South of Midnight

Shame on the greedy higher ups at Xbox for trying to kill such a talented team and studio, to quote Hazel the protagonist of this game "sacrificed to the almighty dollar" This game is full of charm and has a beautiful story that can only be described as a rollercoaster of emotions. The dialogues are funny and flow naturally, the soundtrack is of an amazing quality, it's very obvious that a lot of love and care went into the making of this beautiful piece of art. This game reminded me of the golden age of this industry where studios weren't afraid of offering original stories and ideas instead of churning up remasters and remakes because it's safer.

I'm really interested in the story and curious to see where it goes. I also want to get all the achievements, but the no-damage boss requirements make it really boring, this the point where I stop caring about what happens next. I don't mind the three-phase boss, but have to run halfway across the map between attempts every single time is torture. Other than that, it's a great game. The soundtrack is fantastic, and the gorgeous art style is both stunning and unique. The same goes for the story and its narrator. Sometimes the game doesn't go into enough detail about some of deep stories, but if you take time to read the notes and lore entries, you can probably piece together everything there is to know. Overall, I definitely recommend it. But if you're the type of player who needs every single achievement, you might want to keep some sedative medication nearby.

SCORE: ★★ - Disliked It THE BREAKDOWN +Gorgeous art and environmental design with a unique stop motion animation style +Hazel is a fantastic lead, with a likeable personality and fitting flaws for a teenager +The story attempts an ambitious look at the trauma and mythology of the Southern US, an underserved setting +Cinematic and visually arresting boss fights -Combat is awkward, poorly paced, and overly basic -Writing is clumsy and important themes are frequently rushed through and not given the nuance they deserve -Many of the story's crucial elements are wielded as a blunt instrument I so desperately wish I loved South of Midnight as much as I love what it's trying to do. Born and raised in Gulf Coast Texas, I'm well-acquainted with the stereotypes - some founded in fact, others not - about the deep south. I've joined neighbors who refused to evacuate from deadly hurricanes at their pre-storm barbeques, had two-faced family members put on the perfect face of southern hospitality while espousing the most rancid beliefs possible in private, and been taught that the Civil War was about 'States' Rights' from a middle school teacher who wore confederate flags whenever possible. I'm well-acquainted with the ugliness and the beauty alike, from a queer cousin who adopted racist views to fit in to a grandfather who spent his retirement doing free carpentry work across town because that was what it meant to be a good Christian. All of this is to say that South of Midnight's spotlighting of southern culture and mythology immediately appealed to me, and was a big part of why I purchased the game. An underserved setting in media, the deep south is host to rich stories and terrible trauma, and Compulsion Games' action-adventure makes a sincere effort to dive deep into both. Unfortunately, it's beset by so many problems in the process that I was never able to quite click with it. The premise is compelling enough: when a devastating flood sweeps away her home with her mother still inside, protagonist Hazel desperately attempts to chase her down, only to be confronted with a strange corruption, manifesting as twisted strands, that is slowly consuming her entire town. Discovering a set of enchanted tools in her estranged grandmother's house after the latter tries to restrain her, Hazel finds out - from a giant talking catfish, obviously - that she's a Weaver, someone who can see the Tapestry that binds creation. With her newfound powers, she sets out to not only rescue her mother, but battle the Haint spirits that are spreading and find the source of the corruption. Between the strong opening sequence and the graphics, my first impression of the game was very positive. South of Midnight is utterly GORGEOUS, with both gameplay and cutscenes boasting a stop-motion inspired animation style that works especially well for supernatural beings like the aforementioned giant catfish. It's a joy to look at and I don't have a single complaint about the aesthetic or visuals from start to finish. The creative talent is on display from both developers and cast, with the voice actors doing stellar work to bring their characters to life. The soundtrack is vibrant and fitting, blending orchestral work with banjos, flutes, and southern choirs for a very authentic sound. Unfortunately, the fantastic presentation wound up setting me up for serious disappointment. My earliest point of unpleasant friction was with the gameplay. I was halfway through the combat tutorial when I realized that attacking enemies as Hazel simply felt terrible. Despite exaggerated animations, there was no sense of impact to my blows, and enemies were difficult to read due to their often inhuman shape. Hazel does get some activated abilities to propel herself around and crowd control foes, but it's seasoning on a combat system that just doesn't feel good. The game itself isn't too challenging, and various difficulty options - including one to remove combat entirely - ensure the experience is customizable, but while I appreciate the option, there's something to be said for the fact it even had to be presented - and that it was tempting enough that I considered enabling it before long. Still, I'm one of the biggest suckers for narrative-based games in the world; some of my favorite games of all time - Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and more - have middling combat or worse, and that didn't stop me from loving them. But as much as I tried to meet South of Midnight on its own terms, I wound up no happier with the writing than I was with the gameplay. It took me a little while to piece together exactly why I bounced so hard off South of Midnight's storytelling, but by the end of the game, I had figured it out: there's simply too many plot threads, and the narrative suffers immensely for it. See, while the framing of the story is Hazel trying to find her mother, she actually spends most of her time addressing smaller mysteries - mysteries often rooted in the generational trauma of the deep south. Part of being a Weaver is guiding the spirits of the lost and troubled to rest, and Hazel wastes little time in doing her duty, both because that's simply the kind of person she is and because these spirits often hold clues to her mother's location. There's an admirable effort to weave (heh) the primary narrative together with these side stories, but South of Midnight simply rushes through them so quickly and approaches them so bluntly that I never found myself able to get attached. For example, early in the game, that catfish I mentioned earlier is being held in the air by an enormous tree possessed by the spirit of a young man who suffered a betrayal I won't spoil here. The tale of what happened to him, discovered through a blues song that adds more lyrics as the player progresses and ghostly images of the past, is undeniably tragic...but it wound up simply not hitting for me due to a combination of the song lyrics being almost comically blunt about what had occurred and there only being a handful of flashbacks before Hazel resolved his issue. After I had freed his spirit, I felt like I'd been rushed through a rollercoaster version of a Grimm Brothers story. From start to finish the entire sequence was maybe twenty minutes - most of that spent climbing and fighting - and this just kept happening. I'd enter a new area, find out about some horrible past trauma that left a troubled spirit behind, then fix it so quickly that I had barely processed what had happened. If these were the side quests in an RPG, I'd consider them shallow but interesting, but they're effectively what strings the main plot along in South of Midnight, and the substance just isn't there. This isn't to say that South of Midnight's story is entirely bad - it has a strong final couple of chapters and some downright wonderful set pieces including a battle against a gigantic eldritch owl and a musical dance number in the underworld - but it's just too diluted and unfocused for how short the game is, trying to tell a half-dozen meaningful stories in as many hours (and that's if you don't skip the padded combat encounters). As much as I wanted to love it, I walked away dissatisfied, like I'd sampled a variety platter without ever actually having a meal to fill me up. Constantly gorgeous and occasionally brilliant, South of Midnight is a wonderful attempt at an artistic endeavor in an underserved setting, but as both a game and a story, it unfortunately disappointed me.

This is the first game that’s moved me so much that I needed to write a review. The story, the music, the graphics and animation are all beautiful. It’s made me cry more than once for both sadness and joy. Just play it.

An excellent game from a great studio I did not need another reason to hate Microsoft but I have one. Hope this studio can be saved.

Everyone's already said it, but it bears - no, [i]demands[/i] repeating: The game is absolutely gorgeous. The art style, the music, the storytelling, the characters, all of it is beautiful, and complemented by the platforming gameplay and (to an extent) even the combat. Hazel is a very likeable character. She's witty, sassy, determined, but also kind and empathetic. ... Sometimes she is a bit dense [spoiler](one specific, glaring example being Huggin' Molly, where to me it seemed obvious that she was helping while Hazel was convinced she was a villain)[/spoiler] but I think the plot explains that well enough [spoiler](again, regarding Huggin' Molly, Hazel was terrified for her mother and misinterpreted certain things)[/spoiler]. All the supporting characters, even the antagonistic ones, have layers their own motivations, some of which make them relatable despite perhaps not being [i]likeable[/i]. Boss fights are unique and interesting, except for the very last one which is a bit of a let-down. Other combat encounters are fine, but they start to feel repetitive after a while. This isn't a problem since they're not very difficult and the game has an option to just skip combat altogether, and the platforming still adds engaging gameplay to the narrative. There are also a fair amount of hidden goodies and readables (for more backstory) to find through exploration. The whole game is very atmospheric in its different environments and that is perfectly underlined by the amazing soundtrack. I particularly enjoyed the unique theme songs for each boss. Words can hardly do this game and the experience of playing it justice, so this is a very enthusiastic recommendation.

In my opinion, it's a small masterpiece. The graphics are beautiful and the soundtrack is truly captivating. It reminded me of some old fairy tales, and I think that's intentional, with some references to Alice in Wonderland, for example. It's worth the full price, and the game has a long lifespan. Perhaps playing with a gamepad is a little easier than with a mouse and keyboard. My rating is 8/10

It's...fine! I'm really not sure what to think about it. The artwork and voice acting is phenomenal. The music was strange - maybe it's an intentional stylistic choice meant to match some genre I'm unfamiliar with, but the lyrics of some of the songs were so ear-piercingly on the nose that I actually had to disable the lead voice music (nice that it's an option though!). The combat is a bit arduous - everything feels a bit like a sponge, and only some attacks are well telegraphed enough where they can be dodged with any consistency. Camera angles can make combat a bit frustrating, and quite often the game will kinda force your camera angle to look at something which got a little irritating since I usually wanted to look at something else - felt a bit like someone grabbing my face. The gameplay is also incredibly linear and pretty repetitive, and there really aren't any puzzles. Altogether I'd call this closer to an interactive narrative than a game, if this were a spectrum, which isn't to say it's bad, but helps set expectations.

Game feels sluggish, limited where you can go and what you can do. Would be fine if the storyline was okey, but it was just boring. Went into easymode to just finish it quick. It feels like this is their first game...

8/10