James and the Giant Peach, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline. All are fantastic, heavily stylized stop motion-like animated movies that defined my childhood. Now, enter South of Midnight, a game that takes place in the deep south of the United States and impressively feels like those movies, even if it doesn’t quite feel as necessary for this type of format.
Told through just over a dozen chapters, the main story of South of Midnight involves Hazel, a girl who goes on a journey to find her mom and learn more about the strange powers she starts to have in the midst of a hurricane. These powers are at the crux of the adventure that you and Hazel go on, powering everything from the movement to the combat to puzzles.
The level design in South of Midnight is pretty linear, to say the least. Sure, there are a couple of more open areas in some of the chapters, but even they don’t take more than a couple of moments to explore to the fullest. In general, paths are pretty straightforward with a couple of branches with collectibles here and there.
The linearity of this experience is seen in the fights, too, which are typically arena-style. You will enter a clearing or circular-like area through your travels and be up against a couple of the creepy, shadowy creatures this game offers. The combat is quite basic, involving the usual dodges, hacks-and-slashes, and a few spells that switch things up every once in a while.
Ability upgrades are available, which do add a little bit of depth to the combat like being able to dodge twice in a row, but they are about as basic as they come. That is pretty much what I would say about all of the gameplay in South of Midnight in general. It doesn’t do anything too special, but it does nothing egregious at the same time.
The gameplay is enjoyable enough to experience. There are some light puzzles that make interesting use of the pulling and pushing spells you have. There are plenty of climbing and platforming sections as well. Nothing truly impresses, but it is acceptable since the length of this game is so relatively short. I spent around 10 hours with the game in total, but you could definitely beat it in eight or nine hours.
That said, every minute I spent with South of Midnight, I kept thinking that I would just prefer this as an animated film. Since the gameplay is just there, what really stands out are the characters, visuals, and writing. Hazel herself is your standard “oh, I have strange powers now!” type of protagonist on a journey to discover herself.
This in itself isn’t a bad thing, though, as Hazel has a lot of personality to her in her excellent voice acting and writing. She feels like a normal teenage in her angst, dancing randomly, and goofy jokes. The same goes for the memorable characters she meets along the way like a magical giant talking catfish and so many more that I won’t spoil.
The whimsical nature of the plot and characters translates crucially to the art style, too. There are elements of cel-shading to the world and characters with sharp outlines and shading. It all looks so beautiful, especially with the stop-motion effects. I, surprisingly, didn’t mind this in the gameplay and it looked even better in the numerous cutscenes.
While it is available on Game Pass, I almost recommend everyone to just watch the full story cutscenes on YouTube. They are stunning to look at, with the right mix of creepiness with the foes and gorgeous landscapes at times. This is one of the best visual styles in a long time and it feels like watching a genuinely entertaining film. In fact, the graphics look better than many animated movies these days.
In the end, if I wasn’t reviewing South of Midnight, I would probably just watch it on YouTube. The gameplay is fine, but nothing special. The linearity of the experience also holds it back at times. As such, the real star of the show is the writing, characters, and incredible art style. The cutscenes are some of the most elaborate and well-animated I have seen in a long time. South of Midnight begs to be an animated movie at some point, so I hope it happens.
South of Midnight is available right now for Xbox Series X/S and PC.
South of Midnight is a new action-adventure from Compulsion Games. Explore the mythos and confront mysterious creatures of the Deep South in this modern folktale while learning to weave an ancient power to surmount obstacles and unravel your family’s hidden past.
South of Midnight is an action adventure game that struggles because of its largely linear fashion. The combat is fine, but nothing spectacular. The real charm of this game comes from the characters, writing, unique art style, and cinematic nature. While a solid experience regardless, I would’ve preferred this simply as an animated stop motion film. A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review. Reviewed on Xbox Series X.
- Floofs (yes, that’s the name) are the currency for upgrading skills
- It is possible to turn off the stop motion effect if it bothers you
- Always unravel enemies to finish them off for HP recovery and cooldown resets
Published: Apr 7, 2025 03:00 pm