Split Fiction Is Crammed WIth Video Game References, Including A Bonfire That'll Be Familiar To Dark Souls Fans

Summary

Split Fictionis absolutely stuffed with references to other video games, includingAssassin’s Creed,Dark Souls,A Way Out,Sonic, and evenSSX. It’d be easier to list the games itdoesn’treference.

Despite how many ideas and gameplay mechanics It Takes Two threw at players every couple of minutes, it surprisingly didn’t feature that many easter eggs referencing games. There were a few of course, such as theStreet Fighter-esque battle against a squirrel on the roof of a plane, but it was surprisingly reserved when it came to easter eggs.

The same cannot be said of Hazelight Studios' new game, Split Fiction.Despite the plot focusing on stories told within science fiction and fantasy worlds, Split Fiction throws subtlety out of the window and shows its deep love for video games by referencing them at pretty much every turn.

Split Fiction Sure Loves A Video Game Reference

The list of references within Split Fiction is very long, but I’ll pick out a few highlights that should get my point across. One of the best in the game takes place in one of Final Dawn’s Side Stories called the Moon Market. If you go off the beaten path in the level, you’ll find one of the bonfires from Dark Souls, which even pops up a “Moonfire Lit” message when you rest at it.

Moving onto something a bit less hardcore,the opening prologue of Split Fiction is hiding a very obvious Assassin’s Creed reference. When you get to the top of a tower, Mio and Zoe can jump off of it and into a bale of hay that’s waiting at the bottom. As you do so, a chicken noise will mimic Assassin’s Creed’s eagle and Zoe will reference it being a “leap of faith”.

We’ve already talked about Cutie’s unfortunate return from It Takes Two, but you can also hear director Josef Fares “f**k the Oscars” speech on a radio in the game’s first chapter.

We’re only scraping the surface of every wink to games that Split Fiction is hiding, but one of my favourites can be found in the Space Walk side story. As Zoe and Mio suit up into their space suits, the machine they step into is incredibly reminiscent ofDead Space, a game that at least Hazelight is interested in even if EA has left it behind.

There are so many other easter eggs waiting to be found in Split Fiction,including an SSX-style snowboarding sequencethat Mio even admits is based on a video game she played growing up anda cardboard box that Solid Snake would find very comfortable. Keep your eyes open when playing, and you’re sure to find a callback to something you know.