A super-secret and very hard level hidden in Split Fiction, so difficult that only a few of the game’s devs could overcome it, has been completed by a pair of speedrunners. Their reward? A free trip to Sweden to get a sneak peek at Hazelight’s next game.
Revealed just 14 weeks ago at the Game Awards in December, Split Fiction launched on March 6 to rave reviews and is one of EA’s biggest successes in years. Kotaku’s own Kenneth Shepard called the co-op action platformer incredibly inventive and said it was a “victory lap” from studio Hazelight which has been producing excellent co-op games for nearly a decade. Now, two players who completed an extremely tricky challenge in Split Fiction will get an early look at Hazelight’s next highly anticipated game.
Earlier this week, players discovered a super-secret challenge area in one of Split Fiction’s later levels. Previously, Fares had hinted that something very challenging and secret was in the game. To access this hidden area, players need to input a binary sequence using two large buttons inside an elevator. Once you’ve done that, you’re taken to an area made up of five challenging platform sections filled with deadly red lasers. This area has become known as “Laser Hell” and is extremely hard to complete as you have to finish all five sections without either player dying.
As spotted by Gamesradar, on March 17 two speedrunners from China— “sharkOvO” and “E1uM4y”—recorded themselves beating Laser Hell. This is believed to be the first successful completion of the secret area. (Others have since pulled it off as well.) Once you complete Laser Hell, you’re rewarded with a short video of Split Fiction director Josef Fares (that guy who yelled “Fuck the Oscars!” at the Game Awards in 2017) congratulating you and your co-op partner for beating the harrowing laser-filled gauntlet.
“Wow, amazing!,” says Fares in the in-game video. “You have to understand—this challenge—there are barely people on our team that can make it. Took us a lot of time to finish it. And I’m telling you, this is a crazy, crazy achievement that you have done.”
Fares then dunks on people like us watching the Easter egg video on YouTube before offering the first people to complete this level a very cool prize.
“I’m going to tell you one thing: If you see me in real life, somewhere, and you can prove to me that you actually did this challenge, I can promise you the first one that does that, I’m going to fly you to Sweden and show you early footage of our next game,” Fares promises with a smile. “I promise you that. And then show you some other surprises as well.”
And on March 19, Fares tweeted that “sharkOvO” and “E1uM4y” had seemingly proved to the director that they pulled it off and had earned a flight to Sweden.
“Congrats to ‘sharkOvO’ and ‘E1uM4y’ for finishing the secret challenge ‘Laser Hell’ in Split Fiction,” tweeted Fares. “VERY impressive! I will keep my promise and invite you both to Sweden for an early look of our next game. We´ll be in touch!”
I doubt they’ll be able to say anything about what they see, but hopefully the duo have a good time checking out Hazelight’s next project.
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