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Typically when I write a Bit by Bit I review a slightly older game, but recently I played a game that completely blew away my expectations and I HAVE to talk about it.
"Split Fiction" is a 2025 action-adventure game that was developed by Hazelight Studios and published by Electronic Arts. It was released on March 6 for Playstation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S.
My best friend, Ryan, and I have played nearly 16 hours of "Split Fiction" at the time of writing this, and we have reached 100 percent completion for achievement hunting.
First and foremost, the most important aspect of the game is that it utilizes a "Friend's Pass" system. This means that only one person needs to purchase the game. If I own the game, any of my friends can download the friend's pass completely for free and play with me.
This puts me in the mindset of older gaming days -- namely when I would play "Mario Kart" on the bus with my friends in elementary school on the way to field trips. Only one of us needed to own "Mario Kart" for us to play.
With a $50 price tag, having the opportunity to play the game without buying it yourself is a gamechanger.
One of the more impressive parts of this game is the fact that I can count on one hand the amount of buggy moments I've experienced in our 16 hours of gameplay. The game is very polished, both in terms of art and controls. The mechanics of the game were also surprisingly smooth considering how complicated some of the gameplay was.
I'm so used to big title games having bugs for the first couple of months after release that playing a game with very few technical issues was genuinely surprising to me. Even when some aspects of the gameplay were channeling to get a handle on, they were never exceedingly awkward either.
The idea of "fantasy meets science fiction" is such a fun concept, and the way the game makes the two worlds play off of one another (especially in the end sequence) is wonderful. It's a mesh of worlds that I never considered.
The references to older games and media in "Split Fiction" are suuuuper fun to find. I'm sure that there are many references I'm missing, but so far my top favorites that I've caught are: "Shadow of the Colossus," "Metroid," "Dark Souls" and "Akira."
Hazelight Studios made two other cooperative games -- "A Way Out" and "It Takes Two" -- which have recently gone on sale. (I bought them both.) Ryan and I started "It Takes Two" and are absolutely loving it. You can likely expect a review on this game in the future.
To sum up: this game is absolutely fantastic, the mechanics are smooth with minimal bugs, it is full of fun references to older games and the concept of only one person in a duo needing to purchase the game is life changing.
Though the year is still young, "Split Fiction" is MY choice for game of the year.
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Breanna Hanley is a reporter for The Express