South of Midnight
Played on X Box Series X | Original Release Date: 8 April 2025 | Review Date: 8 July 2025
OVERVIEW
I was initially drawn to South of Midnight because of its impressive visuals, an enticing graphical style that oozes charm and mystique. What can I say, I’m a sucker for good graphics. However, what I discovered is that South of Midnight is much deeper and meaningful than its visual flair. With themes exploring trauma, family relationships, feelings of inadequacy, debilitating loss, coming to terms with the fact that we haven’t achieved our hopes and dreams, South of Midnight, weaves mature storytelling, jaw-dropping visuals, and mostly, enjoyable gameplay throughout it’s wild journey based on Southern Folklore. But for as good as it is, does it stick the landing as one of the best games for this year?
STORY
In South of Midnight, you play as Hazel Flood, a high school track star and typical teenager. She’s interested in her personal life and finds her relationship with her mother challenging. However, Hazel has an undiscovered secret about her past.
The story begins with a hurricane approaching the fictional town of Prospero, America South. Lacey and Hazel live in a less affluent part of town, while Hazel’s grandmother, Bunny Flood, is the matriarch of the affluent Flood family. Despite their familial ties, they don’t speak. Hazel suggests they seek shelter with Bunny. Lacey refuses, revealing a deep mistrust between them. Hazel doesn’t understand why and can’t convince her mother to open up, a theme that drives her journey. As the storm intensifies, Lacey tells Hazel to check on their neighbours. Hazel visits them and as she returns home her house, and mother, are swept away in the flood. Hazel desperately tries to keep up with them, but sadly loses them both downstream. Seeking help, she visits her grandmother, Bunny, who allows her to stay the night as the storm rages on.
After the storm, Hazel finds mystical weaving hooks in Bunny’s attic and discovers she can see mystical strands guiding her. She soon discovers that her magic is the gift of being a Weaver, responsible for protecting the Tapestry of Life, the fabric that holds reality together and keeps people safe from evil. However, evil forces can tear through the tapestry, causing pain and trauma. As a Weaver, Hazel can heal people’s trauma. On her journey to understand more of what it means to be a Weaver, she embarks on an Odyssean journey to find her mother, battle mythical creatures from Southern Folklore, and evil spirits called ‘haints’ while traversing the marshes, rivers, swamps, mountains, and other Southern-inspired areas.
The story of South of Midnight is it’s strongest aspect. I don’t recall a video game that’s been set in this world before, and one that leans deeply into the lore and folklore of America South. I’ve had the chance to visit New Orleans a few times, and I’ve always been intrigued by the rich culture, unique history and mystic religious views that permeate every street in the city. The writers of South of Midnight have carefully crafted a story that celebrates these unique aspects of the American South history and folklore, while also weaving universal human experiences in the story that can resonate with all of us. You don’t have to know anything about the location and it’s history to appreciate the themes present throughout the game.
Writer Zaire Lanier and her team, have written the dialogue and the folklore that each chapter is based with authenticity and it all feels grounded in reality. At the same time they achieve a story that feels epic and mythological in scale. I’m not a scholar of Roman or Greek mythology, so I could be wrong with this next statement, but these stories represented in South of Midnight seem like they are unique to this region of the world and not just a reimagined version of Roman and Greek stories. They are truly based on human experiences that cause the characters in the story to become ‘god-like’ in their nature, but sadly they are transformed by trauma and not positive forces. Why is there an alligator the size of an island swimming through the swamps? How could a bartender turn into a massive bird of prey a destroy a mining town? Is Huggin’ Molly real? A gigantic demon-arachnid-woman like creature that steals little children and they’re never to be seen again.
As you go through the 14 chapters of South of Midnight, you’ll discover that everything is not as it seems. You’ll also learn that Hazel has her own trauma that she must work through in order to truly become the great Weaver she is destined to become. And if you’re like me, you’ll resonate with the themes that are explored throughout the game. I found it genuinely tough to listen to some of the dialogue or to process some of the stories. The writers don’t pull their punches with the subject matter, but they also don’t let the character’s succumb to their despair, or every become troupes. What can seem like an impossible emotional challenge to overcome, can metaphorically be beaten within the games narrative and gameplay. It’s not hyperbole to say, that the story can have a therapeutic aspect to it, if you are willing to let it in. I wouldn’t want to put anyone off from playing a game that deals with issues like loss and trauma, but if you are struggling with any of these things, just be mindful of where you are with the challenges you’re facing so you can be aware of what you’re getting into when playing the game. But one way the designers of the game help ease this challenge is through a gorgeous art style that always kept me grounded in the fact that I was playing a game based on storybook stories with some interesting gameplay mechanics.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay in South of Midnight is a bit of a mixed bag of yarn for me. I really love it when a game’s weapons and systems are organically connected to the world they are set in, an element South of Midnight gets spot on for me. Hazel’s main weapons are a pair of weaving hooks that she discovers in her grandmother’s attic. These hooks allow her to manipulate mythical strands of fabric that only she, and other weavers, can see. She can also use there sharp hooks to inflict damage on enemies and bosses throughout the game. As you progress you’ll gain more abilities that are directly related to the weaving hooks that help Hazel with traversal and within combat - all of which feel perfectly related to the theme of weaving yarn and tapestries.
The gameplay loop on the other hand is where I found myself loosing a bit of interest as I got further into the game. In most chapters of the game, you’re job is to help an afflicted character who are based on real folklore stories, but the writers adapt them to support the gameplay’s narrative. Each of these characters and locations are afflicted by Stigma that must be cleared so they can heal.Stigma is basically like Blight from Dragon Age Inquisition or Malice from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. To help the character Hazel must find three or four sources where the Stigma is getting its power from, defeat a horde of Haints, evil spirits that cause trauma, and then destroy the Stigma’s power source to restore the area back to its natural state of being. After you destroy the Stigma’s power source you’ll uncover an aspect of the character’s story, which helps Hazel understand why they are experiencing so much trauma. You finish this chapter, move to the next and effectively repeat the same thing with a different story.
The repetitive aspect of the this gameplay loop grew tiresome around chapter 8 or 9 for me. I was happy to engage with it, because the story in each chapter is so good. But it felt very same-y and more like a chore rather than fun. They do mix things up a bit by giving Hazel more combat options as you progress through the game. You’ll find Floof, which is mystical yarn, located throughout hidden areas or after you defeat enemies. Get more Floof, then you can upgrade your skills in combat. You gain the ability to tie up enemies with yarn for a moment, paralysing them so you can attack them without them attacking back. You can increase the distance and damage of a charge blast and battle mechanics. There are also new varieties of Haints that you discover along the way. Each with their own attack pattern, style and strength. I played on the normal setting and never really found these battles to be too hard. I did die from time to time, but that was because I wasn’t fully engaged with the combat and made poor choices, not because it was too hard.
Every three or four chapters you’ll discover a boss battle. These are a lot of fun! I enjoyed all of them with the Huggin’ Molly battle being a stand out favourite. Each boss has several phases you have get through with different attack patterns you have to memorise during each phase. The boss battles aren’t really that hard either, but they are fun. Except for one aspect of the final boss battle, but this has less to do with the actual battle itself, and more with the control scheme which I’ll come onto shortly. Overall the fighting mechanics of the game are fine. They have good impact collision. And you feel really powerful by the end of the game, using your different skills and abilities to take down large Haints with a series of acrobatic moves and attack patterns. But the repetitiveness of these battles grew tiresome for me and I found myself going through the motions because I had to, and not because I wanted to.
One thing I have to mention when talking about controls and mechanics is the addition of Crouton. Crouton is your childhood doll that is brought to life through mystical means and joins your party early in the game. Crouton is the cutest character, full of charm and whimsy! Every time I got to control Crouton, I had such a smile on my face because of the way he walks and the noises he makes. Such an adorable, and powerful, addition that is fun to discover.
South of Midnight has an open zone structure. You’re guided down a pre determined pathway with a few opportunities to go off the path to discover secret Floof locations or to find hidden objects or notes that expand the story of the game. This worked fine for me and I think it serves the game rather well. That could be because I’m in a place of open-world-fatigue at the moment, so your experience may vary. Each zone has various different platforming challenges that work for the most part. Hazel controls a tad bit stiff for my liking and I found that stiffness in control got in the way of executing precision platform moments. The most egregious of these moments takes place in the final boss battle where you’re asked to traverse complex platforming, using a combination of your skills that you gain throughout the game, but because of the stiffness of the controls, I died more on this element of the boss fight rather than the actual fight itself. I almost stopped playing because it was getting ridiculous! But, I dug deep and made it through.
I focus on the control and the gameplay loop because, even through the story is one of the best stories I’ve come across in a video game in a long time, we are still playing a video game and I wanted to have a bit more variety to the gameplay experience. I really wanted this game to be a masterpiece, it has all the makings of it to be one, but alas these elements of the experience ‘weave me’ wanting more. On the flip side, the graphics within the game are hands down, some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen in a video game.
GRAPHICS
South of Midnight uses an impressionistic art style mixed with stop-motion animation. The characters and the environments are animated with a choppiness to them that reminds me of animated movies from the 70’s and 80’s. There is a real quality to the graphics that makes it feel like a story come to life a la video game. Its not coincidence that the game is told with a storybook motif, so why not have a similar art style to match? Not only does it look beautiful, but it also allows supports in ‘softening’ the themes that are explored in the game. Animation has a way of exploring challenging topics that helps the subject matter feel less overwhelming, and the designers and animators got it spot on with this game. There is a lot of love and care that has gone into every character model and environment. They are haunting, surreal and beautiful all at the same time.
Each area of the game has a unique quality to it in terms of landscape and location setting. But they are woven together through through art style so each location still feels like a cohesive world. My favourite character design is Huggin’ Molly, she is frighteningly beautiful. My favourite environment is also Huggin’ Molly’s location with its mad scientist vibes and creepy animal skeletons and cadavers littered throughout her den.
Even though there is a choppiness to the animation, the game runs with a smooth frame rate, and I never came across any technical challenges during my play through. I suspect this art style will be off putting to some, and I’ve seen reports of people having motion sickness because of it, so be mindful if you’re someone who does get motion sickness, to be on the safe side. But if you’re on the fence about this game due to the art style, give it a chance, there are incredible places to discover and you won’t regret it. I hope this game is in the running for best graphics when we get to the end of the year lists, it’ll get my vote!
MUSIC
Olivier Derivière, the composer for the game, really leans into local music types and sounds. He also manages to blend full vocal songs that fit right in with the folklore aspects of the game. You’ll hear lots of jazz inspired tracks as if you’re walking down Bourbon Street in New Orleans. My favourite one being the music in the final level - what a treat! There are slower country songs that evoke the environment around you as well as eerie compositions that highlight the mystique of the game and it’s settings. During key moments of the game there are originally written and sung pieces of music all about the character you’re helping or battling. These songs really helped to amplify the story beat in a cinematic way. There is also a standout moment towards the end of the game where one of the original songs is sung by a character. It discusses some really challenging themes, but it’s juxtaposed with a jazz style that makes it feel less heavy and burdensome. The music is an aspect of the game where the team really took the opportunity to try something different than what you’d normally get in a video game. It might not be to everyone’s taste, but we need more of this in games to support evolving and elevating the art form.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
South of Midnight takes you on an emotional journey through and impressionistic world with roughly 30 hours of gameplay. There is the saying ‘greater than the sum of it’s parts’ and I think this is the case with South of Midnight. In some ways, it plays it safe, with standard gameplay mechanics that you’ll be familiar with if you’ve played a video game in the last ten years. In other ways it pushes the boundaries of the video game art form in ways other studios are retreating from. It doesn’t play it safe, and that ultimately makes this an easy game to recommend for everyone to play. If you’re remotely curious, give it a shot, even if its just for the story mode. But if you like a little challenge and unique story telling mechanics with music that slaps, you’re in for a real treat. Sew….what are you waiting for!?
OUT OF SYNC GAMING REVIEW SCORE | 8 out of 10
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