South of Midnight Review

“Are we… all done?” 

“You sure are! Now, ROLL CREDITS!!!”

When previewing South of Midnight we freely admitted that this was a title we’d been long keen on, if for its setting and aesthetic alone. Sure, it had some elements that needed addressing and yep we were well aware that by the time we had preview access, it was feature-complete and pretty much in the bug-fixing stages of its development life. But we were still holding out hope it would be better upon its release proper. Unfortunately that hope was washed away in a flash flood of rinse-repeat gameplay mired by unimaginative enemies, poor platforming, a terrible camera and, more often than not, paint-by-numbers game design.

 

It’s a shame too, because that setting and aesthetic pull is still the strongest part of the final product. It’s perhaps not as expanded upon as much as it could have been, while also dragging its feet in areas and sentiments that could have been made more succinct, but for what it’s worth South of Midnight’s ‘world’ is one we want to explore more of. It’s dark and traumatic and developer Compulsion Games doesn’t pull any punches when delivering blow after blow of foul deed and, well… worse. But it’s mystical and hopeful, also. And magical. Some things that seem bad are good, and some good is actually very bad. So in terms of a break from the usual black and white of good and evil, South of Midnight flips the tried and tested script on its head and grabs its tail, aggressively, to capture a unique magic in a bottle, to hang on its tree of ideas. The query then is: is that bottled magic, in the form of its setting and aesthetic, enough to see you see out the full experience?

South of Midnight

Genre: Action-Adventure
Developer: Compulsion Games
Publisher: Microsoft
Release Date: April 8, 2025
Classification: M15+
Author: Stephen Farrelly
Date: May 05, 2025

Trauma in a Bottle

The writing in South of Midnight is a bit of a mixed bag. There’s exposition doled out via readable elements from within the game-world and some characters offer up tidbits of this and that, but largely you’re reliant on the broader story. There’s an Alice in Wonderland element that permeates the whole experience and Compulsion doesn’t shy from that with rabbits and other burrowing animals a constant nod to the fantasy world in which you, and the player-character, Hazel, now find yourself. But it feels lite-on, and as a result missed, broadly, from a perspective of true expansion. We’ll get to it shortly, but this game-universe could better be served as an entirely open playspace rather than chapters bookended by a genuine need to get on with things, with so much teasing otherwise.

"But against this bleak throughline, South of Midnight always presents a glimmer of hope..."

The above said, however, the writing that is here is still very good. Benji’s tale alone is heart-wrenching. As is that of the late babe, Cherie. Other semi isolated stories involve lost children, accidental death, slaves in hiding… the tear-jerking works, really. And all of it is sat on a precipice of pure despair, even in videogame form. But against this bleak throughline, South of Midnight always presents a glimmer of hope, and while Hazel and her newfound Weaver powers are the obvious gameplay fix, there is also hope just embedded in the world, alongside a very subtle suggestion that judging any book by its cover might actually be more hurtful and harmful than just reading its contents first. 

And so it’s in the peripheral narratives that South of Midnight shines most, alongside that “setting and aesthetic” thing we’ve been harping on about. But it’s honestly not enough to keep the whole experience afloat and that flash flood metaphored earlier, well it takes the player on a fairly wild ride, from beginning to end.

Would you like to know more?
Shakin’ Bones the ‘No Show’ -- The initial teaser trailer for South of Midnight was awesome. But what’s interesting is that the contents of that trailer aren’t really a part of the final experience. “Shakin’ Bones” makes an appearance in the game but merely as something of a ferryman, and the favour Hazel says she needs to call in from the trailer doesn’t take place at all in the game proper. Nor is there sight or sound of the monster she’s seeking out, which tells us that the initial teaser is either related to content that never made it into the final game (remember, we did say it ends abruptly) or Compulsion was revealing planned DLC all along. Or, maybe, we’ve seen a glimpse at a sequel already. We’re leaning a little more on the cut content side of things or simply that, aesthetically, it was a great way to introduce us to the overall tone of the game-world. Whichever, we just wanted more Shakin’ Bones and are sad we didn’t!

Muddy Waters

Structurally South of Midnight is as straightforward as they come. Learn the trauma of one of the isolated narratives mentioned above, bottle up that trauma through select combat zones, perform some grand platforming before facing both a boss, and or running away from one in the game’s fairly substandard on-rails escapes, replete with old-school hardfails and basic Checkpointing. Then on to the next Chapter.

"It’s also often fleeting and the game-world and ‘level design’ doesn’t do enough to promote layered use of it all..."

We mentioned “paint-by-numbers” game design in our opening salvo and it’s wholly true. Traversal of this world is handled by traditional means: double jump, glide and wall-run are all part of your movement manifest and you can obviously link these together to perform fairly liberating gains. But it’s also often fleeting and the game-world and ‘level design’ doesn’t do enough to promote layered use of it all. One of Hazel’s Weaver powers allows her to bring into reality some sort of otherwise apparitional structure or device, these then exist in physical form for a few seconds before ‘vanishing’ back into the aether from whence they came. Some very simple puzzles exist around these as well as some equally basic platforming, but they’d have been better served as a more fluid part of the aforementioned traversal system with expanded dynamism. Instead they’re just glaringly obvious and otherwise trivial from their even point of being. And the deeper you get into the game the less sense some of it all makes to the point of tedium and superfluity.

Stop the Rot

Which leaves combat as the game’s next hopeful point of saving itself from being less than mid and we will say, it can be satisfying. That missed layering opportunity mentioned around traversal, though, well it exists in the skirmish side of the game, too, albeit in limited form. But you can stack powers and feel outright unstoppable at times, but like so much of the overall experience in South of Midnight, it can also be pretty fleeting.

"Timing is everything in combat and it can feel like the arenas aren’t at all helpful to you maximising that skill..."

Enemies rubberband all too often and the camera can be the worst enemy of the lot, hamstringing your own responses to otherwise cheap blows from the baddies. Timing is everything in combat and it can feel like the arenas aren’t at all helpful to you maximising that skill. When it all comes together you can feel like a damned boss, but the game’s own flaws rail against your best laid plans leaving you more frustrated at a seemingly broken game than at your own lack of skill. None of this is helped by the game’s enemies just effectively being incredibly unimaginative, particularly when stacked against the otherwise excellent storytelling mentioned earlier. Rather than feeling like you’re making an impact on the world, clearing out these aggressive globules of manifest trauma come-to-life presents more as chore-like and therefore, ultimately annoying. That lack of design variation really is problematic; they’re just black and grey and for lack of any other way to put it -- boring.

So it’s left up to the game’s bosses to save the day in terms of colour and flavour, and aesthetically they don't disappoint, only that fighting them is beyond easy and their presence in their respective levels, proper, is more basic set-piece ‘menace’ than danger. This is followed by a highly structured and almost exclusively always three-phase attack and opening makeup that’s more memory formality than anything skill-related. Don’t get us wrong, the game’s bosses are cool and definitely speak to the overall setting, but they also unfortunately fall into the “paint-by-numbers” bracket.

That’s it, that’s all She Weaved?

By now it probably reads as we’ve missed the point of South of Midnight and mistaken a so-called ‘cozy experience’ with a more core one we pined for after that initial debut trailer (read our "Would you like to know more?" box out for... MORE!) . But we haven’t and this is (and was) billed as a traditional gaming experience presenting challenge, exploration, character progression and an unfurling narrative. At times the art direction is jaw dropping, then at others it’s a mess of clipping and oddly-placed assets and poor camera positioning. Use of Unreal here is truly a mixed bag and while the potentiality of this game-world is massive, it all feels missed and, largely, incomplete (or unfulfilled).

"In an odd way how it ends is also a bit of a metaphor for the experience on the whole anyway, unintentionally, of course..."

What’s worse is that the payoff for making it through the good and the bad isn’t what you might expect. The game’s story takes an odd turn just before the credits roll and you suddenly feel fairly shortchanged. This is where the writing we were spruiking earlier also lets the whole thing down and we’re left pondering what could have been given the “setting and aesthetic” and “potentiality” in front of us. But in an odd way how it ends is also a bit of a metaphor for the experience on the whole anyway, unintentionally, of course, but there and glaring, nonetheless. 

Throughout South of Midnight the characterisation of myriad parts are top-notch and Hazel is a fantastic lead alongside her Catfish companion and the other larger players, but it feels disjointed and fragmented where maybe more emphasis was put on that side of things than on the gameplay and overall experience. The rinse-repeat nature of it all feeds tedium and it lacks creativity in its interactive form, which is at odds with the creativity that feeds its passive elements. It's a genuine shame because as we’ve piled on throughout, there’s a lot here to explore and we might just have a solution for Compulsion should South of Midnight find its way to the realm of ongoing franchises within Microsoft’s first-party development walls.

Hear Us Out, Compulsion

Yes, you’ve probably guessed it, but we think South of Midnight’s world would be better served as either a huge sandbox, or as an open-world game, rather than a heavily structured one built off traditional old-school design sensibilities. The reasons for this are specific to the makeup of the chapters throughout the game as is, where interconnected biomes could be traversed and revisited, and even change based on the player’s impact on either trauma cleansing or in an effort to help rebuild or reconnect communities in a post-flood or extreme weather environment.

"In an open-world they could be so much more, and the ability to choose which to engage first could also have a dynamic impact on the world..."

Doing this would allow for the world to breathe a bit more in terms of more characters and more life, while exploration could be better served with less guided paths and a world that’s simply open. We mentioned earlier that the bosses move about and serve up a menace while also conveniently creating new pathways (though heavily scripted), but in an open-world they could be so much more, and the ability to choose which to engage first could also have a dynamic impact on the world and elements of discoverability. Moreover, in a more intricately designed open-world Hazel’s traversal could be a massive boon and while we felt a bit of a Spidey tingle from her movements after our initial preview time, that could be truly capitalised on and even represent a similar system to what Forspoken attempted (and failed at) when it released, that is a wholly magic-fueled system designed to make you feel like the true Weaver you are.

Combat could also be no longer confined to ‘arenas’ and simply be more embedded in the world with different biomes serving up different enemy types. This could help do away with the cut and paste aspect we weren’t fans of here with more colourful baddies themed uniquely to the space in which they live, which would make a lot more sense overall than what Compulsion has given us.

There’s a lot that can be done with this “setting and aesthetic”. The experience was a constant tease of what could actually be, but simply kept falling short. Being on Game Pass is a big help for its lifespan and discoverability, but we’d be remiss to not tell you that its promise and potential just aren’t fully realised.

What’s Boss?

  • A fantastical world lifted from a mysterious and unique mythology
  • Great characters full of personality, Hazel in particular
  • Some excellent writing and an overall narrative not afraid to explore trauma and the darker side of human nature
  • At times the art direction is stunning
  • Hazel's traversal moveset is fun to use when you can to its fullest
  • Combat is fun and full of stackable abilities

Not Boss Enough?

  • Rinse-repeat gameplay and game-design makes for a tedious experience after awhile
  • While art direction is fantastic, the game itself is not consistently polished
  • Level design chapter-to-chapter chokes dynamism out of the experience and feels heavily directed
  • Not nearly enough thought put into enemy design, or how combat plays out in general
  • Needs a bigger, more connected playspace in any future instalments to the IP
  • That ending is very, very abrupt

After an extreme weather event, a young woman discovers she has ancient powers that allow her to "weave" unseen fabrics to her will. A new and dark world is also opened before her, all based off the mythology of the Deep South.

Learn about our reviews

About the Author

Written By Stephen Farrelly
Stephen Farrelly is a veteran journalist and editor with more than two decades experience in the worlds of gaming, entertainment, lifestyle and sport under his belt. He is a proud pug dad, loves art in all forms but particularly street and tattoo culture, and is the director of Swear Jar...
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