South of Midnight is a game that is hard to describe due to the little bits of every genre that make up its experience. Compulsion Games is known for mixing style, substance, and creativity in their craft, and South of Midnight is no exception. The stop motion style reminds me of movies like Caroline. The compelling and incredibly dark and morbid themes and moments that play through its story. While also creatively weaving together simple and weighty combat and equally simple and stylish platforming. It is an experience that dug its hooks into me and pulled me into a hauntingly beautiful world but almost lost me at its ending.
Developer & Publisher // Compulsion Games, Microsoft Gaming
Platforms // Xbox Series X|S, PC
MSRP & Release Date // $39.99, April 8th 2025
Reviewed On // Xbox Series X
A Flood of Folktales
South of Midnight is about the story of Hazel Flood. Hazel lost her mother after a hurricane swept their house away after she got into an argument with her. Following Hazel’s desperate attempt to save her mother, she finds herself on a new path after finding the tools to become a “Weaver”. As a Weaver, she finds herself tangled up in the effects of many deep South folktales and has to mend the wounds of the past on her path to finding her mother. But all is not what it seems, as every folktale brings Hazel to learning dark truths about the world around her, even her own family.
South of Midnight strikes a nearly perfect rhythm between its story beats. When exploring, you can find these “knots” that must be unraveled by exploring each area and discovering the past surrounding them. For example, the first area after the opening surrounds the story of Benjy and Rhubarb. Without going into specifics, the story surrounding their brotherly dynamic, how bad Benjy was treated, and how much Rhubarb wanted to break free at any cost ended with a very dark tale that set the tone for the stories that came later. Such as the tale of “Two Toed Tom”. The giant alligator from the gameplay debut in 2024.
Narrative Pacing
But what stuck out to me the most was how South of Midnight is paced. The game’s story is broken up into multiple chapters, with a storybook retelling at the end of each one. The narration from the Catfish companion that Hazel finds in the story is excellent, same with their dynamic. Both Hazel and the Catfish play off each other incredibly well with funny lines. Such as a moment after Hazel gets new clothing where the Catfish comments on her new look that she got “promoted at the Piggly Wiggly”.
The story of each chapter has its fair share of memorable moments and intense sequences and never overstays their welcome. The only controversial part of South of Midnight would be its ending. It is not abrupt, nor poorly written, but instead feels unrewarding, especially when factoring in a string of actions leading up to the ending that felt unforgivable. But the tales that come before it are woven expertly into the varied gameplay systems of the game.
The Simple and Weighty Gameplay of South of Midnight
The gameplay in South of Midnight is the part that is hard to describe in one sentence. For starters, the game has climbing, platforming, and the ability to manipulate the environment in interesting ways. Such as spawning a cart or crate for platforming challenges. But there will also be wall running and the ability to explore small spaces. As well as fights against the nightmarishly designed “Haints”.
Haints will spawn in these corrupted arenas and lock you into combat. Hazel has two hooks and a whole range of abilities to take them out. Hazel’s attacks are slow and have weight to eat connected blow through impressive sound design and visual impact. Her abilities are no slouch either. She can either throw a weave to root an enemy in place and take more damage from each hit. With abilities to push and pull enemies around and even mind control them to give you a brief respite. There are also cool upgrades to unlock, like adding a brief weave effect onto enemies when you use the pull ability and even performing a perfect dodge.
Variety is the Spice of Life
What gives each encounter a bit of flavor is the variety in the Haints and how you take them down. Haints will either have run-of-the-mill attackers, bee hives, brutes, and even overseers to pick and choose what to take down first. There are little nuances to each enemy, however. If you use the pull ability on a hive, you can pull out a bee to throw at another Haint. It creates a feeling of reading the room and experimenting to make the most of each encounter.
While the combat sounds very simple, it is enjoyable due to how quick combat encounters are in South of Midnight. The same can be said for the handful of bosses in the game as well.
Epic Conclusions
The bosses in South of Midnight are few but very memorable. Each couple of chapters in the game has Hazel going through each zone, slowly unraveling the story of each boss before confronting it. For example, Two Toed Tom takes multiple chapters of build-up before the showdown. But how Hazel unravels the story is through each normal encounter in every chapter. Each Haint-filled arena is covered in “Stigma,” and after cleansing, the stigma reveals each bit of lore that adds emotional weight to the fight.
Fights against Two Toed Tom or the other bosses I will not spoil are very special experiences as a result. Hazel does not just whack at them until the health bar goes away. Instead, she has to avoid devastating blows, work within confined spaces and trigger unique mechanics to then start dishing out damage. It is an approach that blends style and substance, and of course, the amazing folk music that Compulsion Games composed for South of Midnight.
The Soulful Folk Music of South of Midnight
Each chapter in South of Midnight, similar to the buildup for boss fights, has its music slowly build up with the vocals for each story. Each song is an absolute earworm, despite the dark tones for each story. Benjy and Rhubarb’s tale will sound upbeat but have remorseful lyrics. On the other hand, Two Toed Tom’s music will have a head-bopping rhythm but match the dangerous tone of the giant gator. The other tracks feel either mystical or jazzy, depending on the chapter.
Incredible Style, Flawless Performance, and Clean UI
South of Midnight has a very incredible art style to it. The stop motion never looks jarring or gets in the way of the story being told. Even the giant creatures like the Catfish, or Two Toed Tom, for example, benefit from this style and help the game stand out visually. Even in gameplay with the stop motion turned off, the game is stunning. With realistic-looking lighting, fog, and lush greenery. There are also odd touches in certain areas that stick in mind. Like giant peaches or a cow standing on a sunken home.
The game also ran smoothly, with no framerate drops or crashes. There was one bug I encountered, however. When pulling Hazel up a ledge in the sawmill, the camera got stuck on the archway and I had to randomly walk around to break free. There is one hard lock in South of Midnight that I encountered, too. In the swamp level you can platform yourself to an area meant for you to use an ability to explore a small space. If you do not just cast the ability from the adjacent ledge and jump over to it, you can get stuck over there and have to reload from the main menu.
Finally, the UI in South of Midnight is very simple and easy to navigate. The menus are not overly complicated, even the upgrade and accessibility menu. The Victorian touch to the general aesthetic adds even more welcome style to the game overall.
Accessibility
South of Midnight is full of so many different accessibility options. The menu is expansive and even adds ways to ensure people can make it through the game without fighting Haints or the bosses or even the chase sequences in some chapters if they just want the narrative experience. I did not play around with many of these settings myself, however. But Compulsion Games has adopted a lot of the very welcomed industry norms to ensure players can tune the experience to their abilities.
Final Thoughts on South of Midnight
South of Midnight falls short in only very few areas of the experience. But what remains between and after feels timeless. A short 10+ hour linear story-driven game with a level of addictive forward momentum that feels like a classic being born. The combat and enemy design work hand-in-hand with the dark and surprise-filled story in a unique way. Compulsion Games gave it their all almost every single step of the way. It is a soulful journey that is worth experiencing for yourself.
Note – A key was provided for the purpose of this review.
Final Score: 8.5/10
Pros
- Great Story
- Unique Style
- Simple and Weighty Combat
- Memorable Enemies and Bosses
- Soulful Music
- Vast Accessibility Options
Cons
- Lackluster Ending
- Handful of Bugs
