As it jumps between its fantasy and sci-fi worlds, Split Fiction crams in fond tributes to beloved video games. Most of these are legally distinct homages, but developer Hazelight also includes overt references to a couple of the studio’s previous co-op adventures, A Way Out and It Takes Two. The A Way Out easter egg is a brief cameo appearance by its two protagonists, the pair bickering before taking a nice tumble down a chasm. The It Takes Two reference, however, is more subtle and maybe even a little bit sinister.
In one of Split Fiction’s science fiction levels, Cutie—an elephant plush from It Takes Two—is seen standing on top of a pet store. Presumably, in this story, the crown-wearing elephant is supposed to be the mascot for the store, but given she doesn’t speak (as the characters of A Way Out characters do) it’s hard to know for sure. The only way the players can interact with Cutie is if one of the game’s two heroes, Zoe, uses her gravity whip to pull pieces from her body, yoinking off say her leg or ear, and throwing them around.
If you’ve never played It Takes Two, this probably seems like a pretty innocuous scene. You can pick up and throw plenty of things in this portion of the game, so why would an elephant mascot be any different? However, if you’re a fan of It Takes Two, you know this is a reference to one of the most surprisingly horrific moments in a mostly family-friendly game.
In It Takes Two, an estranged married couple’s daughter casts a magic spell, transforming her mother and father into toys. The pair, the game’s two protagonists, are convinced that if they can make their daughter cry the spell will be broken. To do this, they make the decision to destroy one of her favorite toys, an elephant queen named Cutie. The game revels in how uncomfortable this scene is to play. Cutie’s adorable voice gives her an air of innocence: she’s nothing but sweet to her killers before she realizes what they’re planning to do, and then her pleas for her life are painful to listen to. She’s torn apart in the scrap, including losing the ear and leg you can yank off in Split Fiction, and it all ends with you cruelly dropping her off the side of a bookshelf.
The scene is infamous for its drastic tone shift, shockingly requiring you to straight-up torture this child’s toy, listening to it beg for its life throughout. So you can imagine how seeing Cutie again in Split Fiction might be retraumatizing to longtime players of Hazelight’s co-op games.
Thanks, Hazelight for the collective trauma, I guess? At least the rest of Split Fiction is great to make up for it. For more on that, check out Kotaku’s review.