South of Midnight Review

South of Midnight Review

I was very sceptical about South of Midnight every single time that Xbox has shown us this game but it always really intrigued me with its very unique stop motion aesthetic. This is also along with the interesting setting of the Deep South and that awesome looking gothic stylisation. I wanted to know why we have this aesthetic, where the plot was going to take us, how the platforming and combat feels and so much more. I dove into this experience with an open mind though, taking in every single bit of lore, scenery and story in my rough 12ish hours on this game. So is South of Midnight an excellent Platforming Adventure in the Deep South or does it make me want to weave the fabric of time and wish I never experienced it, well My name Is Fletcher, This is Xbox Nation and here is my review on South of Midnight.

Story

I want to start off by giving you a rough idea of the story and what you are going to experience in South of Midnight with minimal to no spoilers. This game truly stands on its two feet proudly with dark overarching themes and sense of discovery. The premise of this story is down to our character known as Hazel, whose Mother gets caught in a natural disaster within their hometown and your job is to find you Mother after she gets swept away. It sounds basic but trust me, it gets weirder, deeper and darker in terms of where it takes you. Throughout the game, you will become what is known as a weaver, this is in essence someone who can pull, twist and rework strands in the world which others cannot see and this really is the overarching Mechanic of the entire game. These strands will become a pivotal part of the game whilst searching for you Mother as each represents different feelings, emotions and so much more. Alongside this and throughout your search you will come across different characters, some of whom will have their own stories you are dissecting, looking into and ultimately saving them from despair and bringing hope back to the world. 

These stories that you explore can be incredibly hard hitting and these were a massive highlight of South of Midnight for me. The narration from not only Hazel herself but also a talking Catfish you encounter within the early stages of the game are expertly woven to provide you with that narrative. These stories are all part of the overarching Main Story but they all have some reason to be there and Compulsion Games have done an excellent job of tugging not only at the heart strings but giving you such engaging moments that honestly, it was so hard to put the game down. Their stories lead to you weaving these different strands and then diving into either boss battles or major plot twists. You probably would have seen a couple of boss fights previously and see a couple of bosses within the trailers shown off by Xbox. Yes you fight a massive Crocodile, an Owl and so much more and the boss design is stunning, more on that later though.

For me this game is really reminiscent in a way of the underrated Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. It has the same premise of finding these sort of lost or damaged souls and investigating what happened to then be faced with a boss battle or big story arch at the end. Banishers was one of my favourite games in 2024 and Compulsion have done such a great job that the Story for me was to be honest, the biggest highlight of my entire playthrough. It never outstays its welcome, it does a great job of pulling you in and the characters you meet along with Hazel are so excellently crafted. 

Exploration

This area is one that I will split into two parts as I have a lot of thoughts with some positive and some negative. First off I will be diving more into the World and what you can expect within South of Midnight. 

The world of South of Midnight is absolutely stunning and I loved every minute of diving into the deep south. You can tell the team over at compulsion have really poured their heart and souls into this area of the game and it really shows. You wouldn't be amiss by thinking that areas will look familiar but that is far from the case as there are so many different environments from the dark and decrepit swaps to the absolutely jaw dropping views when trekking to the mountain peak, the scenery and art direction is simply incredible. 

Exploration Leads to some incredible Encounters

The platforming when going through their environments is very enjoyable and never got stale or boring as I did look into every single nook and cranny available. You go from simply running through lush grassland, running across tree tops and wall running across displaced signs, it's all perfectly executed and the platforming really fits around the world. Of course like any platformers, you will have different elements to find such as these glowing obs that give you points towards skill tree upgrades, lore books and more. I will dive more into the skills and combat momentarily but one area I did want to highlight in terms of exploration is the build up to boss battles or leading up to a big story point. 

You will be scaling mountains, searching for ways to clear a path ahead of you or using a small companion you acquire into the story to help clear the stigma as it's in an unreachable location. The Exploration and World building really are a big highlight and I know so many will simply love this aspect. It is simple in the way that it is presented with the typical double jumps, gliding and climbing but it nails that simplicity and makes this such a highlight to overall experience.

Combat

Now onto the combat and honestly, this for me is very middle of the road. There are no enemies in the world whilst exploring like you got in games like Psychonauts 2, instead they are designated within these sort of small combat arenas where you have to defeat waves of enemies known at the Haint and then at the end unravel the knots to break the stigma around you. It was peculiar for me personally especially as you are funnelled into these areas and they are mandatory to progress the story. It feels as though they are sometimes put there just to extend the overall playtime and in later sections of the game there are multiple you have to clear just to progress the main story. By no means are they bad but I feel there could have been a better way to fight against enemies without being shoehorned into these tight and small combat arenas.  

The enemy design though, is one aspect I absolutely loved, they are drenched in Gothic Tones and look grotesque and really emphasise that dark folklore inspired setting. My only gripe, which is a small one, is that there are limited enemies that you encounter but of course these ramp up in types you come across in the later parts of the game. The only issue is that there are only 6 enemy types! I was expecting a bit more variety as once you're about half way through the game the enemies are practically the same almost all the time and that's where the arenas can feel tedious as it's just so samey. 

With combat within these arenas, it's also somewhat middle of the road and I feel it could put some players off. You have all the tropes of a usual action platformer, you have light attacks, a charged heavy attack and then small abilities which help you in battle. These range from stunning enemies, using a shockwave to displace enemies or send projectiles back. Just a note on the skills, you do have a very small skill tree that you can level up throughout the game which gives your abilities a better damage range or stuns enemies for longer. Its in no means a big aspect of the game at all and I was a little disappointed that this wasn't expanded on further. It feels as though it was a bit of an afterthought so dont expect much of an impact within the gameplay.

 The combat feels okay and I did enjoy my time with it even though it was a bit basic, you can easily pick it up with relative ease. The main issue I can see frustrating players more than anything is that the lock on camera for enemies was so finicky and at times caused me to perish way too often. If you are wanting a good chance in combat then use the free camera and dodge enemies as it's so much easier to use. I know a main gripe for people who took part in preview events was the enemy attack pattern and timing when to dodge their attacks. There is little to no hint at all sometimes as to when enemies are going to attack you and oh boy does that get frustrating. So many times I would be hit out of the blue as I didnt know when they were going to attack me. You get used to it as time goes on, but I still get hit by enemies where I don't see any sort of prompt. It's frustrating and inconsistent and can ultimately take you to your demise. You can tell that combat in this game is left a little to the wayside and the story and exploration is really the main draw. 

Boss Fights

I will briefly touch on the boss fights and I will note there are some tiny spoilers in this section just due to the nature of their names but I will only be including the first two you come across as I really don't want to spoil the later stages as they will blow your mind so feel free to skip if you want to. So these boss fights vary in difficulty and each of them have their own attack patterns and the boss design is honestly mind blowing. These arenas usually consist of 3-4 stages with you having to use the environment and your powers to defeat them. The intensity of course ramps up every single time and as you get to the next phase you are tasked with unique gameplay elements to progress to the next stage.  Due to the scale of some of these bosses, they were so intense and had my jaw on the floor. I really enjoyed these elements as they incorporate almost every single mechanic into each encounter and I know this is gonna be an area which many of you will love.

Two-Toed Tom - South of Midnight

Performance on Xbox Series X&S

Now onto the Performance aspect of the both Xbox Consoles and I have to say it was a fairly flawless experience across both. The main playthrough for me was on the Xbox Series X but I did experience some sequences with the Xbox Series S. For the Xbox Series X it's targeting 4K at 60fps whilst the Series S is targeting a resolution of 1080p at 60fps. I will chuck a couple of comparisons on screen for you now and as you can see the game looks very similar on both consoles. Due to the Stop Motion Aesthetic, I dont think there are major differences here, that stylisation is so beautifully rendered across the board on both consoles and I can confidently say that you will have a great experience no matter what xbox you are playing on. I did want to point out though that I did have a couple of frame rate dips in quite high density areas which wasn't great and it was certainly noticeable but I know Compulsion did state that a patch is being deployed for launch to fix this, so I cannot speak on the full launch experience at this time.

Stop-motion & Accessibility

I know this area is one that many of you might be interested in hearing more about and I don't blame you. The Stop-motion aesthetic is a real sticking point for South of Midnight and I know many are torn about the style with some absolutely loving it and others who hate it. I suspect this will also be the case when the game is fully out there on the market and I expect middling reviews across the board just totally dependent on if someone likes this art direction. For me, I love the stop motion, I think it's so unique, it's expertly done so it's not too jarring and in gameplay it's so effortlessly integrated that it's not harsh to break that immersion or detract from the overall experience. Yes you can turn off the stop motion in game and I will chuck this on screen now. I do have to state though that this doesn't stop the stop-motion in the cutscenes. This toggle only affects hazel and bits of the world, I did find it didn't stop everything but it is still a nice option to have. Like I said though, it's a stylistic choice and has nothing to do with the world, they could have put this in a generalised 3D environment and made it a boring run of the mill 3D platformer but this aesthetic is so pleasing, looks beautiful and I love it. It's definitely like marmite though, so some will hate it and some will love it.

Sound Design & Music

The Sound Design is another major highlight of South of Midnight and I cannot get the songs out of my head. The team really did a wonderful job with the music here and it fits the settings perfectly. When you come up to a boss section or a large platforming segment and have the music ramping up, it simply gives you goosebumps and it put a massive grin on my face every single time. Personally I have even put a couple of the songs on my Spotify Playlist as I think they are excellent. The music will really stand out here and a few of these musical numbers will leave a big smile on your face whilst fitting perfectly into each chapter. The Sound design across the board is also great and I recommend headphones for the most part. Hearing whispers from the strands in the sky, to the bleat of crickets in the fields and creeks of the tree tops in the swampland is so well done and expertly crafted.

Final Verdict

Now, this all comes down to my final verdict and I have to say I absolutely adored my time with South of Midnight even though there are certainly some flaws. It's0 a good action platformer but the Story, The World, The Sound Design and the Aesthetic make it such a fantastic experience that I will heavily recommend it to anyone especially if you have Xbox Game Pass. For me I loved the stylistic stop motion, the environments are top drawn and you can tell compulsion poured their love into this project. Yes it has been brought down by some really average combat, a limited skill tree and a few performance issues but the overall package for that smaller price tag makes it such a great value for your money and I think you will really enjoy your time with this one.

I will be giving South of Midnight a 78/100 and I'm so happy to see that xbox has got another good platforming experience joining the likes of Psychonauts 2. I do see some not liking this experience and that is totally okay, but if you want a dark, gothic inspired world with a story that pulls at the heart strings then you should dive into it right away.