XBOX REVIEW | South of Midnight

South of Midnight won me over from the first trailer with the American Deep South setting and the giant ferryman, and then a second trailer came along and showed us that the music would be used to tell the story of Two-toed Tom and other Southern legends and I was sold.

We see other folklore and myths all the time, but this is one setting we haven’t visited that often, especially in games. I even think it’s been since Ghost Hunter on the PlayStation 2 days that I played through something set in this region myself.

There was a lot of fuss about the game looking like it intentionally had a low frame rate, but I was one of the few that actually appreciated the artistic decision, giving everything a stop-motion feeling that we already know works well paired with such visuals. Just look at movies like Coraline.

But the game is out now and I got to play it. Did it live up to my expectations, or was the critical crowd correct? Only one way to find out: keep reading!

Things I liked!

• The story & setting | As talked about in my intro, I’m a big fan of where this story takes place: in the American Deep South. A location drenched in folklore, voodoo and superstitions, with stories being told from person to person and each one adding some extra drama on top to increase the impact. I’ve never heard of tales like Two-Toed Tom, the giant gator or White Molly, who snatches kids away, or the Rougaroux, a were-owl. My interest was captured from the very start and I was always eager to learn more about these backstories.

• The characters | You play as Hazel Flood, a young black woman whose mother gets swept up in a storm and she discovers her dormant Weaver powers. When she finds tools in her grandmother’s mansion, she acquires what’s needed to fight the monsters ahead and she can fix knots in the Big Tapestry of life. Trust me, it all makes sense and it’s told in a very compelling way. Especially when the giant Catfish (amazing voice acting there!) tells the stories in his southern accent.

• The music | This is the main star of the show. BY FAR. It was the main reason I wanted to play this game and it does NOT disappoint. During key moments in the game, you’ll start hearing parts of a song, giving you more parts of the legend unfolding. It’s an amazing way to connect the music to the game and the narrative and I wish more games would explore this. If you want to see just some of the musical highlights, I made a video for it, but watch at your own risk as it does contain spoilers!

• Collectables | As you traverse the linear world, you’ll find a lot of collectibles that encourage exploration. I’ve grown to appreciate such design more recently, without overly large open world and markers to investigate. Just look around and think about how you could reach a floof (yes, that’s what the experience is called here) and use it to upgrade Hazel’s combat abilities. You can also find upgrade for her health and a lot of scattered notes to read.

• Show me the way | You can press R3 at any time and see a guide of where to go next. Which every gamer worth their salt uses to dash in the opposite direction, to go hunt for collectables, amirite? 😀

• Emotional backstories focusing on loss | Every other chapter has a new focus and most of them deal with loss, regret or guilt. Like a daughter setting a giant croc loose on her father, a brother nailing his sibling into a tree and leaving them there to perish, or your own father accidentally causing his sister to drown. These stories hit hard, but completionists will go the opposite way of the path/hint and then see these important sequences out of order, which feels like a small design flaw.

• Lots of accessibility settings | Outside of an easy story difficulty, you can customise your entire combat experience. From increased damage to enemies, to reduced damage you receive, or even a god-mode that applies to combat but also environmental hazards, you can tune your own experience to your liking. But more on the combat later. I do really appreciate these settings so the game can be enjoyed by more people, but I still think the many chase sequences will still hamper less-able players since they require lots of accurate button presses and almost perfect camera control.

Mixed & disliked!

• Wooden platforming controls | At the start of the game, Hazel feels very stiff to control. You won’t have a double jump or dash yet and she grabs on to every single ledge and snaps on to them in an almost mechanical way. It feels off and even later into the game, with all platforming abilities unlocked, I was still jumping to my death or failing an escape sequence because of some camera woes or the controls not responding like I would want. Also worth mentioning: the first 2 hours of the game had 6 or 7 of those “press Y to squeeze through the gap” moments, a tad overkill to rely on that scene transition so often.

• Combat | Basic combat against regular enemies isn’t really satisfying. They hit hard and dodging doesn’t feel as natural as it should in action games. Luckily, new-found abilities make this more fun the further you get into the game, but I had a better time when I went into the settings and increased the damage I dish out. There are also only 5-6 different enemy types in total that you’ll encounter, so this gets repetitive soon.

• Boss fights don’t have enough of a wind-up animation | The boss fights against Two-Toed Tom and White Molly should have felt like highlights of the combat gameplay, but instead, I found myself frustrated. The bosses throw wide and hard to avoid attacks at you, one after the other and the dodging window is extremely tiny unless you anticipate their attacks and already know their patterns. I feel like it should have been possible to get a better result on reflexes alone, but instead, I was cursing at the barrage of attacks thrown my way.

• anticlimactic ending | Without spoilers: I was kind of disappointed in the final boss fight. It’s just a faceless horror that spawns the same regular enemies you’ve been fighting all game. I wanted the game to end with a bang, and an amazing boss fight music, like I had grown to expect from South of Midnight. Honestly, it felt like the ending was rushed, and there were other elements that gave me similar vibes, like the giant ferryman from the first trailer not having a meaningful role in the game, or several subplots not leading to a satisfying conclusion.

• Hidden NG+ / Load chapter | This is a nitpick, but I was scared of not being able to replay a chapter of my choosing when I first beat the game. there was no Chapter select from the main menu, but it was hidden in the Load Game settings. It’s far from a completion-happy game though, because some chapters are very long and extremely linear, with various points of no return that aren’t clear to the player. Progress just a little too far, and you’ll be blocked from backtracking to find a collectable and will have to start the entire chapter again from scratch. If you want to find every single item in the game, prepare to use a step-by-step guide.

How long did I play the review before publishing? 12 hours
How long to beat the story? 10 hours
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 650/1000 (31/40)
How long to achieve 1000G | 12 hours
You’ll love this game if you like these | Hellblade: Senua’s Saga, Figment 2

CONCLUSION

Score: 80/100

Despite my many remarks on things that felt a little off, like the repetitive combat, sometimes wooden platforming and disappointing final boss, there is an undeniable charm to South of Midnight that makes it a must-play for all Xbox fans. The music is fantastic and well-worth listening to outside of the game, the stories and legends told hit all the right emotional strings and it looks great too. For telling the story through songs alone, I’d wholly recommend everyone to give this a try and the good vastly outweighs the bad. I’m hoping to see more of Hazel Flood!

Want to see the game in action? I’ve got you covered, here is Chapter 3 (as it avoids the tutorials)