Alright, let’s talk about Split Fiction. This game? Absolute genius. Whether you’re firing it up on PS5, PS5 Pro, PC, or Xbox Series X/S, you’re in for a treat. The co-op gameplay is downright inventive, the visuals pop, and it runs like a dream across the board. I’ve been gaming for years, and this one’s easily climbed into my top co-op picks lately. No shock there, though—it’s from Hazelight Studios, the crew behind It Takes Two, A Way Out, and way back with Starbreeze, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. But the real question is: where’s it shine brightest? And could this actually be a glitch-free Unreal Engine 5 gem?
First off, let’s give props where they’re due. Split Fiction has this chill, generous vibe that I adore. You can team up with a buddy on the same couch, sure, but it also lets you link up online across different platforms. And get this—there’s a pass system so your pal can jump in even if they don’t own it. How slick is that? It’s the kind of feature that makes you wonder why every co-op game doesn’t do it.
Now, onto the techy stuff—but don’t worry, I won’t bore you with jargon. This game’s one of the smoothest console releases I’ve seen in ages, which is wild because it’s built on Unreal Engine 5. Normally, UE5 titles come with some baggage—think blurry visuals or those annoying stutters when you’re sprinting through a level. Not here. Hazelight sidestepped the flashy UE5 tricks like Lumen lighting or Nanite geometry and went old-school instead. The characters? They look sharp and move naturally. The lighting’s pre-baked, and the environments are tight and focused. It’s not groundbreaking visually, but it’s clean—no pop-in, no hiccups, just pure polish.
And that polish pays off in the visuals. On PS5 Pro, you’re getting a crisp native 4K with temporal anti-aliasing—gorgeous. PS5 and Series X hold strong at 1800p, while Series S sticks to 1080p. All of ‘em? Locked at 60fps. I mean, I couldn’t find a single frame drop on consoles, and I was looking. Even Series S keeps all the visual bells and whistles, which isn’t always a given these days with games leaning hard into ray tracing.
PC’s no slouch either. I tested it on a beast—12900K CPU, RTX 5090 GPU—and it was buttery smooth. Max settings, 4K, 150% resolution scaling, and it stayed locked at 120fps, no frame generation needed. Split-screen games don’t always play nice with that tech anyway, right? There’s a quick shader precompile when you first boot it up, and after that, it’s mostly flawless—just a couple tiny stutters during the opening cutscenes. Oh, and the co-op options? You can mix it up with mouse and keyboard for one player and a controller for the other. My buddy and I tried it that way—total blast.
Here’s the deal: Split Fiction doesn’t give you anything to nitpick on the tech side. It looks great, runs like it’s on rails, and plays even better. The game’s packed with wild moments—sci-fi vibes one minute, fantasy the next, each with its own distinct look that keeps your eyes hooked. I’ve had some late-night sessions where we just couldn’t put it down, laughing through the chaos of its clever setpieces.
So yeah, if you’re hunting for a co-op game that nails it on every level, this is it. Trust me, you won’t regret diving into Split Fiction.
