In the hushed township of Prospero , the southerly American set ofSouth of Midnight , the pain of the past leave a lasting mark . Trauma is not a trash subdivision that fixes itself after a few days ; it is a visible scar that can not bring around on its own . It lives in the grime . It soaks into the trees through their roots . It thicken the swampland pee and buzz in the air alongside the mosquitos . If left untreated , it ’s jump to get infected .
Developer Compulsion Games research that musical theme in its late action - adventure rubric , one that ’s as invested in make up a wizardly realist fantasy as it is diagnose an malady in America ’s veridical deep South . The shade of impoverishment and inequality lurk in the shadows like timeless folktale goliath . Prospero ’s residents dare not say their name out loud ; anyone who does cease up eternalize in a isolated banker’s bill left behind in an abandoned dwelling . Rather than hiding from that darkness , South of Midnightrecognizes that we ca n’t work problems by ignoring them and take they ’ll naturally resolve with time . We have to help our community heal so the beauty within them can stay on to flower .
South of Midnightis a corpulent risky venture thatpays tribute to the deep Southwith astonishing art , impeccable sound designing , and the good music you ’ll hear in a video secret plan this twelvemonth . It ’s an emphatic journey about connecting with our most vulnerable neighbors when they need it most rather than allow for them to suffer alone . The aesthetic craft on display is unimpeachable , though the full package is weighed down by the demands of a big musical style game that Compulsion is n’t fully able to keep up with .
There’s no place like Prospero
In an opening not so unalike toThe Wizard of Oz , South of Midnightopens with a violent storm . Hazel , a adolescent track star , and her mother are preparing to evacuate their small , rickety home when the two laughingstock head amid the tension . Next thing you know , the home is span away into a raging river , separating the two women . After discovering that she has yarn - ensure Weaver baron , Hazel place out on a journeying through Prospero to track down her mother ( and their lost home ) and conciliate with her before it ’s too late . That sweet and simple mother - daughter tale makes up the story ’s central arteria , but blood pumps into its heart from multiple directions .
The narrative ’s real tie is broader , as Compulsion use its fictional town to explore the very real struggles of the deep South , especially focused on the opprobrious residential area within it . Prospero is a quiet bayou township where history can be felt in its clappers . The streets are line with rundown houses that have been repossess from families that are nowhere in sight . scatter notes paint a damning picture of the exploitive manufactory on the outskirt of townsfolk that have worked Prospero ’s residents to the osseous tissue for fiddling earnings and unsafe workings conditions . Local type live on the edge of society like outcasts , all while holding in X ’ worth of personal disaster .
It ’s a magical realist setting fill with teras exhort by Cajun folklore , but there ’s a sobering reality under all the fantastical layers . This is n’t so far off from veridical townspeople in the American South where residents have been left to fend for themselves by a governing that is cutting to dissemble that the injustice of the past are ancient history . It ’s a primarily ignominious community where you’re able to still experience the long - full term effects of racial injustice . The story rarely calls denotative attention to those historical undertone , but you’re able to feel how hard coevals have work to reconstruct Prospero into a safe haven with no imagination .
Hazel ’s story is as much about reconnecting with her female parent as it is learning to be a part of that community . The game ’s 14 chapters take her to unlike portion of township where she encounters local legends tie up in tragedy . using , demise , and kidnapping still haunt the people of Prospero , often manifesting as folks creatures like the Rougarou . Hazel is n’t just tasked with slaying behemoth , let in an army of Haints that have stock up around town ; her chore is to listen to those who have been left to suffer in silence . Each chapter is about give empathy to those who urgently need it and using Hazel ’s Weaver powers to bind wounds that have been go away to suppurating sore .
Those tale , these places , this story — it all deserves a spot on center stage .
A standout example of that comes early on as Hazel must aid out a giant mudcat that has establish itself ensnared in the branches of an tremendous tree . What starts out as a standard video recording biz foreign mission full of platforming shortly reveals itself to be the tragic tale of Benjy , a child whose brother left him to die in the trunk of a tree . It’sSouth of Midnight ’s central metaphor : the unresolved pain of a residential area has been baked into bark that towers over the town . It ’s not just the people of Prospero who require help healing , but the land itself .
The voice mold works hard to betray those feelings , fully dedicate to the setting . Adriyan Rae in fussy owns her role as Hazel , putting onward mettle and compassion in equal measure . You feel like she ’s someone who really care about her town and wants to take tending of her own , even if she ’s still a adolescent wiseass at eye .
South of Midnight ’s storey does start to ravel out around its halfway point . Hazel ’s relationship with her mother takes too much of a backseat around that point , as the adventure seems more vest in paying visual homage to New Orleans and other sac of the region . It all wraps up a little abruptly considering how emotionally send the first half is . It ’s a instant where I ’m left to interview whether or not the projection is a bit too much of a rubber-necking adventure for Compulsion , a studio apartment based out of Canada . There ’s enough sensitiveness here , though , to dispel that trouble . The studio produce a fictional town here that feels rout in authenticity . It ’s the kind of story that crowing budget picture games have rarely , if ever , dared to tell . Those tales , these places , this chronicle — it all deserves a spotlight on midway stage .
Sights and sounds
ThoughSouth of Midnight ’s fib is rooted in deeply - seed trauma , Compulsion ’s heading is n’t to take commiseration on the South . Instead , it attempt to celebrate the rich finish and history of the part . That comes through in artistry , music , sound , and pot of references to great art of the area . All of the literary references that should have been inSplit Fictionare here or else , with homage to Flannery O’Connor , Zora Neale Hurston , William Faulkner and more . The news report itself represent out like a tribute to Daniel Wallace’sBig Fish , fuse southerly gothic with the kind of charming realism that ’s well - suited for a larger - than - life video game adventure .
you could find the genuine admiration for the South from the breadth of picture show and literary references , and that same caution is baked into every step of the creative process . The most spectacular object lesson of that isSouth of Midnight ’s artistic production style , which pulls its inspiration from stop - motion aliveness ( while still maintaining a fluent framerate on top of an “ animating on twos ” effect ) . It ’s not just a flashy doojigger ; it ’s what the story calls for . coercion tell a human tale here where you’re able to find the imprint of account ’s pollex in every corner of the universe . There ’s no good way to becharm that than by reference a medium defined by its hand - crafted factor . These are n’t automatic asset copy and pasted throughout the world . Everything , from Hazel ’s face to quilts cloak over banister , feels like it was made by manus . The effect does n’t quite go as far asHarold Halibut , a 14 - year project fastidiously made through photogrammetry , but Compulsion does an impressive job of mimicking the medium in 3D.
There ’s a level of detail here that I ’ve rarely seen game like it accomplish . Every single corner of Prospero feel like a trenchant space . house are n’t just copy and pasted buildings reprocess in each chapter . Each one has an entirely dissimilar layout , cluttered with item and memories that tell a story . A moth-eaten mattress shoved under a staircase tells me precisely how one home was live . Other spaces I chat have walls covered in crosse or sept photos . I can feel the masses who have been left behind everywhere I go . They are always with me .
While that prowess is sure to turn head , sound isSouth of Midnight ’s secret weapon . That starts with its phenomenal original score , which mix rustic folk music , big dance band nothingness , and gospel to create a video plot soundtrack unlike any I ’ve get wind at this plate . It ’s an ever - changing ode to the music of the South that fluidly bounces between solitary banjo twanging and the kind of lush orchestral showtunes that you ’d expect out of a 90 Disney movie .
By maintain things slim , Compulsion is able to put more care into everything it touches …
What ’s more telling is the quiet moments . normally when I stand still in a television plot , there ’s not too much to hear . perhaps I ’ll catch a bit of environment noise and a bird or two , but it tends to be just enough background noise to create a sense of space . South of Midnight , on the other hired hand , understands that nature is an orchestra . When I stand still here , I can hear a loggerheaded pack of mosquito buzz through the breeze , wench screak in the distance , a frog croaking at my feet . When I close my heart , I can feel the surround . The swamp air fill my lung . The heat of the bayou sunlight touches down on my skin . I can see the golden yellow light illuminating the dead grass . picture plot only do n’t sound like this , and I do n’t know if I ’ll ever be able to hear something likeAssassin ’s Creed Shadowsthe same way again after this .
I ’d wager that a lot of these strengths come fromSouth of Midnight ’s compact scope . It is not try on to be an enormous , receptive - stop escapade with lots of infinite to research . While that always sounds more freeing for players , it tend to be restrictive for the artists who ask to fill the canvas tent . The bigger the plot , the less hand - crafted it tends to sense . Assets are reused , music repeats , cost - saving tricks are implemented . By keeping things svelte , Compulsion is capable to put more care into everything it touches so that it can bring the South to life in a way that feels serious-minded and authentic .
A so-so adventure
The artistry of it all is remarkable , but Compulsion runs into battle when attempt to balance its artistic ambitions with what ’s expected of an action - adventure video plot of this scale . This is the largest task the studio apartment has ever give rise and I can feel that inexperience bring up its head here and there . That is n’t to say thatSouth of Midnightisn’t a utterly okay activity - dangerous undertaking game . It is , even if it ’s not reach to be mechanically inventive . It ’s more that Compulsion struggles to string along some expert ideas through a full 12 minute story .
Gameplay play out as a traditional third - person dangerous undertaking plot . Hazel can double up jump and air sprint from platform to political program , occasionally clamor up paint cliffs like Nathan Drake . It ’s a aboveboard , linear adventure formula — and it ’s fitting for the story . Confederate States of America of Midnightis intend to find like a timeless folk tale . It make good sense for it to represent out like a foundational risky venture game , something that feels canonic . While playing , I was bring back to genre classic likeBeyond Good and Evilthat were able to full transport me to another billet without leaning too hard on the concept of “ immersion ” to create bloated worlds . This is similarly optical maser - focalize , like a tale take a hop out of a storybook ’s page .
I ascertain myself wish that Compulsion had convey everything here and compressed it into one heck of animated film instead .
It ’s just the execution that does n’t fully convey that vision together . What initially feels refreshing becomes formulaic by the second one-half . Chapters have me collecting memories in bottle , fighting through insistent arena fight with Haints , and scarper through an occasional platforming gauntlet where I needs postulate to wall lead and skirt around thorny plants . As soon as I could place the pattern , the otherwise natural world begin to feel too mechanically skillful for its capable issue .
Combat is the principal issue . Every battle drop Hazel into a round arena where a few different kinds of Haints engender in . She can make her enemy with basic slashes , but also apply her Weaver powers to adhere enemies , mind control them with her trusty doll fellow traveler , push them aside , or drag them closer . I found a great menstruum in the early chapters as I read how to use my powers to create distance between enemies , carefully timing my finishing maneuver to unravel a opposition and get a bit of health . There ’s a small bit ofKena : Bridge of Spirits , Hogwarts Legacy , and evenDoomin here , which gives combat encounters a great sense of ( actual ) push and pull .
There are n’t enough tricks here to sustain the amount of fights that feel needlessly crammed in here , though . I had learned just about every illusion I could in the first third , with only a few extra skills to unlock that mostly buffed the effectiveness of my accomplishment . It feels perfectly satisfying to yank Hazel towards an enemy , tie it in screw thread , strike it with a few slice , and repel it into a wall to get some separation , but that grummet never really changes , even as it introduces buirdly Haints that just require more slashing to shoot down . The only abatement come up in a handful of exhilarating honcho fight , like a clash with Two - Toed Tom , a giant gator who gnash at me with its jaw as I endeavor to stun it with the ring of a church bell .
The more the second half drop behind , the more I wished thatSouth of Midnightwasn’t tighten by its action - adventure plot needs . It is doing so much to set itself apart from its peer in its sound , art , and narrative , but so much of its gameplay feels obligatory . There has to be combat , and lots of it , to fulfill the “ legal action ” half of the musical style . My Weaver powers have to be used to collect hundreds of Floofs from the same few environmental teaser that get me to walk off the exhaust path and protract the runtime . Even at a brisk 12 minute , the dangerous undertaking finger longer than it is as it drag me through the motions . Sometimes , I establish myself wishing that Compulsion had taken everything here and constrict it into one heck of animated film or else .
I ’m glad that it did n’t , though . South of Midnightis daring for something of its scale of measurement , put its religious belief in player ’ desire for video games that reflect reality rather than shy aside from it . As fantastical as it all is , this is a storey stand for to pull us closer to the very real struggles that people in forgotten pockets of America face . It wants players to face wealth inequality rather than use it as toothless put salad dressing . It want us to consider how shameful communities are often left behind . It need us to accept that America ’s dark account is not a distant retentivity , but a disease that will continue to mutate until we take meaningful steps to make restitution . It is a healing process that take human hands .
Just as a stop motion figure can not walk without someone there to articulate its limb , our globe stop moving the moment we decide that it does n’t need us to put up it anymore .
South of Midnightwas tested onXbox Series X.
