A southern speaking fish! Are you having a laugh or what? Introducing South of Midnight, the long-awaited adventure title from Contrast and We Happy Few developers Compulsion Games. In South of Midnight you play as a spritely young woman called Hazel, who is pulled into a strange and fascinating world of southern American folklore fantasy. Does South of Midnight indeed go south with its ambitions, or does this stop-motion animated curio have some engrossing intrigue to keep you wanting more?
Starting off amidst a freakish hurricane, protagonist Hazel finds herself rushing to rescue her mother whose home is thrust into the raging floods. Unfortunately, Hazel couldn’t save her mama, but she does find herself stumbling into a strange fantasy world, and she gains the ability to weave spirits and reignite connections that were once lost. The strangeness of what Hazel discovers does baffle her at the beginning, but her quest to find her mother pushes her forward, although she’ll need to contend with the freakish perils she comes up against.
There’s a powerful and meaningful tale you’ll be sucked in by thanks to the way South of Midnight tells its story. Not only do Hazel’s no-nonsense charms keep you going, but South of Midnight‘s endearing trait of letting you mend broken bonds and reunite with old acquaintances brings you closer into the personal journey of Hazel and of the folks you meet throughout. There’s an unassuming gentleness to the story that you may find relatively plain at first, but delving deeper reveals the true beauty of South of Midnight and its very particular and special ties to southern culture.
There is a clear and unmistakable love and an ode to southern America, and it’s not just apparent in the characters’ drawl. The flooded areas you come across are sad reminders of a tainted land, but the beautiful forests and the elegance inherent in ripping away tarnished landscapes to reveal the natural beauty of South of Midnight‘s fantastical lands is nothing short of staggering. A considerable amount of devotion has been put forward to making South of Midnight an outstanding adventure game with its enduring focus on southern folklore, and it’s a spectacular delight to witness.
The stop-motion stylization South of Midnight adopts lends itself well to the thick southern fantasy and all its storybook conceits. Cutscenes look very sharp and attractive, which only adds to the elegance to the tale, however at times it can be baffling to tell whether stop-motion is working its magic, or if there are framerate issues because the game looks like it’s slowing down during cutscenes, but it might be the artistic affect that produces this worrisome concern.
Ideas are in abundance when it comes to South of Midnight‘s gameplay. Many new skills and enemies will appear as you progress, showing that South of Midnight doesn’t stop giving you something new to either play with or come up against. Hazel’s ethereal weaving abilities are used in a variety of ways to help her with combat, environment exploration and puzzle-solving, providing her with empowerment befitting the eloquence and mysteriousness of her surroundings.
Examples of Hazel’s powers include her ability to sling across the environment with a tether, glide delicately towards surfaces allowing her to traverse with ease, a wall-walk, temporarily turn ghostly objects into solid platforms so you can safely land on objects, and an ability to levitate stones and throw them at glowing obstructions to knock them down. Sometimes you’ll need to weave-manipulate carts in order to obtain upgrade orbs (yes there’s a small ability upgrade system for Hazel’s weaving magic), as well as assisting her to reach higher ground.
All of these powers gives you a sense of dominion over the landscape, though they alone will not support you in every encounter you have with puzzles. There are times you’ll need to rely on electricity to help power a train for example, so that you can use the carriage to reach higher ground, but the generator maybe hidden out of plain sight. In instances where Hazel isn’t able to solve environmental puzzles on her own, you can call upon an adorable miniature stitched figure called Crouton, who is capable of navigating hidey holes and gaps Hazel can’t fit through, as well as be thrown by Hazel to reach areas she can’t access.
On the combat front, South of Midnight hushes with echoes of Ember Lab’s Kena: Bridge of Spirits, as Hazel is tasked with unshackling a blight known as The Stigma, which contorts once-glowing environments in spikes and a brooding darkness that spawns demented entities known as haints. When you enter an area full of this nastiness, you’ll come up against haints of various shapes and sizes. Here, Hazel will use her trusty hooks to cut and tear the heck out of these haints until they are nothing more than a rotting pile on the ground, after which Hazel can untangle them to regain a modicum of health, then proceed to untangle the entire stigma by jamming a hook into a cauldron-like pot, which releases the chokehold on the area and restores it to its former blooming vitality.
Battles against haints can be grueling affairs dependent on your difficulty, as their attacks can be sudden and vicious with furious swipes that come out of nowhere, and seismic attacks that can cover a significant area that Hazel walks on. Get ready to dodge out of the way when they glow yellow, as they’ll be unleashing an unavoidable attack, and be weary of enemies off-screen as well. Luckily there is a health-replenishing green ray Hazel can use, but you’ll still be in for a tough fight each time.
If there are a couple of areas where South of Midnight becomes a bit too repetitive, it’s these battles against the haints, and the repetitive mission objectives to banish the stigmas. The former can be somewhat forgiven because these battles won’t take up much of your time, but they still feature Hazel hacking away until life bars have been drained completely. Hazel only uses her hooks and secondary abilities in these miniatures wars, but other weapons and more ferocious powers could’ve made Hazel more dominating in these encounters.
As for the repetitious objectives, they make sense because South of Midnight is about repelling blights and re-establishing connections, but the rhythm does become a little monotonous after a while, yet this is salvaged due to how impressively designed the world is, and thus it is easy to forgive.
Occasionally there are boss fights Hazel will come up against, and these are wonderful highlights as they express the wondrous imagination of South of Midnight as whole. Hazel will need to use all the powers she has learnt to overcome these beasts, though you may not stop wondering why there weren’t more bosses in the game, as they are quite sparingly used overall.
However, the lack of bosses is balanced out by sections where you’re required to frantically escape a dark presence by platforming your way through obstacles while being very careful with not falling over the edge of platforms. These sections aren’t too demanding, but you’ll need to think fast otherwise the darkness may grab you and force you to restart.
One thing that can be truly noted in South of Midnight‘s favour, is how accessible and breezy it is. It’s already enough that the game plays so smoothly and satisfyingly, but the difficulty options and the generous checkpointing and guidance is very welcoming, and will definitely endear new players. It’s crystal clear that the emphasis on accessibility in South of Midnight emphasizes the focus on Hazel’s story, and as such is handled with a carefully-considered ease and balance. If you want difficulty you can definitely get your fill here, but the approachability of South of Midnight stands out just as well as just about everything else.
Conclusion
A beautiful and wonderful surprise, South of Midnight is a delightful fantasy adventure title that crafts a uniquely southern story about connection and rebuilding harmony in a way that’s rare in videogames today. Hazel and the cast of characters are pleasant, the powers and abilities Hazel uses are plentiful and pleasing, the world is rich with engrossing natural environments, and the breeziness inherent within the game’s storytelling and accessibility makes it a stunning experience. The repetition does grate, and scrapping against haints could use more sparkle and empowerment, but otherwise South of Midnight is one of the best games this year and thoroughly deserves your attention.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
