South of Midnight

The concept of South of Midnight may captivate those who enjoy story-driven adventures, thanks to its stop-motion-inspired art style and a narrative rooted in regional mythology with a deeper message. However, in terms of gameplay mechanics, it feels a bit generic. Still, while it’s far from a perfect game, it offers a worthwhile experience for players who value storytelling over action.

If I wasn’t reviewing South of Midnight, I would probably just watch it on YouTube. The gameplay is fine, but nothing special. The linearity of the experience also holds it back at times. As such, the real star of the show is the writing, characters, and incredible art style. The cutscenes are some of the most elaborate and well-animated I have seen in a long time. South of Midnight begs to be an animated movie at some point, so I hope it happens.

Artistically, it is certain that Compulsion Games offers us its finest copy, with a game that constantly flirts with the beautiful and sometimes the sublime, all cradled by a soundtrack as captivating as it is enriching. But if the coating is more than successful, the gameplay proposition is much less so, since South of Midnight languishes in a rather staggering classicism. With its limited and repetitive gameplay loop, the structure of its levels that is far too linear and conventional, disappointing bosses and a bestiary of distressing poverty (there are 6 different enemies during the 15 hours of adventure), we realize that Compulsion Games has favored form over substance. Be careful, it is far from being catastrophic, but there is nothing exciting either, and it is all the more regrettable that certain mechanics, although conventional, manage to work at times. South of Midnight is clearly a game built for Game Pass: it plays well when it's part of the subscription.

South of Midnight is a tremendous display of artistry, even if its gameplay doesn't hit the same heights.

South of Midnight scores points with its stories, great atmosphere and fantastic soundtrack, but fails to inspire in terms of gameplay.

South of Midnight takes players on a journey through America's Deep South, showcasing beautiful environments and imaginative mythological elements. Its excellent soundtrack and distinctive stop-motion aesthetic combine to create a unique and memorable audiovisual experience. However, the gameplay falls flat, offering one-note design with overly simplistic platforming and combat.

South of Midnight’s endless imagination and slick presentation make for a perfect weekend playthrough for Game Pass subscribers. But it doesn’t quite have the chops to make it the fun single-player action game that I had hoped for.

South of Midnight is an amazing experience - wrapped in a fairly basic and reasonable game. With an equally amazing art line that creates an immersive experience, which gets stuck here and there on the rocks along the way. The game's boring gameplay first and foremost does not respect the rest of its elements, and prevents it from being a smooth ride - even if it does not completely prevent the overall experience from being unforgettable.

With its masterful art direction, South of Midnight nevertheless suffers from gameplay that is far too poor, a bestiary that doesn't renew itself enough, and a story that doesn't follow through on its project or deepen its subtext.

South of Midnight doesn't reinvent anything, but it does a competent job of everything it attempts. With all that’s going on in gaming right now, that's worth something. South of Midnight respects your time, delivers an emotional narrative, trusts that you know how to play it, and is bursting with texture and taste. This is a future classic for someone, and it might just be you.

South of Midnight is a charming (if predictable) action-adventure experience that's perfectly happy to play it safe. Nods to folklore and the Southern Gothic tradition are well conceptualized through mechanics, lore, and environments, even if areas like narrative order suffer for this stylization. Familiarity soon fades into monotony across nine of its 14 chapters, though it's hard to stay bored when South of Midnight's world is such a smooth and effortless joy to explore. The result is a spellbinding tale that struggles to find its rhythm, but once found, absolutely sings.

South of Midnight is a good game - nothing more, nothing less - one that storytelling-lovers will find enjoyment from and one that fans of tight and refreshing gameplay will find a bit repetitive and flat.

From its engaging narrative which finds a young woman desperately searching for her mother, to its stunning visuals that are a treat for the eyes, there's a lot to love about South of Midnight. It's just a shame that the combat is a bit repetitive and that the powers you acquire are uninspired.

South of Midnight has some incredibly strong storytelling chops, brought together by its stunning visual design and excellent soundtrack. Unfortunately, the experience is bogged down by boring, repetitive combat and lackluster platforming, but it's worth rushing through those parts to experience everything else South of Midnight has to offer.

South of Midnight impresses with its gripping story and excellent audiovisuals, but the repetitive combat and basic platforming drag it down. Nonetheless, it’s a stylish, enjoyable journey for those willing to overlook the gameplay shortcomings.

South of Midnight is a game with an interesting story and a distinctive art style, but the gameplay itself is fairly standard at its best and irritatingly repetitive at its worst, whether in combat or exploration. The overly talkative protagonist also hurts the experience, though the game may still find its audience — it’s not a bad game, but far from a memorable one.

There’s real dedication to recreating the Deep South with detailed folklore, local dialects in its dialogue and music evocative of the region. The plight of a community suffering from poverty, the effects of capitalism and crime is handled with nuance, it’s just a shame the gameplay doesn’t match up.

South of Midnight impresses with its unique Southern Gothic setting and stunning visuals, but falls short due to repetitive gameplay, shallow storytelling, and lackluster combat.

South of Midnight is ready to offer atmospheric and dark fairy tales of the South, enhancing the effect due to excellent visuals and excellent musical accompaniment. However, Compulsion Games once again failed to support their ideas with interesting gameplay.

It’s a weird juxtaposition, to have a progressive story against a regressive game, but that kind of contradiction feels almost perfect for South of Midnight. It is, after all, a game about how messy we are as people, and how, sometimes, it makes us so unique in the end.

What you’re left with is a game whose best ideas are all optics. The fairytale southern style plays out like a modern, YA take on Toni Morrison’s fiction while summoning some of the whimsical, damaged beauty of 2012’s Beasts of the Southern Wild. The soundtrack is a rambunctious collage of howling blues, twanging folk and lilting jazz. Compulsion Games bottled much southern magic during the making of this seemingly risky gambit for Microsoft, yet failed to take risks where it really mattered: this unique setting deserved more.

Despite its fantastic visuals, superb voice acting, and a gorgeous, intriguing world filled with character and charm, South of Midnight sadly falls flat. A lack of variety in enemy types and some dull combat make combat encounters tedious and frustrating towards the end, whereas the story, which starts off so promising, ultimately gets lost in the hollers along the way.

South of Midnight excels in key areas, but its gameplay is so underwhelming that it's hard to truly appreciate everything it does well.

Clearly the aim here has been to make something broad, to bring this story and its amplification of southern culture to as many people as possible. But in the process the joy of more rewarding interactivity, or more uniquely defined identity beyond the familiar platforming and fighting patterns, has been lost. So, again, the overwhelming sense here really is one of disappointment. Not that South of Midnight is a disappointing game - far from it - but that it's such a shame for it to get so close to being something so genuinely special. This is a game of just remarkable craft - we've not even mentioned the stop-motion style of animation! It's lovely - and likewise remarkable attention, thought, and care. If only just a little more of that care had been afforded to the playing of it.

South of Midnight is a gorgeous adventure with wonderful performances, striking visuals and solid platforming gameplay. Its combat, however, is repetitive and reductive in equal measure, letting the overall package down considerably.

South of Midnight feels like a game that wanted to soar but never really left the ground. It’s undeniably gorgeous and hints at a level of creativity that, under better direction, could have led to an unforgettable adventure. However, between the undercooked combat, stilted platforming, and a meandering story that can’t decide on its central theme, it’s tough to recommend without a few asterisks. Hazel deserved more, and so did we. For now, South of Midnight remains a curiosity—worth a glance if you’re keen on its aesthetics or folk-infused premise, but ultimately lacking the cohesion it needs to shine.