Split Fiction Pro Tips: 15 Tricks That Actually Make You Better

Not "Tips" , Things That Actually Work

Every gaming guide has "tips." Most of them are recycled from the tutorial. "Learn the controls." "Communicate with your partner." Thanks. Very helpful.

These are 15 things I learned from three playthroughs, two different co-op partners, and way too many deaths to Fabricator Prime. Some are mechanical exploits. Some are communication frameworks. A couple are borderline cheating and I don't care.

1. Hold Both Pause Buttons to Skip Death Screens

Already mentioned in the hidden mechanics guide, but it belongs here too. Options + touchpad on PS5, Menu + View on Xbox. Hold for three seconds. Saves about ten seconds per death. Do the math on a dozen Fabricator Prime wipes.

2. Call Targets With Clock Faces

Directional callouts in Split Fiction are a mess because both players have different camera angles. "Left" means nothing when you're facing opposite directions. I switched to clock-face callouts , "the real copy is at your 2 o'clock" , and communication errors dropped to near zero. It's unambiguous and works regardless of camera orientation.

3. The Crouch-Slide Is Faster Than Sprinting

Downhill slopes are everywhere in Chapter 2 and Chapter 6. Crouch while moving downhill and you slide. The momentum carries into jumps. You can cross the Chapter 2 floating islands about 30% faster using slides than running. It's not game-breaking but it makes backtracking for collectibles less tedious.

4. Jump Cancel Out of Bad Landings

If you're about to land on a disappearing platform or a crusher zone, you can air-dodge mid-jump to adjust your trajectory. The window is tight , about a quarter second , but it's there. Practice in Chapter 1 where there's no punishment for failure.

5. Assign a "Primary Caller" Per Chapter

One person is the designated shot-caller for each chapter. They handle all timing callouts, safe spot notifications, and target marking. The other person focuses purely on execution. Swap the caller role between chapters so both players practice both skills. This prevents the "too many voices" problem that kills Chapter 5 runs.

6. Use the Death Tips

The death screen tip is context-specific. It tells you exactly what killed you and how to avoid it. Read it before skipping. Fabricator Prime's death tips taught me the crusher pattern before I figured it out myself.

7. Pre-Position Before Triggering Anything

The most common cause of deaths in co-op puzzles: one player triggers a switch before the other is in position. Develop a simple protocol , the trigger player says "ready?" and waits for a "go" before activating anything. Feels clunky at first. Becomes automatic after two chapters. Saves you from the "I wasn't ready" deaths.

8. Disable Motion Blur Before You Start

Settings > Video > Motion Blur > Off. You're welcome. Split Fiction has fast camera movement during chase sequences and motion blur turns those sections into a smeary mess. The game looks better without it anyway.

9. The Lantern Trick in Chapter 6

The lantern holder should walk in circles around the arena's edge during the Shadow Weeper fight. This keeps the boss visible to the attacker in the center and spreads aggro. If you stand still, the boss tunnels you. If you move randomly, the attacker can't track the boss. Circle pattern at the edge. It sounds dumb but it works perfectly.

10. Bait the Laser Before Attacking the Core

Chapter 1's Corrupted Overseer has a predictable laser sweep pattern. If the bait player stands near the boss before the laser fires, the laser always sweeps toward them first. The shooter can use this to get free shots on the core while the boss is locked in the sweep animation. Works for every laser-type attack in the game, not just this boss.

11. Quit to Menu for Free Puzzle Resets

Stuck on a puzzle? Dying doesn't always reset it cleanly. Quit to main menu, reload the chapter, and you restart the current section with all collectible progress saved. Faster than waiting for a death, and cleaner than trying to un-break a puzzle state.

12. Listen Before You Look

Chapter 3's security room section and Chapter 6's Shadow Weeper fight both have audio cues that are more reliable than visual information. Guard footsteps, boss teleport whistles, electrical panel charging sounds , the audio design in Split Fiction is excellent and underutilized by most players. Wear headphones. Close your eyes during audio-heavy sections. You'll catch things you'd miss while scanning visually.

13. The Chapter 5 Role Test

Before entering the Fabricator Prime fight, have both players demonstrate they can track copies and dodge crushers independently. Do a dry run through the preceding hallway , each player takes turns calling out copies while dodging the pre-boss crusher corridor. If either player can't do both, you're not ready. Go practice in the corridor until both can. It'll save you multiple wipes.

14. Chapter 8 Needs Swappers

If you've been running Specialist roles all game (one support, one action), Chapter 8 will expose that. The Darkness + Copy phase requires both players to track copies and manage light simultaneously. If only one person knows how to track copies from Chapter 5, you'll be stuck here for hours. Swap roles regularly starting from Chapter 3 so both players are comfortable with everything by Chapter 8.

15. Take Breaks. Seriously.

Maybe this is the most important tip in the guide and the one nobody follows. After three wipes on any boss, stand up. Walk away for five minutes. Talk about something that isn't the game. Coming back with a reset mental state beats grinding attempts while frustrated. I cleared Fabricator Prime on the attempt right after a coffee break. Three wipes. Break. Clear. Every time.

Bonus Tips: Stuff I Should Have Included Above

16. The gyro aim on PS5 and Switch 2 is actually good. Most people turn off motion controls immediately. Fair. But the gyro aiming for Chapter 4's ballista and Chapter 3's hacking tool is more precise than stick aiming once you adjust. Give it five minutes before disabling it.

17. You can remap controls per chapter. The default control scheme is fine for most of the game, but Chapter 7's zero-G sections benefit from remapping the "rotate" function to the shoulder buttons instead of the right stick. It frees up your thumb for jump and dodge while you're orienting in 3D space. Switch it back after the chapter.

18. Chapter 6's lantern has adjustable brightness. Nobody knows this. Press up and down on the d-pad while holding the lantern to adjust the light radius. Wider radius makes it easier for the attacker to see the boss but drains lantern energy faster. Narrower radius conserves energy but limits visibility. For the Shadow Weeper, I use wide radius during exploration and narrow during the fight , the boss is always close to the attacker anyway.

19. The game tracks your death count per chapter. It's in the Chapter Select screen, tucked into the corner. It doesn't affect anything , no achievements tied to death count, no content locked behind low deaths. But it's satisfying to see your Chapter 5 death count drop from double digits on the first playthrough to single digits on the second.

20. You can pet the creatures. In Chapter 2 and Chapter 6, the fantasy creatures are interactable. Walk up to them and press the interact button. But both characters can pet them simultaneously. It does nothing. It's the best feature in the game.

I'm sure there's more I forgot to mention. You play long enough and things start blending together, you know?