I'll Fight Through The Motion Sickness To Play South Of Midnight, Damn It

Compulsion Games’ South of Midnight appears to be precisely what I anticipated: an action-adventure sport that includes platforming and fight that feels harking back to the style throughout the PlayStation 2 period. Having now performed the sport for about 90 minutes, the gameplay would not wow me. That mentioned, South of Midnight would not really feel like a sport that should ship a never-before-seen gameplay expertise. The focus of the sport is clearly its celebration of the myths, sounds, tradition, and language of the American South, and in that respect, South of Midnight seems like it’ll exceed these expectations.You play as Hazel in South of Midnight, determined to seek out her mom after their house washes away in a hurricane. Early into her journey, she learns to be a weaver, an individual who can each unravel the corrupting forces influencing a group and knit collectively constructs to glide or leap throughout harmful swampland. As Hazel searches for her mother, her talents and expertise as a weaver proceed to develop and he or she comes throughout quite a few legendary monsters, beings who have been as soon as people or animals and have since been twisted into legendary larger-than-life creatures by the trauma and tragedy that surrounded them in life. As a weaver, Hazel’s job is to place these legends to relaxation.Hazel can use her weaver talents to glide, grapple, double bounce, and wall-run.My time with the sport noticed me step in throughout an early chapter, which instantly precedes the extent and boss battle I noticed throughout my journey to Compulsion Games final 12 months. The chapter begins with Hazel having solely not too long ago turn out to be a weaver and making the acquaintance of Catfish, who guarantees to assist her discover her mom if she first frees him from the grip of a colossal tree that resembles a scared and sad-looking man. The stage then establishes the gameplay loop that South of Midnight will presumably observe for the remainder of the story: Hazel platforms by way of largely linear ranges, encountering and preventing teams of enemies who guard the reminiscences that element the reality behind an area legend.I’m not offered on South of Midnight’s platforming or fight. Admittedly, this demo made me very motion-sick (I assume it was the stop-motion-inspired animation fashion, though stop-motion has by no means been an issue for me earlier than), so I used to be a tad cranky by the point I completed up. Still, South of Midnight is not an particularly rewarding gameplay expertise. You can mess up the platforming and miss a bounce, however the part I performed by way of had their platforms so shut collectively and Hazel is so acrobatic that I by no means did, aside from one early second after I purposely jumped into the swamp water to see whether or not Hazel can swim. Spoiler: she can’t. The mistake value me a portion of Hazel’s well being, however since there aren’t any enemies to cope with throughout the platforming sections, this setback did not create any rigidity like what’s seen in platformers that do one thing related.Catfish acts as a information and instructor to Hazel after she saves him.It’s value noting that the chapter I performed by way of felt extraordinarily early into Hazel’s journey, very very like a bike-with-training-wheels part. So the platforming might turn out to be more difficult and subsequently extra fulfilling to clear in a while. From what I’ve seen to this point, nonetheless, Hazel’s double-jumping, gliding, and wall-running by way of the bayou would not add any pleasure to the method of shifting from level A to B. The most disappointing a part of the demo was a chase sequence proper on the finish, through which all Hazel needed to do was bounce backwards and forwards between opposing partitions she was working alongside. There was no flooring, and the crescendo within the music curated a way of rigidity and suspense, however when all I used to be doing was leaping backwards and forwards between partitions to keep away from easy-to-spot gaps, it trivialized what felt like ought to have been this extremely suspenseful run for Hazel’s life.Combat additionally feels considerably trivial in service to the narrative. As a weaver, I anticipated Hazel to own talents and actions that mirrored the act of suturing, knitting, or tearing, an assumption strengthened by Hazel wielding a spindle and weaving hooks as weapons in fight. Instead, Hazel makes use of her instruments extra like twin daggers, needing to dodge out of the best way of enemy assaults and slash them sufficient instances so {that a} immediate pops to unweave them, which Hazel does with a cinematic flourish. She possesses some talents to enhance her instruments, like a stun and telekinetic shove, that use a cooldown to maintain you from spamming them, and a ability tree helps you to unlock further strikes for Hazel, like a ground-pound.Sometimes bottling up your emotions takes a literal bottle.Altogether it is wonderful. South of Midnight definitely would not fairly attain the acrobatic triumphs of one thing like Sunset Overdrive, nor does Hazel have a block or counter (in what I performed, at least–maybe she will get one later), that are obligatory mechanics for a extra strategic and tactile fight expertise on par with Hi-Fi Rush. Since Hazel is not all that nimble throughout fight, the enemies cannot be all that quick and since Hazel can’t block or counter, the enemies’ assault patterns cannot be all that complicated. What’s left is a gameplay expertise through which you’ve gotten Hazel dodge out of the best way of an enemy’s clearly telegraphed assaults, wail on them with melee assaults and skills, and repeat. Since Hazel sometimes takes on no less than three or 4 enemies at a time, there is a problem in needing to maintain observe of the place combatants’ placements are, however no enemy I fought had a specific weak point or counter to considered one of Hazel’s strikes, so the technique of wildly slashing labored on every thing. And, in fact, when you skinny the herd a bit and kill one or two enemies, the remaining enemies do not have the numbers to pose a rewarding problem.I get the sense that fight is not speculated to be all that arduous, although, or no less than not be a roadblock within the participant’s path. Each enemy encounter I confronted had a pick-up inside the fight enviornment that I might go and work together with to replenish Hazel’s well being, trivializing every combat additional by guaranteeing I used to be by no means near demise.The one huge exception I might see to that is the boss battles. When Hazel faces these native legends, the encounter can play out in a couple of alternative ways. When I went to Compulsion Games’ workplace and noticed the chapter that instantly follows this demo, it concluded with Hazel taking over the colossal Two-Toed Tom. It appeared unimaginable, with Hazel dealing with Tom by way of a number of phases of accelerating issue, however I did not get an opportunity to play it myself. In the chapter I performed for this demo, the “final battle” was climbing a tree alongside a clearly marked path. It was fairly cinematic and the gradual build-up of the music made the expertise really feel suitably epic, nevertheless it lacked the gravitas of the Two-Toed Tom boss combat I’ve seen (in addition to the transient take a look at Huggin’ Molly’s boss combat throughout the South of Midnight trailer that debuted throughout 2025’s Xbox Developer Direct). The boss battles may very well be the place the fight mechanics come collectively in a extra fulfilling approach.Fighting Two-Toed Tom seems to be a lot enjoyable.All that mentioned: South of Midnight’s artwork course, soundtrack, character design, voice performing, and writing appear incredible, so regardless of my misgivings with the remainder of the sport, I need to dive into the total story to see and listen to and expertise extra of its world. Similar to video games like Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Tales of Kenzera: Zua, or Assassin’s Creed: Origins, South of Midnight seems like it’ll be an expertise lengthy remembered for its setting–the actual star of the present. There’s clearly been quite a lot of nice care right here to not solely honor the sights and sounds of the American South, however have a good time the tradition and tales informed by the individuals who name the place house.Lots of affection has been dedicated to the extra fantasy components too, with enjoyable nods to sayings or slang with regard to Hazel’s abilities–she makes use of a bottle to gather the sentiments surrounding every legend, for instance, in a nod to “bottling up emotions.” What I really like most, nonetheless, is that South of Midnight appears to not be stuffed to the brim with paperwork to seek out, audio recordings to uncover, or NPCs to elucidate each aspect of no matter fantastical situation is going on to Hazel. So far, the sport has allowed me to only exist in its fantasy, fumbling for solutions alongside Hazel, sustaining the general mysticism of the locale and the legends informed in regards to the individuals and creatures who stay there.I actually hope South of Midnight goes full gothic fantasy.It provides an nearly spooky high quality to the journey, framing Hazel as a younger girl who has stumbled into one thing otherworldly that may by no means be really understood or defined. What I’ve performed to this point has not fairly reached gothic fantasy, however I’ve my fingers crossed that that is the place the story goes. Regardless, nonetheless, the storytelling and worldbuilding is excellent and the voice performing (particularly actor Adriyan Rae, who voices Hazel) is remarkably robust, including a ton of characterization to already memorable character designs.I hope this love and care extends to the platforming and fight in the remainder of South of Midnight, however even when it would not, the sport seems like it can no less than be an distinctive story that is set in a really actual area of the world that video video games (particularly within the AAA area) have largely ignored.South of Midnight is ready to launch for Xbox Series X|S, Game Pass, and PC on April 8.