Josef Fares is bragging about how good his next game is going to be (again): ‘A lot of people say I’m cocky, but it’s impossible to not be cocky when you have a game like this’
It’s been four years since It Takes Two, the phenomenally good dedicated co-op adventure that was Hazelight’s last outing. That game has sold an astonishing 20 million copies and is by far the biggest success that EA’s Originals label has seen: So no surprise the publisher has signed up the studio’s next joint, and the creative lead and founder Josef Fares is now teasing an imminent reveal for all he’s worth, and actually dropping a few details.
Fares might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I love his outlandish pronouncements and the sheer enthusiasm that shines through how he talks about Hazelight’s work. Before It Takes Two came out, he bullishly promised $1000 to anyone who got bored with it, and if you’ve played the game you’ll understand what he meant.
Before the studio’s next game is revealed, which is happening at The Game Awards 2024 on Thursday, Hazelight has shared a new video that features Fares hopping around the studio, showing off all the lovely trophies they’ve won, and talking to various staff (thanks, GamesRadar+).
Fares chats to someone working on “a big boss in the game” that he says players will “go nuts” over, then sails on a cloud of happiness into Hazelight’s mocap room, where he reveals that the main characters in the next game are based on his daughters Mio and Zoe. The in-game characters are played by Kaja Chan and Elsie Bennett respectively, and then Fares sits down to play the thing.
No, of course he doesn’t show the actual game. “A lot of people say I’m cocky,” says Fares, “but it’s impossible to not be cocky when you have a game like this in front of you. I’m telling you. You will see what I mean when you play it.”
The scuttlebutt is that Hazelight’s next game is called Split Fiction and will release early next year: But that’s just rumour and, soon enough, we’ll see what Fares has to be cocky about.
