Split Fiction and the best co-op games to play with a partner in 2025

The National

17-03-2025

These days, multiplayer gaming means connecting to the internet and playing with friends and strangers worldwide. However, that hasn't always been the case. Multiplayer gaming once meant being squeezed on a couch at your best friend's house, each with a controller in hand, likely for an unreasonable amount of time. The two types of multiplayer gaming have different names, with the "in real life" style being called co-op gaming, while the newer iteration is dubbed online multiplayer gaming. As more games have relied on online gaming, co-op gaming has been picked up once again by indie studios to create a fun, fulfilling experience. Last week, a new co-op game was released that has been scoring high with gamers and reviewers, with many saying it could be the best game of the year. Here, we look at that game and other co-op games worth picking up in 2025 to play with friends and loved ones. With its release, Swedish game design studio Hazelight has become the expert on co-op games. Under the guidance of Lebanese-Swedish director Josef Fares, the studio has produced some of the best experiences in the genre. Their latest game, Split Fiction, is about two writers – one penning a sci-fi and the second writing a fantasy – who both get sucked into virtually constructed versions of the stories they wrote. In Split Fiction, players take control of one of the two characters and attempt to survive as they are flung from one story to another. Each segment of the game is a homage to something from gaming, film or literature, which presents a wonderfully complete experience when brought together. Many who played the game have praised it, including pop star Abel Tesfaye (formerly known as The Weeknd) who posted on X: 'Split Fiction might be game of the year so far". The first of Hazelight's successes with co-op gaming was A Way Out, a game in which two inmates must work together to escape their prison sentence. The game requires a level of coordination and understanding between the players in order to traverse levels. The game also features several minigames such as Connect Four, darts, horseshoes, spearfishing, wheelchair wheelies and exercises such as chin-ups, dips, push-ups, sit-ups and bench presses. While Hazelight and Fares would perfect the formula with their later games, It Takes Two and Split Fiction, A Way Out shows all the many ways they experimented in making the experience as fun as it could be. Hazelight's second success in the genre was the winner of Game of the Year at the 2021 Game Awards. It Takes Two also won Best Family Game and Best Multiplayer Game at the same ceremony, showing just how well received it was. In the game, two people going through a divorce are transformed into two small beings that must navigate their barn and all the inanimate objects that have suddenly sprung to life, creating obstacles for them to overcome. It Takes Two was praised for its fantastic and fresh approach to co-op gaming, but more importantly, for its honest way of presenting the difficulties of communication in a relationship. The couple in the game love one another but have experienced issues that made them grow apart. During the game, they speak openly about why they grew apart, allowing insight into what it takes to keep a loving relationship healthy. Running a kitchen between two people is already an arduous task – who cooks, who cleans, who delivers the food to the counter? In Overcooked 2, these responsibilities must be shared and divided smartly. But it doesn't end there. The game doesn't just up the ante with more orders or more complex recipes, it also creates havoc with moving platforms, earthquakes and meteor showers. It can get messy, in more ways than one. Relationships are tested and stretched when playing Overcooked 2. All you need to imagine is the heated temperament of chef Gordon Ramsey, multiply that by two, and you'll get an idea of the experience playing this game. It's also extremely fun. Less stressful than running a kitchen is the process of moving out of a house ... right? In Moving Out 2, two players run a furniture moving company. Jobs are allotted not only in the local town but also across space and time. The concept might sound dreary; what's fun about moving furniture from inside the house to a truck? Well, the furniture could become unruly. The floors could start moving. A large item might need to be catapulted through the window. There are arguments to be had still, and methods of extracting an item will be ridiculed if not outright refused, but there will be a massive sense of accomplishment once all the furniture is moved out successfully.