“Did We Really Do That?”: Josef Fares on How Split Fiction Evolves the Co-Op Adventure Genre

Undoubtedly, tackling this is a monumental undertaking. Split Fiction seems to keep audiences on their toes, rolling out fresh mechanics every 15 minutes, then dropping the old ones. The challenge here is ensuring each concept feels well-fleshed out.

“In Split Fiction, there’s a part where you actually get to ride dragons. Creating just one of these dragons, if you can believe it, took about eight months. Early in my career, some team members often wondered, ‘Why are we pouring so much effort into something you only interact with for around 10 minutes?

But here’s the thing: think about movies. If a scene is spectacular and costs a fortune to shoot, you wouldn’t keep replaying that moment just because of the expense. I believe that sometimes, if we overused those extraordinary moments, they would lose their magic. There’s this notion in gaming that if something is costly, it’s bound to be reused. But why is that? Reusing takes away the thrill of the initial experience.”

Split Fiction fully embraces this mindset by peppering the game with vast expanses of optional content. Unlike the lighter mini-games found in It Takes Two, the sections here—which you access through portals—push the boundaries even further.

“In these segments, you’re getting entire worlds, complete with new mechanics, sometimes even bosses, and uniquely crafted environments. It’s essentially like a brand-new game nestled within the main game.”