What is South of Midnight?
As one of Xbox Game Studios’ pillar releases in 2025, South of Midnight from Complusion Games is a special release. The title combined southern folklore with the tried-and-true format of the early 2000’s 3D platformer. In many ways, it was a homage to darkhorse Xbox platformers like Voodoo Vince and Blinx: The Time Sweeper.
Xbox announced in early 2026 that Hazel’s magical adventures would release on Nintendo Switch 2, a console known for quality platforming adventures. After spending a lot of time with this portable southern adventure, is it a good fit on Nintendo’s hybrid console? Or does it need another round of weaving?
Publisher/Developer: Xbox Game Studios/Complusion Games
Release Date: March 31st, 2026
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
Price: $29.99 for Standard Edition, $39.99 for the Weaver’s Edition
Reviewed On Nintendo Switch 2
A Southern Storm – Overview
Lords of Gaming’s own Lord Flame reviewed South of Midnight when it released, saying the following.
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.
In addition, the Iron Lords shared their thoughts on the adventure as well, having a massive video review, which you can watch below.
But what of my own thoughts? Beating the game originally on Series X and playing through it again on Switch 2, it’s an experience that stuck with me.
A Woven Tale – Story
Telling the tale of Hazel Flood as she comes into her own as a Weaver, a healing force that helps souls recover from trauma and hardship. And these souls come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from a giant tree, a hungry gator the size of two school buses, and so much more.
What made me love the adventure was how earnest the narrative was. Hazel is completely new to being a weaver, so her reactions to everyone suffering matched my own.
Specifically, everything surrounding Rougarou hit me in a way very few games ever have. I earnestly cried during that boss encounter, alongside the powerful music track that accompanied it. Even if the conclusion felt underwhelming, the journey to that felt well worth it.
Skipping Across the Riverbed – Platforming
By far the strongest aspect of South of Midnight is its tight platforming. While simple on the surface, Hazel’s weaving abilities work beautifully with the well-crafted levels. Running across walls, pulling yourself across lakes of muddy water, and masterfully dashing through dangerous chasing sequences, I always enjoyed the platforming.
It also helps that every aspect of the platforming experience is well telegraphed, ensuring that you know when to use the right moves. That being said, Hazel’s abilities don’t evolve much, beyond her gliding ability later in the game.
Some more platforming challenges, specifically for this Switch 2 release, would’ve been welcomed. Specifically, given how Nintendo platforms are well-known for 3D platforming, it would be a great way to celebrate South of Midnight coming to new platforms.
Fighting Through the Frames – General Combat
However, while the platforming makes up a sizable portion of Hazel’s adventure, the general combat encounters leave something to be desired.
Early on, they are fun and engaging, as Hazel’s movements are snappy and her attacks are quick to pull off. But by the middle of the game, you unlock all of Hazel’s major combat abilities, making encounters feel samey in later chapters.
Considering Hazel’s ability set, mainly the pushing and throwing, reminded me a lot of DMC: Devil May Cry, so if the game just leaned on that approach to combat a bit more, it would’ve felt better with more depth.
To be fair, the game does offer new enemy types that push Hazel to utilize all her abilities, but more enemy types would’ve gone a long way to mix things up.
Fighting Against Forklores – Boss Battles
While general encounters feel lacking, the bosses Hazel encounters are immensely engaging. Every major boss encounter, which happens after a series of chapters, demands unique things from the player.
One example of Two-Towed Tom, a massive gator that has you time skillfully dodging and ringing a bell to stun him to land a few hits. And in between each phase, you gotta chase him down to the next battlefield to continue the fight. And when it concludes, it’s still not over with a short platforming sequence inside the belly of the beast.
Boss battles aren’t plentiful, but every major encounter is rewarding and works great with the combat system in place. This is also when the game’s powerful score comes into play, as lyrics are dynamically added into boss phases.
One powerful example of this was the fight against Rougarou, where the darker lyrics blast through as Hazel whittles his health down. And the final phase of the fight is when the most powerful of the male vocals are sung, making that final blow all the more satisfying.
The Hybrid Approach – Performance/Visuals
As one of Xbox Game Studios’s first major releases on Nintendo Switch 2, following Bethesda’s recent Skyrim and Fallout 4 ports, I was excited to see how Complusion was going to leverage Nintendo’s hardware.
But as someone who prefers to play Switch 2 in portable mode, I was disappointed with the game’s unstable 30FPS target. Sure, it hits a high resolution and visually matches features present in the Series S version of South of Midnight, making it pop off the Switch 2’s vibrant screen.
However, the unstable 30 FPS in portable mode has an impact on the game’s combat encounters. Thankfully, when played in Docked Mode, the 30 FPS target is a stable one. And the game’s accessibility features do allow the option to skip combat encounters, so when things get too framey, you can utilize that feature to skip encounters.
I did leverage this often enough in handheld mode when the frame rate became unstable.
Closing Thoughts on South of Midnight
Loving Hazel’s adventure on Series X in 2025, I was hoping I could easily recommend this wonderful adventure to Nintendo owners, specifically since it’s a perfect fit on the hybrid handheld. But portable mode runs with an unstable frame rate, which creates needless frustration. And considering the wait between this and the game’s original release, this level of performance is disappointing.
But if you can look past an unstable frame rate, Nintendo owners can enjoy one of Xbox’s more emotional and soulful adventures since Psychonauts 2. Stunning stop-motion visuals, an amazing score, fun platforming challenges, and a story worth experiencing make South of Midnight a special journey that all gamers should play through.
Score – 7.5 out of 10
Pros:
- Engaging Story worth experiencing
- Fun platforming mechanics
- Combat can be fun with varied enemy types
- Stunning Stop-Motion Inspired Visuals
- Musical Score that feels alive and tugs at the heartstrings
- A Strong Slate of Accessibility Options
Cons:
- Bad Performance in Handheld Mode
- Combat can become repetitive
