South of Midnight Review

Playing through South of Midnight, I could not help but feel a bit of nostalgia. The game’s general scope took me back to PS2 days when 3D platformers were all the rage. Instead of battle passes and PvPvE modes, we were dropped into a world and escaped the rush for a few hours a night. There was often nothing complicated about how these games played out. With simple mechanics and a simple story, these were the humble games that paved the way for gaming of today.

This is exactly what I enjoyed about South of Midnight. It follows Hazel on a strange dark fantasy quest to save her mother who is suddenly washed away by a hurricane. The entire game is set in the American Deep South, which honestly, is one of my most favourite places.

During the storm, the fabric between the real-world and what the game calls the Grand Tapestry is torn apart, and Hazel finds herself trapped in the ruins of Prospero, where folklore surrounds every chapter and the Southern American legends come to life.

It all happens quite beautifully when South of Midnight starts. The game sort of oozed me into this fantastic universe where an intriguing overarching story about Weavers was being told. According to the game, and without spoiling too much, Weavers are able to mend the broken bonds between spirits and reality. These bonds have been broken by a corrupt force that, for some reason, wants to take over the Grand Tapestry.

While this all sounds like a cookie-cutter plot, South of Midnight is actually quite a serious game. Many of the tales I witnessed throughout the story were heavily inspired by folklore in the region. So it is not like you’re playing this make-believe game where everything has been imagined overnight.

There’s been a lot of effort put into the finer details in South of Midnight. The locations, the magic, the lore – it all dives deep into Southern myths and fantasies, of which I absolutely love.

So Hazel sets off on this mission to save her mother and, as a result, realises that she might actually be a Weaver. She finds these tools that give her control over the tapestry and, as a result, she can unravel the corrupt threads that have taken over the region.

South of Midnight plays out as a classic 3D adventure game. It is also quite linear to the point where I played through chapters and, as I progressed, could not go back to an earlier area. Hazel can parkour around the world, interact with some lore tidbits, and, of course, fight the corrupt threads that form into gruesome enemies.

But it is all pretty chill. The game doesn’t ever feel rushed or overly serious. It was something I picked up for a few hours a day and put down. This is thanks to the flow of the experience. Areas aren’t very dense with hidden nooks to search and the combat often takes the back seat as there were chapters where I encountered only a few arenas I had to fight through. You also know combat is started when you enter a corrupt area that has to be unravelled.

Hazel starts off quite weak and squishy. Combat revolves around smacking around enemies, dodging attacks, depleting their health bars and then, in the end, approaching the dying enemy and unravelling them. Enemies get tougher, bigger and meaner as the game progresses. These black goopy creatures start to pack some real power and all come with their own attack style.

While combat starts off quite slow and tedious, enemies start to spawn in larger packs and when they are all combined together, these encounters rely on quick thinking and knowing how to counter different attacks. So essentially, it becomes less about spamming attacks and more about timing the perfect dodge and using magic when needed.

Speaking of magic, it really isn’t magic per se. Hazel uses the tapestry to push, pull, freeze and grapple enemies. While I didn’t really use this much at first, the later fights kind of forced me to, especially when larger, more powerful enemies became a problem.

Hazel also gets a companion named Crouton. This makeshift-looking doll helps her during combat and can possess enemies and control their abilities and movements. So I would often toss this hideous-looking doll into the beefiest enemy nearby to not only stop them from attacking me but to deal some decent damage to other enemies in the ring.

Combat is on the simple front, but I think it works. I didn’t feel like I was forced to build a character into a certain spec for a change, and even the tougher fights felt rewarding. I do think that some players might find the combat a bit tedious after a while due to how slowly it unravels and how little depth there is to it.

I do have to mention that the boss fights are a real showcase of the game. These larger-than-life fights offered some fantastic moment-to-moment encounters that switched things up a bit. However, these are far and few between, and a lot of the game is spent doing everything else while working your way up to another highlight fight.

The same can kind of be said for exploration. South of Midnight takes the same abilities that Hazel uses in combat and combines them into parkour. So she can push and pull objects to create a step, grapple and swing over large bodies of water, and Crouton can be summoned to explore small crawl spaces in the game.

Using all of this, I explored each chapter, and it was an okay experience. I have to commend the art design in South of Midnight because it is absolutely stunning; however, there really isn’t much going on in terms of exploration. Some paths here and there hid a bunch of Floof (XP used to upgrade abilities) away at the end, and some lore pages gave me insight into the people and things around the world. That’s about it.

Puzzles were also quite basic. I had to move an object, use Crouton to get into a small space to open a switch, or complete a fight nearby to clean the corruption so I could get into a doorway. It is, again, simple.

I think the simple approach to South of Midnight is both a good and bad thing. For starters, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel in any way, but at the same time, its general gameplay is approachable, giving the game’s story its much-needed time to shine.

The game’s uncomplicated approach also let me enjoy the sheer love for the American Deep South that is oozed out in every frame. Every location was hand-crated to deliver this overgrown swamp land, and I loved it. Even the characters and creatures I met along the way were unlike anything you see in gaming. I have a lot of love and respect for the game in this regard.

Of course, simple isn’t always a good thing either. I do fear gamers might not have the attention span to enjoy South of Midnight because it doesn’t push the envelope and offer the loud, over-the-top action they expect. I do hope you temper your expectations and understand what this game is trying to do because there’s a wonderful experience here if you just focus on what’s important.

This South of Midnight review is based on a code sent to us by Xbox. The game launches on 8 April for Xbox Series X/S and PC. It is also available on Xbox Game Pass. Early Access to the game is available from 3 April for people who purchase the Premium Edition.