Compulsion Video games’ South of Midnight appears to be precisely what I anticipated: an action-adventure recreation that includes platforming and fight that feels paying homage to the style through the PlayStation 2 period. Having now performed the sport for about 90 minutes, the gameplay would not wow me. That mentioned, South of Midnight would not really feel like a recreation that should ship a never-before-seen gameplay expertise. The focus of the sport is clearly its celebration of the myths, sounds, tradition, and language of the American South, and in that respect, South of Midnight appears like it’ll exceed these expectations.
You play as Hazel in South of Midnight, determined to search out her mom after their house washes away in a hurricane. Early into her journey, she learns to be a weaver, an individual who can each unravel the corrupting forces influencing a neighborhood and knit collectively constructs to glide or leap throughout harmful swampland. As Hazel searches for her mother, her talents and expertise as a weaver proceed to develop and she or he comes throughout quite a few legendary monsters, beings who had been as soon as people or animals and have since been twisted into legendary larger-than-life creatures by the trauma and tragedy that surrounded them in life. As a weaver, Hazel’s job is to place these legends to relaxation.
My time with the sport noticed me step in throughout an early chapter, which instantly precedes the extent and boss battle I noticed throughout my journey to Compulsion Video games final yr. The chapter begins with Hazel having solely just lately change into a weaver and making the acquaintance of Catfish, who guarantees to assist her discover her mom if she first frees him from the grip of a colossal tree that resembles a scared and sad-looking man. The stage then establishes the gameplay loop that South of Midnight will presumably comply with for the remainder of the story: Hazel platforms by largely linear ranges, encountering and preventing teams of enemies who guard the recollections that element the reality behind a neighborhood legend.
I am not offered on South of Midnight’s platforming or fight. Admittedly, this demo made me very motion-sick (I assume it was the stop-motion-inspired animation type, regardless that stop-motion has by no means been an issue for me earlier than), so I used to be a tad cranky by the point I completed up. Nonetheless, South of Midnight is not an particularly rewarding gameplay expertise. You can mess up the platforming and miss a leap, however the part I performed by had their platforms so shut collectively and Hazel is so acrobatic that I by no means did, except for one early second once I purposely jumped into the swamp water to see whether or not Hazel can swim. Spoiler: she can not. The mistake price me a portion of Hazel’s well being, however since there aren’t any enemies to deal with through the platforming sections, this setback did not create any rigidity like what’s seen in platformers that do one thing comparable.
It’s price noting that the chapter I performed by felt extraordinarily early into Hazel’s journey, very very like a bike-with-training-wheels part. So the platforming may change into more difficult and subsequently extra fulfilling to clear in a while. From what I’ve seen thus far, nevertheless, Hazel’s double-jumping, gliding, and wall-running by the bayou would not add any pleasure to the method of shifting from level A to B. The most disappointing a part of the demo was a chase sequence proper on the finish, during which all Hazel needed to do was leap backwards and forwards between opposing partitions she was operating alongside. There was no ground, and the crescendo within the music curated a way of rigidity and suspense, however when all I used to be doing was leaping backwards and forwards between partitions to keep away from easy-to-spot gaps, it trivialized what felt like ought to have been this extremely suspenseful run for Hazel’s life.
Fight additionally feels considerably trivial in service to the narrative. As a weaver, I anticipated Hazel to own talents and actions that mirrored the act of suturing, knitting, or tearing, an assumption strengthened by Hazel wielding a spindle and weaving hooks as weapons in fight. As an alternative, Hazel makes use of her instruments extra like twin daggers, needing to dodge out of the way in which of enemy assaults and slash them sufficient occasions so {that a} immediate pops to unweave them, which Hazel does with a cinematic flourish. She possesses some talents to enhance her instruments, like a stun and telekinetic shove, that use a cooldown to maintain you from spamming them, and a talent tree permits you to unlock extra strikes for Hazel, like a ground-pound.
Altogether it is advantageous. South of Midnight actually would not fairly attain the acrobatic triumphs of one thing like Sundown Overdrive, nor does Hazel have a block or counter (in what I performed, at least–maybe she will get one later), that are needed mechanics for a extra strategic and tactile fight expertise on par with Hello-Fi Rush. Since Hazel is not all that nimble throughout fight, the enemies cannot be all that quick and since Hazel can not block or counter, the enemies’ assault patterns cannot be all that complicated. What’s left is a gameplay expertise during which you might have Hazel dodge out of the way in which of an enemy’s clearly telegraphed assaults, wail on them with melee assaults and skills, and repeat. Since Hazel sometimes takes on a minimum of three or 4 enemies at a time, there is a problem in needing to maintain observe of the place combatants’ placements are, however no enemy I fought had a specific weak point or counter to one in all Hazel’s strikes, so the technique of wildly slashing labored on every thing. And, in fact, when you skinny the herd a bit and kill one or two enemies, the remaining enemies do not have the numbers to pose a rewarding problem.
I get the sense that fight is not purported to be all that arduous, although, or a minimum of not be a roadblock within the participant’s path. Every enemy encounter I confronted had a pick-up throughout the fight enviornment that I may go and work together with to replenish Hazel’s well being, trivializing every struggle additional by guaranteeing I used to be by no means near dying.
The one huge exception I may see to that is the boss battles. When Hazel faces these native legends, the encounter can play out in a number of other ways. Once I went to Compulsion Video games’ workplace and noticed the chapter that instantly follows this demo, it concluded with Hazel taking up the colossal Two-Toed Tom. It seemed unbelievable, with Hazel going through Tom by a number of phases of accelerating problem, however I did not get an opportunity to play it myself. Within the chapter I performed for this demo, the “closing battle” was climbing a tree alongside a clearly marked path. It was fairly cinematic and the sluggish build-up of the music made the expertise really feel suitably epic, but it surely lacked the gravitas of the Two-Toed Tom boss struggle I’ve seen (in addition to the transient have a look at Huggin’ Molly’s boss struggle through the South of Midnight trailer that debuted throughout 2025’s Xbox Developer Direct). The boss battles may very well be the place the fight mechanics come collectively in a extra fulfilling method.
All that mentioned: South of Midnight’s artwork path, soundtrack, character design, voice appearing, and writing appear incredible, so regardless of my misgivings with the remainder of the sport, I need to dive into the complete story to see and listen to and expertise extra of its world. Just like video games like Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Tales of Kenzera: Zua, or Murderer’s Creed: Origins, South of Midnight appears like it’ll be an expertise lengthy remembered for its setting–the actual star of the present. There’s clearly been loads of nice care right here to not solely honor the sights and sounds of the American South, however have a good time the tradition and tales advised by the individuals who name the place house.
A lot of love has been dedicated to the extra fantasy components too, with enjoyable nods to sayings or slang with regard to Hazel’s abilities–she makes use of a bottle to gather the emotions surrounding every legend, for instance, in a nod to “bottling up feelings.” What I really like most, nevertheless, is that South of Midnight appears to not be crammed to the brim with paperwork to search out, audio recordings to uncover, or NPCs to clarify each aspect of no matter fantastical state of affairs is going on to Hazel. Thus far, the sport has allowed me to only exist in its fantasy, fumbling for solutions alongside Hazel, sustaining the general mysticism of the locale and the legends advised concerning the individuals and creatures who dwell there.
It provides an nearly spooky high quality to the journey, framing Hazel as a younger girl who has stumbled into one thing otherworldly that may by no means be actually understood or defined. What I’ve performed thus far has not fairly reached gothic fantasy, however I’ve my fingers crossed that that is the place the story goes. Regardless, nevertheless, the storytelling and worldbuilding is great and the voice appearing (particularly actor Adriyan Rae, who voices Hazel) is remarkably sturdy, including a ton of characterization to already memorable character designs.
I hope this love and care extends to the platforming and fight in the remainder of South of Midnight, however even when it would not, the sport appears like it’ll a minimum of be an distinctive story that is set in a really actual area of the world that video video games (particularly within the AAA area) have largely ignored.
South of Midnight is about to launch for Xbox Sequence X|S, Recreation Move, and PC on April 8.