South of Midnight
Developer: Compulsion Games
Publisher: Microsoft
Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed)
Release Date: April 8, 2025
Price: $39.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
When it comes to myths, legends, and different types of magic players are likely familiar with many of the common tropes and those that come from ancient European culture, but they are likely quite unfamiliar with those from America, especially from the American Deep South. Sure, there are occasionally tales of voodoo and whispers of dark magics in the bayou, but these are barely explored in most media, let alone in video games. That is something that makes South of Midnight so special. Compulsion Games has crafted something of a love letter to this untapped lore by providing an emotionally impactful narrative presented with a unique visual style and a glorious soundtrack even if it does have some issues along the way.
Story
With a powerful hurricane ready to rip through her hometown of Prospero, Hazel is quickly gathering up her valuables and waiting for her mother to come home from her work at children’s services. This isn’t their first hurricane so Hazel knows what to do, but when she goes to check on her neighbors only to find that their house is being swept away in the powerful hurricane waves with her mother still inside it is up to the former track star to run with everything she has. Despite this, she loses sight of the house and, upon seeking the help of her incredibly well-off but estranged grandmother, finds that there are secrets literally hidden in the attic. Following the whispers of threads in the air, Hazel discovers a pair of Weaver hooks that immediately acclimate themselves to her, giving her the abilities of a Weaver and the ability to search for her mother deep in the murky waters of the back bayou.
Along the way she sees visions of another Weaver from before who helped escort runaway slaves through back pathways, learning as she goes from the ghostly visions and doing what she can until she stumbles upon the wise, and wisecracking, Catfish dangling from a magical tree. Not only does the massive Catfish (also his name) coach her through solving her first major encounter with a mythical creature and the way she can accumulate the pains that have turned into twisted hauntings over the years into a glass bottle, but even re-weave the wounds that plague the very souls of the swamp and the creatures within it. With her newfound abilities, Catfish as her guide, and her mother her true goal, Hazel sets off as a Weaver learning on the go only to find that the deep south holds many dark secrets and pains within its shadows and some might be far more dangerous, or overblown, than she has heard folktales of.
South of Midnight weaves a tale that is not only steeped in the type of lore that we rarely see explored, but also one that feels both extremely heartfelt at the same time. Throughout Hazel’s journey to find her mother not only does she discover various objects from her home, each showing off a side of her mother’s feelings she knew little about, but learns the dark more about the darkness that has pervaded her town’s history throughout the years, even some that still roam freely to this day. These range from mythical creatures brought about by the pain and suffering of the townsfolk, transforming them into twisted urban myths and beings of legend, to massive beings of folklore from all over the south. Florida’s gator Two-Toed Tom, a Rougarou from Cajun mythology, Huggin’ Molly from Alabama, The Devil’s Crossroads, all these and more are some of the mythical or legendary creatures that most have likely never heard of before but South of Midnight not only puts them right in the forefront but builds their own story along the way, serving as an origin point for the pain and suffering that may have triggered their transformations along The Grand Tapestry of life.
South of Midnight‘s core storyline is a bit straightforward, though it isn’t afraid to throw a few twists the player’s way even if they are more than hinted at a few times. If it wasn’t clear before, it is also worth noting that this is far from a cheerful adventure as this is a dark gothic tale filled with tragic tales. After all, a Weaver’s job is meant to heal and soothe the knots in the tapestry caused by such brutal pain and there has to tragedy at the root of it all. While we won’t spoil what the exact events are here, it must be noted that some can be quite dark and the writing handles them expertly here. There are also plenty of notes and bits of lore scattered throughout the environment as well to help expand the lore, even if they can be a bit too subtle sometimes. It is also worth noting that the story can feel a bit disjointed at times, with Hazel just magically knowing where she needs to go next, though this is mostly thanks to a lot of inter-chapter transitions being done thanks to Catfish ferrying her along.
Gameplay
At its core, South of Midnight is a rather simple but effective action adventure game with players playing through mostly linear levels that mix in some combat sections, platforming, and a few puzzles here and there to change things up. Coming in at a respectably paced eleven to twelve hours depending on how much players want to explore, these levels all feature different themes and obstacles, some that remain exclusive only to that level. This can range from feces-spewing sprinklers to giant man-eating plants alongside the ever-present thorns that sprout from the miasma that rises from the tangles spread throughout the land. As mentioned, players will find themselves clambering around ledges and other platforms to move around obstacles, make use of her double-jump and short glide ability to cross dangerous waters or, later on, even fly, and of course wall-run along tangled threads.
This type of navigation is light, fluid, and quite effective. There are a few hitches here and there when Hazel might slip off a ledge she otherwise should have grabbed but these are few and far between. Puzzles range from simply destroying or moving objects around the environment using Hazel’s abilities or “re-threading” (summoning) an object from the past to temporarily serve as a foothold and while some of these tend to involve general progression, others revolve around tracking down the game’s limited but useful collectables. These collectables include health strands, which when three are gathered increase Hazel’s total health, various pieces of lore left behind as notes, etchings, and more scattered through each stage though these can be quite hard to locate at times, and of course Floofs. Floofs serve as the upgrade material for all of Hazel’s abilities, whether they enhance her standard combo attacks or special cooldown abilities, Floofs are required and while players obtain some by defeating enemy encounters, almost all of the rest are found scattered off the beaten path, meaning players might want to use the “Guiding Thread” that points to where they should go as a way to track down the opposite instead, looking for collectables. It is worth noting that while players will not need to collect every Floof to max out Hazel’s abilities, they will need to gather nearly all of them to do so though this is far from necessary.
In a rather interesting fashion, South of Midnight doesn’t just randomly throw enemies at players, nor does it spring surprise encounters on them. Players will always know when they are about to enter a fight against the “Haints” as each combat area will become enclosed once Hazel approaches it, trapping her inside until she unravels them all and untangles the tangle. The variation of Haint types is slowly introduced, perhaps a bit too slowly at the start, but players will regularly find themselves battling against numerous foes, using Hazel’s speedy dodges to avoid incoming attacks as well as her hooks and abilities to defeat them. Hazel also receives her various abilities at a satisfying place, being able to weave enemies into a tied up and higher-damage receiving knot, pushing or pulling them in a fight, or even siccing Crouton, her beloved childhood toy turned companion that also can be used to explore tight spaces, onto enemies and have them temporarily control them. All of Hazel’s abilities work on a cooldown but have a hefty weight to them alongside her standard combo. There isn’t a whole lot of complexity here, but it does work extremely well and feel great when zipping around and putting down the numerous Haints haunting a location.
The extra challenge here is, not only do most Haints have unblockable attacks that make them invulnerable mid-combo, but every foe has to be properly “untangled” to finish them off or they’ll revive and enter the fight again. Each combat arena will also have a healing tangle that will restore a generous portion of Hazel’s health and unraveling foes will also heal a portion. That being said, most players will find themselves rarely challenged by default difficulty level, especially once Hazel has been upgraded. In many instances, even bumping the difficulty up to Grand Weaver saw things as being a bit on the easier side. For those looking to really test their skills, there is a completely customizable difficulty slider to make things as easy or as hard as players want. This means those who want to put South of Midnight’s combat to the test can crank the difficulty to the highest settings possible while those who want to minimize things can go so far as to skipping combat or even skipping boss encounters if they so wish. This level of accessibility is nice for those who need it, but perhaps takes it a little too far.
Outside of the exploration and combat players will occasionally find themselves on the run as well. Generally most stages follow a specific pattern that, despite being predictable, works quite well, and the larger stages almost always feature Hazel needing to eliminate four sets of enemies to put together a story-themed around one of the mythical creatures mentioned before and having to take part in a chase sequence. Or, in this instance, an escape sequence as Hazel finds herself being chased by an unknown entity nearly every time. Players will need to think on their feet and make use of all of Hazel’s traversal abilities to run through the path provided or risk being caught by the fog or falling to her doom.
Audio & Visuals
Compulsion Games took a bold approach when it came to selecting South of Midnight‘s art style and it has paid off quite well here as the stop-motion animation style combined with the unique stylings of the characters makes for some truly exceptional looking presentations during cutscenes and even standard interactions between characters in the world. The world itself is even designed around having this stop motion style effect, with wildlife often featuring this movement style, especially when players are traveling through burrows as Crouton and seeing things like rabbits playing a card game or a fox being spooked at its bed. It is worth noting that players can disable the stop motion element altogether if they wish, but doing so is something of a disservice to the style. Speaking of style, it must be said again just how outstanding some of the major enemy designs truly are and how outstanding they look. The mythological creatures players will come across are presented remarkably well, especially in many of the grander cases, putting the generic Haint designs to shame.
The game features authentic sounding English voice acting that feels like it fits right in with the type of accents one would expect from the American Deep South and all of the English voice actors do an exceptional job here. This is especially true during the numerous emotional moments that happen throughout the title and revelations as Hazel uncovers the festered wounds plaguing the land. Special mention must go out to the soundtrack as well. While many action adventure games feature standard exploration and combat music, which South of Midnight does, nearly every single level features a unique track of music that begins playing once players have filled Hazel’s bottle and are heading towards, usually, the final objective for a stage. These songs all feature vocal tracks accompanied by bluegrass tunes, jazz, folk songs, choir music, and even the blues sometimes depending on the stage. This makes every major culmination to a story feel special, building players up for the culmination of the chapter in outstanding fashion that really helps put a finishing touch to most chapters.
Overall
South of Midnight is clearly a love-letter to the American deep south and the folklore within it that has often gone untouched in gaming media. Not only does it take numerous myths and legends to work them into Hazel’s adventure but also the land’s history as well as she searches for her mother. The story itself is unfortunately a bit too straightforward for its own good, with the game itself similarly being mostly straightforward unless players go off the beaten-path themselves for collectables. This, along with some relatively basic but smooth flowing combat makes South of Midnight a more than satisfying action adventure title but one that truly shines when it is focused on its setting and themes, letting players experience the lore and world that the developers have worked hard to present as strikingly as possible here.
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