Reflecting on Innovation: Josef Fares on How Split Fiction Redefines Co-Op Adventure Games

Undoubtedly, crafting a game like Split Fiction demands an incredible amount of effort. The game has a unique rhythm, with fresh mechanics cropping up every 15 minutes or so. Remarkably, it manages to juggle all these innovations without letting any idea feel half-finished.

“In Split Fiction, there’s a section where you get to ride dragons. Just one of those dragons took around eight months to develop. Early in my career, many of my teammates would question why we were spending all this time on something that players would only interact with for about 10 minutes.”

But here’s the real kicker. Think about a movie where a spectacular scene costs a fortune—no one argues that it should be reused just because of the expense. Sometimes, those standout moments wouldn’t have the same impact if they were overused. There’s this common notion in video games that if something costs a lot to produce, it should be used repeatedly. But why do we do that? It waters down the thrill of experiencing it for the first time.”

Split Fiction embraces this concept to its fullest, offering vast segments filled with entirely optional content. While It Takes Two spiced things up with various mini-games, the optional sections in Split Fiction (accessible through portals you’ll stumble upon) take things to an entirely new level.

“In these areas, you’re talking about diving into fully fleshed-out worlds, complete with brand-new mechanics, bosses, and visuals. It’s almost like discovering a whole new game within the game.”