South of Midnight Review
South of Midnight
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Developer: Compulsion Games
Genre:
PEGI: 18
Comments:
South of Midnight is a brand new action/adventure platformer for the Xbox Series. Its now available on Game Pass. Is it worth checking out? Here’s our review!
In South of Midnight, Hazel Flood is on a mission to find someone missing and ends finding out that she has a greater destiny as a Weaver, someone who can use incredible powers to help the living and the dead. She also finds herself in the world of southern urban legends: creatures big and small come to life and she interacts with them and sometimes fights them.
South of Midnight is steeped in Southern charm, with fantastic creatures and environments that focus on an area of the United States, the South, thats rarely shown in any media, especially video games. Not only that but the main character of the game is an African American woman and many of the characters in the game are African American too. Its extremely rare to see this level of diversity in a video game. Its absolutely amazing.
Hazel and all the characters in the game are so well written too. South of Midnight’s story is fantastic. Meanwhile, its gameplay is good but not on the same level as its story.
South of Midnight is an action adventure platformer. Its very liner, meaning this is not an open world game, but there are some side paths and hidden areas to explore. There is a lot of mythology in the game to find along with extra power to level up your health and skills.
You’ll be running and jumping a lot in this game. There are some pretty tough platforming moments and the controls are good enough that the platforming comes down to skill instead of faulty controls. Meanwhile the combat in the game is pretty good, though can feel a bit repetitive at times because you’ll run into the same minions over and over. The enemy variety isn’t that great. Though the boss fights are amazing!
Thankfully South of Midnight includes some accessibility features that make playing the game easier for those who are tired of the repetitive combat, having trouble with bosses or just want to turn off the Chase sequences in the game. You can turn off all of that and focus on the game’s exploration and story more. We admit that we did end up turning off the Chase sequences near the end because they got extremely tough.
While the gameplay isn’t as great as the story, it can be a fun sometimes and the story, along the visuals and audio, make South of Midnight into a great game.
South of Midnight is a beautiful game. The environments you explore are so well designed. So are Hazel, her family and neighbors, and the giant creatures that you befriend or fight. However, its too bad that the small creatures that you fight over and over look all the same and are not that well designed.
We also saw some pop-up and framerate issues occasionally, along with two big glitches that had us going back to our save. Overall, the game is beautiful and the graphics are extremely well done.
And then there’s the game’s audio. Wow. South of Midnight has great voice acting and sound effects. It’s the music however that it is above and beyond. The music as you explore the game is really nice but then you go into boss battles or special moments of fights or exploration and the game starts playing music with lyrics. The songs created for South of Midnight are so special and breathtaking.
Though we have to say that in a replay we might turn off other sounds in combat and exploration in order to hear the music with lyrics better. Sometimes the other audio could overwhelm and make the music with lyrics hard to hear. When the music is extremely clear, its an absolute treat.
Flaws aside, South of Midnight is an incredibly special game. We loved it.
South of Midnight is a must play game for the Xbox X/S. It’s a fantastic new universe, with wonderful creatures human and unhuman. The story, music, and visuals create a beautiful experience. Yes the gameplay could have been a little bit tighter, but thanks to accessibility features, replays of South of Midnight could be even better. South of Midnight isn’t a long game, its the perfect length and we think its going to be a game many gamers will love.
We hope that South of Midnight is the first game in a new series and that we’ll see Hazel Flood and her world return again. If you have Game Pass, you have no excuse. Go play this game NOW.
South of Midnight is available now on Xbox Series X/S via gamepass and the Xbox store
Trailer
Article By Daniel Fugate
Daniel Fugate has wanted to be a writer since he was seven years old. He has a bachelor's degree in English and he's a huge Animal Crossing fan. The Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series S are his favorite systems. His e-mail is [email protected]
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