South of Midnight, the new action-adventure title from Compulsion Games, instantly feels distinct and intriguing due to its committed US Deep South setting. In a magical story full of twists, early on in the experience Hazel encounters a storyteller in the form of a mythical Catfish, and well, things only look to be getting weirder from that point on.
With a lot of intrigue and curiosity, after We Happy Few failed to set the world on fire, I was thrilled to be offered the opportunity to get my hands on the title for a hands-on preview, thanks to our mates at Xbox ANZ. With stop-motion trailers oozing style and characters that seem filled with charm, I got to play a whole chapter in the early part of South of Midnight, and while I’m a little hesitant about the combat, I can already tell that there’s a whole lot to like about this dark modern fairytale.
My South of Midnight preview kicked off in Chapter 3, where so far, Hazel’s home has been swept into the river by a storm, taking her mother, Lacey, with it. Desperate for help, Hazel discovers a newfound magical power, called Weaving, and she encounters the ghost of Mahalia, a Weaver from the past, who guides and teaches her new abilities.
It didn’t take long for a combat encounter to kick off, and while it was a little clunky at first jumping in cold, I quickly found my footing. Hazel can use hack ‘n’ slash combat attacks, a helpful dodge button (which you will need to use quite liberally), which also triggers a perfect dodge that damages and knocks back all enemies. The wrinkle in combat is when you must ‘unravel’ enemies once they’ve been defeated; doing so removes them from the battlefield, with a satisfying animation (and small health gain) that feels just as good as pulling at a loose thread until it rips off of your jumper.
“…’unravelling’ enemies once they’ve been defeated feels just as good as pulling at a loose thread until it rips off of your jumper.”
It’s also gratifying in that ‘finishing move’ kind of way, and a couple of Hazel’s abilities were already unlocked, with an upgrade tree indicating more to come. One of your attacks ‘weaves’ enemies and one ability provides a buff that means they take more damage from all sources. Aerial Rend serves as a ground pound, while Weaver’s Blitz means that the motion of unravelling a downed foe sets off a small explosion that damages other baddies on the battlefield.
The weird shadowy monsters you’ll be up against have an unnerving stop-motion style in how they move. When compared with Hazel moving swiftly, their awkward movements are unsettling, to say the least. Nests of sorts appear as well, so dealing with those early on is important to make sure you’re not overwhelmed by bugs that it’s spawning, as they fly in your direction while you’re dealing with the more menacing creatures.
While combat did have a sort of flow to it, I couldn’t help but feel like there was a lot of it in the single chapter I experienced. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s how these combat sections took place that gave me pause; often you’d head into an area, the pathways would close off, and enemies would spawn until they were all defeated. Though each combat area does have one healing item, a saving grace to have access to when you’re getting knocked around. So far, it doesn’t feel particularly organic, section after section of clearing the same creatures, but I’m hoping that more variety will come into play as South of Midnight progresses.
I much preferred the sections in South of Midnight where I was platforming and just exploring the truly stunning world laid out in front of me. The Deep South itself is known for its swampy wetlands, and that vibe is captured here wonderfully, with lush, overgrown swamps and bayous, weathered wooden structures and moss-covered trees. Shades of muted greens, browns and blues give the world a very unique visual perspective that I can’t wait to see more of.
Traversal is made relatively breezy; in this chapter alone, Hazel learned how to double jump, glide through the sky and even wall-run (which, cleverly, allows you to reposition where you are on the wall vertically as you go, with those minor adjustments proving very helpful in more precise moments). These abilities made searching every nook and cranny even more interesting, as I searched for ‘Floofs’, the in-game currency used to upgrade skills, and was often rewarded for looking just a little bit deeper.
Narratively, I enjoyed the taste of South of Midnight that I had. Hazel seems like a plucky protagonist, pulling off the “what the hell is going on?” confusion you’d expect from someone thrown into such a wild scenario, while also making quips and heartfelt comments as you uncover more tidbits of story. At key points, Hazel has visions of sorts, echoes of the past where you can learn about the world and its characters, and each chapter is punctuated by a literal storybook and our Catfish narrator friend leading the way. Already, there’s a reverence and love of Deep South culture here that I think is going to make for a compelling tale come release.
While my hands-on time with South of Midnight was brief, it certainly eased many of my concerns. It’s been seven years since We Happy Few, and while the gameplay in that experience didn’t live up to the thrilling premise, it looks like lessons were learned from Compulsion Games that have been brought to the forefront here. Making an action-adventure experience that feels good has clearly been an important foundation this time around.
Hazel is a likeable lead, and the lush, decayed county of Prospero and its locals have its own serious charm, that is elevated beautifully by music inspired by the rich history of the South; a couple of needle drops during key moments had me nodding my head in delight. If South of Midnight can deliver on this premise across a full experience, I think we might have a sleeper hit on our hands.
South of Midnight is set for release on Xbox Series X|S and PC, also available on Xbox Game Pass, on April 8 2025.
About the Author
Luke Mitchell
he/him
Luke spends his time making radio, playing video games, binge-watching TV, getting unreasonably invested in wrestling, hosting bear events and hanging out with his beautiful pets.
