It will be good to have 60fps, nevertheless it runs extremely effectively with the decrease body fee.
The massive function right here is the Good friend’s Move system. Like earlier Hazelight titles, two separate consoles can share a single copy of the sport. This time, too, you should use Change 2 and Nintendo’s GameShare function to host a session that an authentic Change can be part of. This not solely presents unimaginable worth but in addition ensures that co-op companions who don’t personal the brand new console aren’t not noted. Because it’s operating from the host console and never an put in model of the sport, the efficiency on the OG Change could be a tad unpredictable, nevertheless it’s principally regular.
Alongside GameShare — and the choice to play native splitscreen and on-line — there’s additionally crossplay, so there’s a beneficiant variety of methods to play with others.
Cut up Fiction is a singular expertise, one that you will wish to leap proper again into after the credit roll. It is the crowning achievement of Hazelight, a studio whose each launch is changing into a notable occasion. It is also a good time on Change 2 and ranks among the many easiest of the launch lineup.
