Prepare to have your mind utterly shattered! In the wild, mind-bending co-op adventure that is Hazelight Studios' 2026 masterpiece, Split Fiction, players thought they had seen every possible reference. From high-flying Assassin's Creed leaps to blistering Sonic speeds and even the punishing lessons of Dark Souls, the game is a veritable museum of gaming history. But hold onto your controllers, because the developers have hidden one final, earth-shattering secret that blurs the very lines between fiction and reality. As the epic journey nears its conclusion, players are unceremoniously dumped into a location so iconic, so perfectly recreated, that it can only mean one thing: one of our heroes has been living a double life as a god-slaying warrior from another universe!

The Roundtable Hold Rises Again!

Forget simple easter eggs or cute nods—this is a full-scale invasion! Deep within the labyrinthine finale of Split Fiction, sharp-eyed players, led by the legendary community sleuth u/Resident_Ad6308, stumbled upon a revelation that sent shockwaves through the gaming world. There, in all its solemn glory, stands a near-perfect, 1:1 replica of the Roundtable Hold from Elden Ring. This isn't just a themed room; it's a carbon copy teleported straight from the Lands Between! The central table, crowned by that unmistakable, ethereal light of grace, gleams above a familiar cluster of embedded swords. The very air seems thick with the weight of countless Tarnished oaths. And lining the majestic circular walls? Those same colossal, stoic stone statues, standing as silent witnesses to Zoe's most unexpected secret.

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The Unavoidable, Mind-Blowing Conclusion

The accuracy is so meticulous, so painstakingly detailed, that it leaves absolutely zero room for coincidence. This landmark wasn't just referenced; it was recreated from memory. And whose memory could that possibly be? The game itself provides the damning evidence: this vision of the Hold has been "clearly burned into Zoe's memory." Let that sink in for a moment. While her co-op partner Mio was presumably living a normal life, Zoe was apparently spending her downtime not just playing Elden Ring, but living and breathing it for "hundreds of hours" while battling writer's block. This level of obsession doesn't just make you a fan—it imprints the geometry of another world onto your soul!

The Million-Rune Question: Is Zoe Tarnished?!

This discovery forces us to ask the impossible, the question that changes everything we know about Split Fiction's universe: Does this mean Zoe is canonically Tarnished? The evidence is staggeringly compelling:

  1. She Sees Grace: The Roundtable Hold only appears to those who can see the guidance of grace. The replica in Split Fiction prominently features the guiding light. Checkmate?

  2. She Has the Knowledge: The Hold's layout, down to the last statue, is stored in her mind with photographic precision. Only someone who has truly been there could recall it so perfectly.

  3. She Has the Experience: The game explicitly states she played for "hundreds of hours." That's not a casual playthrough; that's a pilgrimage. That's enough time to slay demigods and become Elden Lord a dozen times over!

Of course, the boring, logical answer is that this is simply a magnificent homage plucked from her imagination. But where's the fun in that? Let's embrace the chaos! If we follow the in-game logic to its most explosive conclusion, then Zoe is absolutely Tarnished. She is one of the grace-gifted few chosen to challenge the very order of the cosmos. She has likely stared down the star-scarred General Radahn and felt the crushing weight of his gravity magic. She has undoubtedly faced the golden might of Radagon and the cosmic horror of the Elden Beast.

A New Two-Player Co-op... for God-Slaying?

And here lies the most hilarious and awesome implication. Throughout Split Fiction, Zoe and Mio learn to synergize, to fight as one unstoppable unit against reality-warping fictional monsters. But what if their training was for a far greater purpose? What if their ultimate test isn't in the pages of a book, but in the shattered remains of the Erdtree? Imagine the tag-team potential! Could their perfected co-op maneuvers finally bring an end to Malenia's reign of rot? Could their combined might topple the very Elden Beast itself?

Zoe probably already has, alone in her room during those hundreds of hours. But now, in 2026, she has a partner. She has Mio. The thought is almost too glorious to comprehend: the dynamic duo of Split Fiction, taking their flawless cooperation into the Lands Between for a round of jolly co-operation against the gods. The message from Hazelight is clear: not only have they created the co-op game of the decade, but they've also secretly confirmed that their protagonist is a multiversal, god-slaying badass. Talk about a plot twist! 🤯