South Of Midnight Review – A Love Letter To The American Deep South

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The game “South of Midnight,” created by Compulsion Games (the studio behind Contrast and We Happy Few), offers a unique exploration of the legends, music, lifestyle, and dialect of the American Deep South. This narrative is presented through a 3D action-platformer, where players navigate the challenges of overcoming pain and finding the resilience to rise above it. Compulsion Games’ strong points – intriguing storylines, unsettling ambiance, and captivating characters – are showcased once more in this production.

Much like Contrast and We Happy Few, the gameplay in South of Midnight may not be as compelling compared to its narrative aspects. However, it represents Compulsion Games’ most robust creation to date, venturing into a setting and mythology seldom found in mainstream video games, to tell an extraordinary tale.

South of Midnight

Character Overview: You assume the role of Hazel, a teenage track star living in Prospero, a Deep South town. Following a devastating hurricane that destroys her home and takes her mother within, Hazel embarks on a quest to locate and rescue her loved one. Unbeknownst to her, the storm has not only restructured the rural town and surrounding swampland into a hazardous playground but also released dormant dark magic, making this journey even more treacherous.

As Hazel navigates her way through this transformed landscape, she realizes that she is a weaver – a person with an innate ability to perceive the underlying connections that bind the world together and manipulate them into terrifying creatures when negative emotions like grief, anger, and fear converge in certain areas.

Equipped with unexpectedly sharp textile-spinning tools, Hazel’s search for her mother leads her to encounter various legendary spirits inspired by real-world myths. By uncovering the traumas that created them and attempting to capture those feelings in magical bottles for removal, she helps these entities while also solving another mystery – where or whom they belong to.

This narrative delves into Southern Gothic elements, creating an unsettling atmosphere that’s hard to shake off because each story resides in a chilling twilight zone between the supernatural and real-world horrors such as prejudice and child mistreatment. In these tales, it becomes challenging to tell where fact ends and fiction begins, as they blend the harsh reality of pain with you, much like they do to Hazel. The emotional intensity of South of Midnight remains constant throughout, making it a captivating read even in its darkest moments.

South of Midnight resembles games like Psychonauts 2 or Alice: Madness Returns in the sense that it’s less about gameplay and more about the engaging story, intriguing characters, captivating world, rich lore, and overall atmosphere that draw players in. The main appeal of South of Midnight lies in its compelling narrative, making it a standout experience with unforgettable characters and iconic monsters set within an imaginative portrayal of the American Deep South. This game is unique because it leaves a lasting impression; I seldom recall character names from contemporary games, but South of Midnight achieves this feat even with characters who only appear briefly on screen. Each character is so expressive and skillfully crafted with exceptional voice acting, painstaking detail, and unsettling authenticity that their contributions to the story remain etched in memory long after they’ve departed.

Without a doubt, Hazel stands out as the most captivating character. She possesses a zest for life and isn’t shy about dishing out wit or warmth, all while managing to avoid sounding too flippant. As she navigates her fresh circumstances, a hint of arrogance emerges, softened by respect for tradition and elders. From the start, Hazel is relatable and easy to connect with, even when she blunders or jumps to hasty conclusions. Her narrative journey is rewarding; initially, Hazel’s single-minded determination to save her mother (a goal that shifts every few chapters) transforms as she discovers weavers from the past. The second half of the story delves into Hazel’s growing duties as Prospero’s latest enchanter of fractured souls, and witnessing this teenager grow into a purposeful young adult is the tale’s most impactful moments.

I thoroughly appreciate how the game South of Midnight skillfully employs fashion to weave a narrative, particularly in relation to the character Hazel. Throughout key scenes, Hazel alters her wardrobe, each transition symbolizing significant transformations in her character and development as an individual and weaver. While I won’t delve into specifics to avoid spoilers (though it’s hard not to), the attention to detail and fashion sense demonstrated by Compulsion is commendable. A standout moment for me was when Hazel discarded her pompous, authoritative attire, which represented her growing arrogance and obstinacy, only to reappear in a stunning ensemble that showcased both her heritage and personal style, signaling to the world the person she aspired to become. Fashion plays a vital role in the American Deep South, as well as many other cultures, and it’s refreshing to witness Compulsion Games embrace Black clothing, makeup, and hairstyles as subtle visual representations of Hazel’s heroic journey and her evolving self-image.

In South of Midnight, the graphics are consistently impressive, mimicking the aesthetic of handcrafted, stop-motion animation. This gives the characters an astonishing level of detail and makes both gameplay and cutscenes feel like a cinematic experience. During my playtime on Xbox Series X, I didn’t encounter any graphical glitches or bugs, and unlike my earlier experiences with the preview build, there were no issues with motion sickness. Moreover, South of Midnight offers visual settings and accessibility tools to customize its appearance, including options designed to accommodate those who might be sensitive to the animation style.

In the initial chapter of South of Midnight, I found a gripping beginning. However, as the game progressively unveils its battle mechanics in subsequent chapters, the pacing of the adventure becomes somewhat disrupted. The narrative maintains a strong urgency for Hazel to locate and rescue her mom, yet it approaches this journey with an unexpected serenity, using the hum of wildlife and softly resonating chorus vocals to accentuate both awe-inspiring discoveries and heart-pounding terror. The game encourages you to savor the scenery during moments of discovery and tread cautiously while keeping a watchful eye out for threats during tense moments. Though South of Midnight’s levels are primarily linear, with opportunities to collect optional pick-ups that enhance Hazel’s health or unlock additional combat skills, it still seems like this game’s world is designed to encourage leisurely exploration as you advance.

When combat starts, it’s quite surprising due to the distinct zones where fights occur. Initially, a group of creatures called Haints appear and more waves join in as you defeat the initial enemies. Haints deal significant damage quickly, causing a noticeable shift in atmosphere from exploration to battle. Except for playing on the easiest level, the game can suddenly become challenging when it switches from easy to hard mode. Hazel has various abilities but most are not effective in combat (like the telekinetic shove and tether pull unless you gather enough upgrades to enhance them). As a result, you mainly depend on her standard melee attacks for progress. Her attacks inflict less damage compared to those of her adversaries, and she lacks a reliable defense method (except for dodging), making it feel like you’re always at a disadvantage against the diverse range of enemies in South of Midnightespecially since most Haints don’t have an obvious indicator for their standard attack. The lock-on system is also not very effective when dealing with large groups, leading to several unfortunate missteps during combat that can result in game over.

In the latter stages of the game, as Hazel encounters more perilous situations and environments, combat sequences become more frequent and fittingly intense. This aligns well with the game’s ominous atmosphere. During this period, Hazel gains access to the last tiers of her skill trees, which, upon unlocking certain perks, enhance her combat abilities and boost her dodge mechanics, making her a formidable adversary. These upgrades significantly reduce the frustration associated with combat in the game’s initial stages, allowing me to complete the final six hours or so in one continuous playthrough, relishing every moment of it.

In the game South of Midnight, the platforming remains consistently solid, though it may not offer anything particularly new compared to other 3D platformers. The protagonist Hazel boasts abilities such as double-jump, dash, glide, wall-run, and combat skills that have uses beyond battle – like a telekinetic push for clearing debris or the tether’s pull functioning as a grappling hook. At first, platforming segments are quite manageable with minimal challenge, but even when the game’s difficulty increases slightly, South of Midnight remains lenient, making it hard to fail or misjudge maneuvers. However, as the combat and exploration become more balanced in the game, the platforming challenges also intensify, with incorrect timing or poor planning often resulting in death. This shift was somewhat surprising given how effortless the platforming had been earlier, but mastering these sections using all my acquired skills felt rewarding.

To put it simply, while I appreciate South of Midnight’s gameplay and acknowledge its technical competence, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. The combat and platforming feel reminiscent of games from the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox era, with modern enhancements like autosave. However, they lack the excitement that I was hoping for. The puzzles are not particularly intellectually engaging either.

The way Hazel interacts with the larger-than-life mythical spirits feels repetitive after a while. The process usually involves reaching a new area, learning about a spirit and its legend, clearing enemies surrounding the spirit’s memories, witnessing these memories, racing through a platforming challenge to the source of the spirit’s trauma, and then battling the spirit. This pattern rarely varies, even with South of Midnight introducing new enemy types, platforming challenges, and weaver skills, as well as changing the setting in each chapter.

This repetitive gameplay loop also suggests that all pain and trauma can be resolved using the same method, which seems unrealistic given the unique challenges faced by each spirit (and people in general). This repetition somewhat detracts from the game’s strong narrative and world-building.

A significant part of my affection for South of Midnight’s world and folklore stems from my partial familiarity with it. Although I’m originally from California, my father and his family hail from Louisiana. Growing up, I was surrounded by relatives who spoke in much the same way as South of Midnight’s characters and shared tales about mythical figures similar to those found within the game. In many ways, my childhood experiences have given me a more canine perspective on South of Midnight’s owl-like creatures known as rougarous. However, even with this background, I was utterly astonished when I first heard the term ‘rougarou’ in a video game context. It was truly remarkable to see such a creature mentioned in a game, let alone have it play a substantial role in its storyline.

Despite having no personal connection or prior knowledge about the location, South of Midnight’s setting offers an engaging and captivating glimpse into a unique gothic universe. Few games are set in this part of the world; exceptions like Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Norco are rare. The depiction of the American Deep South by Compulsion Games seems authentic, though I can’t vouch for its accuracy. Every detail in South of Midnight’s Prospero – the atmosphere, visuals, and sound – appears genuine, as if it were a real place in the American Deep South. It seems that the Canadian studio invested a significant effort into studying and comprehending the region’s colors, sights, inhabitants, and wildlife, as well as the sounds they produce.

In this game, South of Midnight, the sound design and music play an extraordinary role. The lyrical tunes and sounds echo the folklore of the American Deep South, rooted in oral stories, and the game maintains that tradition by infusing every aspect of its narrative with lyrical music. Soft choir singing gently complements Hazel’s platforming abilities, such as double-jumping or gliding, and each spirit that Hazel encounters has a distinct melody. As each spirit’s story unfolds across the chapters, their song progressively intensifiesstarting with a few instruments piercing the ambient sounds of Prospero, then adding vocals, more instruments, eventually culminating in a full-blown song that overpowers Hazel’s environment as she confronts the spirit. No matter how these spirit encounters conclude, the music steals the limelight every timeeach lyrical tune is incredibly catchy, reminiscent of songs you’d sing around a campfire. I plan on serenading my partner with the song from Huggin’ Molly’s boss fight for weeks, and I won’t shy away from expressing my affection for it.

In essence, South of Midnight embodies an uncensored homage to the enigmatic charm of the American Deep South. It delves into the eerie atmosphere and supernatural beliefs prevalent in the region’s folklore, while also paying tribute to its unique history and culture. Although it may not be a standout in terms of combat and platforming, the game shines with its captivating characters, stunning visuals, and engaging soundtrack. These elements are so powerful that the decent gameplay hardly matters. South of Midnight leaves an indelible impression, serving as a poignant reminder of the need for more games set in the American Deep South. Compulsion Games should consider crafting a sequel to this world, as I find myself yearning for more.

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2025-04-03 19:40