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It’s time for our annual countdown to award the very best games this year had to offer. Over the next ten days, we’ll count down our top ten games of 2025.
As always, the votes of each Press Start team member, weighted from #10 through to #1, were collated to compile our collective very best for the year that was. Games worthy of one’s top spot would be awarded a maximum of 10 points, and the values would descend to their tenth selection, which would receive a single point.
After A Way Out and It Takes Two, I did wonder if there’d be a sense of diminishing returns from Josef Fares and Hazelight as they looked to put out their third consecutive title focused solely on co-operative play. Split Fiction felt like the very best we’d seen from the studio in any of their three efforts.
As someone who didn’t adore the story in It Takes Two, I felt the story told here was a marked, albeit imperfect, improvement over it, while the slick action set-pieces that bring the concentrated efforts of two players together in some of the most bonkers moments I’ve ever played. The game’s final act is such a spectacular display of what this team is capable of; it’s hard to imagine where they’d be able to go from here.
Although the game feels like a bit of a victim of recency bias when it comes to the Game of the Year conversation, there’s no denying that Split Fiction was a spectacular entree to what has been a year full of tremendous video gaming experiences.
In fact, Split Fiction was so resonant that there’s a film adaptation on the horizon, set to be directed by the Wicked director. Split Fiction, SF. Flip it around? F***in’ spectacular.
Shannon Says
“It’s hard to believe Split Fiction was this year, but once again, playing with my best pal Brodie, really cemented this as an experience that I’ll never forget.
Whilst maybe a little less exciting due to this formula feeling familiar, it’s hard to deny that it’s an extremely fun experience that simply doesn’t exist anywhere else, and it really pushed the boundaries of what’s possible, and I’d challenge you to find a better weekend than this for the price of admission.”
In our review, Brodie scored Split Fiction a 9.5 out of 10, stating:
“Split Fiction is a masterclass of game design, and is yet another instant classic from a team who have, across a span of three games, rewritten the handbook on how to develop fun and insanely inventive stories that’ll be remembered for one thing, among others: spotlighting the power of friendship.”
Our Split Fiction Review Discussion & Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Preview — The Press Start Podcast
On the review aggregator Metacritic, Split Fiction is resting at an average of 91.
Congratulations to Electronic Arts and Hazelight for earning third place in our top ten for 2025.
Game of the Year 2025
#3 – Split Fiction
