Love - gamebastion.com

by Hazelight Studios looks exactly like the kind of game my husband and I would love. We are a gamer couple always in search of more games to replenish our ever-dwindling supply of couch co-op games. If it exists on the PS5 and it has couch co-op—true couch co-op, not «girlfriend» or drop-in co-op—we've probably played it.

So when was announced during The Game Awards, we should have been ecstatic. Like the two previous games by the studio, the upcoming title from Hazelight is specifically made to be played by two people. It's a cooperative experience, made all the better by literally sitting near each other on a couch and discussing how to bypass certain puzzles or where to go next. The trouble is, we've played and while it was a good game on a mechanical level, the writing nearly stopped us from finishing the game.

From a purely gameplay aspect, was a fantastic game. Each level introduced a new mechanic that added a layer of puzzling and platforming that required my husband and I to work together to progress. The levels were creative and fun and often had us laughing out loud when we failed to coordinate a particularly tricky maneuver or high-fiving when we finally nailed it.

At first, we felt the game was too linear, but each level got larger and more expansive, and after just a few stages they became large enough to explore with plenty of fun little Easter eggs to discover. In other words, was a solid game and a fun experience for cooperative play.

Hazelight's Split Fiction is a brand-new cooperative game that builds upon It Takes Two and takes things so much further.

But, and you knew the «but» was coming, the writing in the dialogue nearly caused me and my husband to abandon the game. The title is meant toexplore what it means to be a married couple struggling to keep their relationship together, and what it means for their young daughter. This entire premise is completely undercut by how childish the protagonists are.

The vast difference between the stellar