South of Midnight Review – A Tapestry of Heart and Adventure
South of Midnight on PC
Folktales are a significant part of local culture, passed down from generation to generation. From tales of the evil spriteCutty Dryerin the UK, to the Slavic folklore ofBaba Yaga, people have been enraptured with these often dark and disturbing tales. In South of Midnight, reality and fantasy blend into one, and the folktale creatures of a southern American town come to life.
South of Midnight follows Hazel as she endures a terrible hurricane, losing her mother in the flood waters. As she sets off on a journey to find and rescue her mom, Hazel’s perception of reality begins to shift, blurring the line between worlds. She soon discovers there is a lot more to the town of Prospero and its folktales than she realized. After uncovering a strange power somehow tied to family secrets hidden from her for years, Hazel must continue her adventure to fight off evil creatures, untangle webs, and heal decades-old wounds scarring her community and family.
When starting South of Midnight, I was immediately struck by its combination of distinctive art styles used through different areas of the game. A vintage storybook with yellowing pages and stark black imagery concludes each chapter with an old Southern narrator. Meanwhile, the cutscenes and gameplay have a whimsical stop-motion style animation. The mix of styles brings the whole thing to life in a magical way befitting the narrative. I had concerns going in that the jerky animation style may feel jarring. However, developer Compulsion Games has found a way to not only blend the two styles beautifully together but ensure the action feels fluid despite the inherent jerky nature of stop-motion animation.
After playing countless games where realistic visuals are the priority, often creating an uncanny valley feel, South of Midnight’s aesthetic is refreshing. The characters’ faces are beautifully detailed, with individual beard hairs and skin wrinkles clear in close-up shots. This attention to detail carries into the environments. Wildlife scurries about, and vibrant foliage bristles in the wind. It truly feels like you’re playing through an animated movie.
The gameplay itself is pretty linear, but there are opportunities to explore off the beaten path. There’s a distinct route to follow, one that whispers Hazel’s name and guides you when you require it, but it soon becomes clear that you need to explore your surroundings to uncover every piece of lore and upgrade you want to unlock.
If you jump into South of Midnight hoping to battle horrifying creatures from the start, prepare to be disappointed. Hazel is discovering the extent of her Weaver powers as you progress through the story. You aren’t just thrown in the deep end and expected to swim like an Olympian. You learn to use Hazel’s power gradually, slowly discovering each new move and upgrading them with collectable ‘Floof’.
As you progress, South of Midnight introduces different versions of its enemies (Haints). These are typically introduced early in chapters, giving you time to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each. You’ll fight tougher variants of these Haints as you work your way through the chapters until, eventually, you’re duking it out with several variants at once.
For me, this was a pretty natural progression. I didn’t feel bored, nor that it wasn’t moving fast enough. This was largely thanks to the story, as there’s enough intrigue to keep you entertained as you go. There’s always the option of changing the difficulty as you play if you don’t feel challenged enough when fighting the Haints, anyway. I played on Balanced mode, but I’d be curious to know how difficult it can be in Extreme. Maybe on the next playthrough.
The biggest drawback with the combat is that despite having different moves and abilities, it can devolve into a bit of button mashing. This is especially true when all your special moves are on cooldown, and all you’re left with is the basic attack. I found I was using the same combinations of special moves, and they became repetitive after a while. Pull an enemy forward, attack, and then push them away. Freeze an enemy, attack, dodge, jump, and attack. It doesn’t completely ruin the game, but it is notable. Some variety came from the different combinations of Haint variants in each battle. I had to watch my back when fighting one Haint and having two others firing gunk at me from afar or charging forward to attack.
The bigger ‘boss battles’ happen when Hazel has established the majority of her powers. This makes sense when you play, but some players may wonder, when approaching Chapter 5 or 6, why they haven’t battled with a larger enemy yet. I loved fighting against the big mythical creatures due to the sheer spectacle, but their mechanics are a bit formulaic. Once you learn the fight pattern of each creature, it loses its fear factor a bit. I recommend bumping the difficulty level up for the boss battles if you want a real test of your abilities.
The story of Hazel’s family and the Prospero community is heart-rending and, at times, darker than I expected. I highly recommend exploring every inch of the environment to uncover the Readables. Each provides a new piece of lore and helps your understanding of the story and characters. Thankfully, the voice acting and script in South of Midnight are great; at no point have I cringed at either the acting or dialogue, or wished the character would stop repeating the same fight lines. There’s been a lot of thought put into making the characters speak naturally, helped hugely by the talented actors, including Adriyan Rae as Hazel.
Speaking of Hazel, she is, without a doubt, the driving force of the game. Her tenacity and bravery shine through as she takes on this new power and tries to rescue her mom, no matter what gets in her way. The game establishes early on that Hazel had her sights on being a track star, with a natural athleticism that lends itself well to what she has to face throughout her adventure.
Aside from fighting rounds of Haints and using newly found powers, Hazel has ledges to climb, branches to grapple and swing on, and huge items to pull, push, and generally manipulate when solving puzzles. She eventually gets a little help to access the trickier areas, thanks to Crouton, her childhood toy that comes to life. Crouton can go through small places, find and unravel knots, and dig up small piles of rocks to find extra Floof for upgrades.
I did find that the puzzles were a little too simplistic. I’m not saying I want to spend hours trying to figure out how to get past an area, but I certainly didn’t feel challenged by them. As I mentioned before, the game is pretty linear, but I expected the puzzles to be less so. It’s all a bit too ‘go here, push this, climb that, switch that, open the door.’ A little more variety and less on-the-nose solutions would have made them more engaging. I realize South of Midnight isn’t centered on puzzles, but if they’re going to feature, especially when players use Hazel’s powers to solve a lot of them, then I’d prefer if they were a little more formidable.
Overall, I’m left feeling like South of Midnight is a game of two halves. Lackluster boss fights, simplistic and repetitive combat, and basic puzzles wear thin as you come to the tail end of Hazel’s adventure. On the other hand, the production values here are excellent. The world is lively and immersive, and the narrative offers up a magical, creative spin on a coming-of-age story. If you want a game rich in compelling folklore and don’t mind serviceable gameplay, South of Midnight might be just what you’re looking for.
