South of Midnight Review

South of Midnight is a brand new narrative-driven action-adventure video game from Compulsion Games. It has been around 6 years since the release from Compulsion Games, and this time, they have stepped up big time. With a team of only 38 developers, they crafted an AAA title greatly inspired by the American Deep South. This new title is South of Midnight, set in the Deep South with a stunning gothic art style. It offers an intriguing story with immersive sound design and simple combat mechanics. Despite the simplicity of the combat, the traversal through the Deep South is what makes the game unique and fun. This is our review of South of Midnight, developed by Compulsion Games and published by Xbox Game Studios.

Story

South of Midnight tells an intriguing and emotional story of Hazell Flood living in Prospero, a fictional town in the south. Hazel Flood lives with her mother as her dad has passed away. The town of Prospero is deeply affected by the hurricane, and she is helping the neighbors with her mother. One day, the hurricane takes a wild turn and sweeps away the house with Hazel’s mother inside while Hazel is outside tending to the needs of the neighbors.

Hazel Flood goes on an exciting journey of saving and reuniting with her mother while exploring the folklore. Along the way, she encounters mythical creatures inspired by Southern legends. A few of the creatures that she meets are the Catfish, Huggin’ Molly, and Two-Toed Tom. Overall, the story explores themes of family, bonds, trauma, and the dark history of the Deep South.

Gameplay

South of Midnight is a third-person story-driven action-adventure video game. You play as Hazel Flood, a young weaver who is confident and wisecracking. She shows signs of both Strength and Vulnerability throughout the story, as she faces deep traumas. Players get to witness Hazel embracing her role as a Hero and healing the Deep South from the infection of grief, pain, and fear. The Gameplay of South of Midnight is a mixture of various action-adventure games. It offers a linear world exploration with some collectibles and lore tidbits around. The main gameplay shine of the game comes from the overall traversal and magical abilities usage.

As you get to control the protagonist in a third-person view, the overall platforming is in 3D. The overall platforming is smooth and unique, allowing you to use different abilities. Initially, the game offers generic platforming, like hanging off ledges and jumping. As you progress further into the story, you will gain access to various magical abilities. Using these abilities will make platforming more fun. You can double jump, use a glider, freeze objects, pull or push items from a distance, and much more.

Since it offers linear gameplay, you will not have much to explore, but you can find story fragments of Haints. The Haints are the common enemies that you will be fighting throughout the story, but not to defeat them but to heal them. You can use Hazel’s weaving abilities to connect with the Haints, which can reveal their memories. After that, you can follow them to help them find peace. It will help you heal the infected world. Overall, it is not a certain gameplay mechanic but blends gameplay with storytelling.

Combat

The combat in South of Midnight focuses more on a hack-and-slash category. You use magical weapons to attack and perform combos on the enemies. In the first couple of hours of the game, you will be performing the same combat actions, which can become repetitive. As you unlock more abilities by progressing into the main story, it becomes more fun. To give a brief overview of the combat, it has all the generic mechanics like light attack, heavy attack, dodging, and perfect dodging. These are the main combat mechanics that you will be using in each fight. At the end of every fight, you have to remove the infection to cure a small area of the surroundings.

In addition to the main combat, there is a combat progression system in South of Midnight. It offers a Skill Tree through which you can upgrade the abilities to improve their effectiveness. Upgrading the abilities requires a currency called Floofs. It is the only spendable currency/resource in the game. You can find and acquire Floofs by exploring the world and completing challenges. As you upgrade the skills, it will enhance Hazel’s combat effectiveness, traversal skills, and puzzle-solving capabilities.

Sound and Visuals

The combat might not be that exciting for some players, but the overall feeling and vibe of the game is splendid. The lyrical music inspired by the American South perfectly fits the Southern Gothic aesthetic. As the game is set in a fictional version of the American Deep South, you will get witness the region’s culture, myths, and landscapes. Overall, the world is rich with folklore, offering haunted places and strange creatures. The devs have done an exceptional job in crafting all the landscapes of the South. To be honest, it looks like a love letter to the Deep South.

In addition to the overall sound design and visuals, the thing that enhances the overall experience of a great story is the voice acting. All the actors have done an amazing job in breathing life into their corresponding characters. You can feel the emotions and tension of each character throughout the story.

Verdict – Score 8/10

South of Midnight is a great story-driven action-adventure video game that does a great job of showing the American Deep South. The telling of the story is exceptional as it captures your attention immediately. The gothic art style, with stunning visuals and sound design, is what makes the whole adventure intriguing. However, due to linear world exploration and combat being repetitive, it might become somewhat stale for some players. If you are some who love narrative-driven story games, then South of Midnight will do a great justice to your taste buds. It has everything and more that you need to feel connected to the characters and story throughout the journey.

South of Midnight is now available on Xbox Series X|S and PC.