‘South of Midnight’ Review: A Love Letter To The Deep South That Brilliantly Tackles Dark Themes

Back in February, I got to experience a sample size of Compulsion Games’ South of Midnight, walking away from the preview optimistic that Xbox Game Studios might have an emotional banger. After playing the entire game, I believe this is one of Xbox Game Studios’ most important franchises moving forward, but it’s not without its issues.

From the moment it was revealed during 2023’s Xbox Games Showcase, South of Midnight immediately rose on my list of games to play just based on its mysterious trailer, which was light on details. The use of stop-motion animation and its protagonist, Hazel, instantly grabbed me. I immediately wanted to know more about this character and what adventure she was embarking on.

South of Midnight’s Story

In South of Midnight, you play as Hazel, a young track star whose world is turned upside down after her mother is swept away in a violent hurricane that rocks her fictional home of Prospero, located in the American Deep South. This forces you to embark on a mission to save her, which turns out to be an emotional journey not just for our protagonist but also for the other people you meet along the way and for you, the player.

Hazel quickly finds out that she is Prospero’s next Weaver and gets guidance from Mahalia, a weaver from the past, in the form of ghost visions along her journey. What’s a Weaver, you ask? Well, a Weaver is “a magical mender of broken bonds and spirits. ” You will find yourself doing a lot of mending and manipulating magical threads in this game. I’ll get into that in a second.

Your journey to find your missing mother will also take you through a world often ignored in the video game space, the Deep South, and will introduce you to humans and animals twisted into giant mythical creatures by traumatic experiences, and that’s where Hazel and her weaving abilities come into play.

Combat Isn’t This Games Strongpoint

The combat in South of Midnight isn’t going to blow you away. As you embark on the 10-12 hour journey, you will learn quickly that there will not be a lot of encounters with the Haints, the game’s main antagonists sprinkled throughout each level, which are demonic manifestations of the local’s pain and sorrow.

Hazel’s battles with the Haints occur in dedicated circular areas that become more difficult as the game progresses and more variations of Haints are introduced. Some Haints are more nimble, presenting an annoying challenge, while others are tank-like creatures capable of inflicting massive damage.

With her strands or hook-like weapons, Hazel will use abilities like a force push and other skills to deal enough damage to the Haints to the point where she can “unravel” them. Later in the game, you get more potent abilities that make these encounters more bearable, like the ability to toss your lovable doll, Crouton, which turns out to be alive, allowing you to control a Haint for a limited time. He will also come in clutch during exploration. I will explain later.

It’s up to you, the player, to determine which Haints you will prioritize as the battles get more intense.

Unforencounters with the Haints do begin to feel a bit repetitive. They can also be dizzying due to the camera and the lock-on mechanic which can be a hindrance during combat.

Haint encounters also serve as moments for Hazel to clear the corruption in particular areas by bottling it up and telling you more of the backstory of the enemy tied to the area to help advance the story.

Once Hazel clears all the corruption, you will enter a scenario where you must outrun a more significant supernatural force through a small platforming section full of obstacles requiring you to use all or some of your skills to navigate to the end of the brief section.

When I first experienced this moment, I felt dread as the being chased me, but as you near the end of the game, these moments lose their steam, even with the dramatic music blaring in the background—one of the game’s very few misses.

Fantastic Takes On Mythical Creatures For Deep South Folklore

One of the areas where South of Midnight stands out is the mythical creatures brilliantly based on Deep South folklore that you come across, each with a sad, twisted story explaining how the once human beings or animals became the twisted versions of themselves we meet in the game due to the trauma they experienced in their lives.

Hazel’s first encounter is with Catfish—yes, that’s his name—whom you first meet in the game’s third chapter, when the game really takes off. He is in a precarious situation because a giant tree person is holding onto his tail. He will also serve as the game’s narrator and help Hazel guide across each chapter.

You will embark on your first mending/weaving mission, which will introduce you to a giant man-shaped tree named Benji, who used to be a young man with special needs.

I was shocked at how dark Benji’s story became after learning how the town treated him because he was different. His brother sealed him into a tree, allowing his trauma to cause him to be absorbed into the tree, leading to his transformation. As you climb Benji, an original song plays featuring children singing about Benji’s plight; it’s a masterful use of music that you will experience throughout your time with the game.

The other creatures, like Two-Toed Tom, a massive alligator based on a Florida mythological creature, supply one of the game’s more standout boss battles, and his backstory will also have you feeling sorry for the large reptile.

As you learn more about each of these creatures, like Huggin’ Molly, who is based on a mythical woman from Alabama folklore but is given a very interesting twist by Compulsion Games so that she perfectly fits in the South of Midnight’s fantastic story.

Each encounter will not only tug at your emotions as you learn about their traumatic experiences but deliver very memorable boss battles.

A World Worth Exploring

South of Midnight is not an open-world experience; it’s very much linear, but you are encouraged to stray off the beaten path that your “guide strand” that whispers “Hazel” every time you activate it keeps you on to keep the story pushing forward.

Your exploration of the dark but still beautiful world of Prospero’s desolate swamp areas, still teaming with animal and plant life, will be rewarded by finding “Floofs,” needed to acquire and upgrade Hazel’s skills. I didn’t find all the Floofs scattered throughout each level, but you don’t need to acquire all of Hazel’s abilities.

But, for the completionists, you can look for all of them, and these large green crystals will increase your overall health, using Hazel’s abilities to clear obstacles, pull items to climb on, or glide areas containing Floofs.

In other areas, Crouton, the living puppet, comes into the equation. Crouton can be controlled by Hazel and sent into small holes where he can either collect Floofs or help dispel corruption. Hazel can physically toss Crouton to islands that she can’t glide or jump to in some areas.

South of Midnight’s world is worth exploring. It is beautifully designed and will have you wishing there was a photo mode in the game.

Final Verdict

South of Midnight isn’t perfect, but it is one of the most important games on Xbox in recent years. Hazel deserves to have more than one adventure because, yes, representation still matters more than ever, as of recently, now that diversity is under attack. We need more characters like her because Black folks don’t only do things you see in games like Grand Theft Auto, but we can also have Black protagonists lead fantastical stories like in this game.

It is also an ambitious game in how it tackles dark topics like murder, child kidnapping, loss, abuse, and more to help weave together the game’s narrative.

While it won’t challenge you gameplay-wise because of its simplistic approach to platforming and combat, those are issues that Compulsion Games can address in a possible follow-up. South of Midnight will tug at the heartstrings and have you thinking about traumatic experiences and other moments as you experience each character’s sad stories.

Personally, for me, there was one moment that had me thinking about my relationship with my mother, who passed away over a year and a half ago, and moments I could have been a better son to her, reminding me that video games are more than their just gameplay mechanics, their stories also matter.

South of Midnight’s fantastic storytelling, world-building, and use of music more than compensate for its shortcomings and give players a reason to follow Hazel’s journey through.

*South of Midnight review key provided by Xbox & Compulsion Games*