South of Midnight weaves a spellbinding tale of grief, loss, and hope

Early on in my near-12-hour South of Midnight playthrough, I defeated Two-Toed Tom, a gargantuan and legendary alligator that’s mentioned to have stalked the swamplands of Florida and Alabama as early because the Nineteen Twenties. After respiration a sigh of reduction upon finishing the battle, I used to be shocked when Two-Toed Tom swallowed my character, Hazel, entire. I used to be much more stunned upon realizing that I needed to escape the gator’s stomach in a platforming part full with floating planks, ruined homes, and even a misplaced pig — the whole lot that Tom had beforehand wolfed up.

Certainly, South of Midnight is the melding of the bizarre and the macabre, the magical and the completely dreadful, a tantalizing providing that delves deeper into its roots within the Deep South. Nonetheless, it nonetheless has some obtrusive flaws, most notably with its fight system.

In South of Midnight, you play as Hazel Flood, a younger lady looking for her mom after a hurricane devastates the city of Prospero. After a number of twists and turns, you study that Hazel is a Weaver, somebody who wields magic to see by means of the fabric aircraft and right into a world that’s shrouded in shadow and religious essences.

What follows is an unforgettable journey the place you meet a bunch of characters and creatures derived from Southern folklore. These embody the enormous catfish, a staple of previous tales within the area; the aforementioned Two-Toed Tom; and even a large man referred to as Shakin’ Bones, who’s partly based mostly on Charon, the ferryman of the useless from Greek mythology, and blues legend Robert Johnson, rumored to have offered his soul to the satan to grow to be a grasp at guitar.

There are additionally terrifying beings whose tales are distinctive to sure areas, equivalent to Huggin’ Molly. Molly was believed to be a phantom lady who’d discover naughty youngsters who had been out at evening within the quaint city of Abbeville, Alabama. She’d swoop in and squeeze youngsters tightly earlier than shrieking into their ears. Likewise, there’s the Altamaha-ha, a sea monster whose legend is rooted in Muscogee custom, and with a number of alleged sightings in components of Georgia.

South of Midnight simply pulled me in by means of its masterful use of engrossing folklore and tall tales, although it’s the nuanced exploration of darkish themes and harsh realities that really resonated with me. You see, Hazel’s job as a Weaver is to fix stigmas, wounds attributable to heinous acts — wounds that fester within the immaterial realm earlier than seeping into actuality. The story is full of emotionally impactful moments, equivalent to with Hazel’s mom, a social employee who’s in search of a method to save impoverished youngsters who’ve been failed by the system, and that of the ghosts of plantation slaves discovering their method to freedom. Simply as properly, there are equally disturbing segments of the sport’s story, together with fratricide, bullying, animal abuse, and hatefulness in opposition to these deemed to be too totally different.

Look, I received’t fake that I’m an knowledgeable in Southern gothic lore or historical past — I reside within the Philippines, which is 9,000 miles away from any state within the Bible Belt. The closest I’ve been to the South was after I labored in Virginia for a number of months again in 2004, and that’s nonetheless fairly removed from Georgia or Alabama.

That mentioned, South of Midnight did current stark truths which are relatable all the identical. In some methods, my folks, too, relied on the ability of mysticism, superstition, and folktales to form our Filipino identification and to grow to be extra resilient within the face of adversity. It’s not unusual for folks within the provinces to warn you of creatures like tikbalangs, kapres, and duwendes, or to espouse the protecting and restorative properties of mystical beliefs (which additionally conflict with conventional Catholic teachings). Furthermore, the sport’s narrative attracts on the common themes of hope and dedication: that there are folks on the market who’re prepared to assist, that there are methods to heal the traumatic occasions of the previous, and that youngsters will transfer heaven and earth for his or her mother and father (and vice versa).

South of Midnight’s story is additional enhanced by hanging visuals and using stop-motion animation in cutscenes. Whereas the latter is perhaps onerous to get used to at first — you’ll be roaming across the swamps at a blistering tempo, then see a stop-motion cutscene at a decrease body charge — the idea in the end provides to the gothic-fantasy allure. In the identical vein, the soundtrack, made by composer Olivier Derivière (A Plague Story: Innocence/Requiem and Vampyr), is perhaps among the finest I’ve had the enjoyment of listening to in latest reminiscence. There’s a mixture of melodic blues and nation music, in addition to a church hymn at one level. The track lyrics themselves both deal with Hazel’s plight or pertain to a specific boss, punctuating each vital second within the marketing campaign, from the somber expressions of grief to the pulse-pounding crescendo of an upcoming battle.

The exploration and platforming mechanics, which jogged my memory considerably of Ember Lab’s Kena: Bridge of Spirits, are exceptionally properly designed, too. The sport’s 14 ranges — consisting of (largely) fetid swamplands and mountainside villages, in addition to a brief trek to a glitzy New Orleans-esque metropolis, albeit one with landmasses floating over an enormous expanse — are all pretty linear. That mentioned, exploration remains to be inspired, as there are small areas which are off the overwhelmed path. A few of these comprise well being filaments, which improve Hazel’s HP, or a useful resource known as Floofs, that are used to unlock expertise in a really bare-bones ability tree.

On prime of this, Hazel beneficial properties a plethora of powers and talents in only a few hours, permitting you to make use of assorted traversal strategies, like a magical grapple to cross gaps, wind currents to fly by means of the air, a spell that solidifies spectral objects, and a Power Pull/Power Push-esque capability paying homage to a Jedi. There’s even a reanimated doll, Crouton, maybe a nod to Hoodoo spiritualism, that you simply management to achieve entry to small areas and burrows. Moreover, you can also make a wispy guiding path seem with the press of a button, displaying the way in which ahead full with disembodied voices calling out to your character.

My solely criticism with regard to general stage design is that I want puzzles had been trickier and extra expansive. There have been situations when Hazel would comment about how a contraption may want energy or that she needed to attain a sure location, but the options to those issues had been easy. Typically, all I needed to do was make Crouton push a swap in a small nook or toss a rock at a breakable object. Having extra mind teasers would have enriched the sport’s fantasy and thriller parts.

Regrettably, the fight system in South of Midnight is its weakest facet. As you make your method by means of every stage, you come throughout bigger clusters of stigma that spawn monsters referred to as “haints” (a Southern time period for ghosts or evil spirits). Enemy selection is pretty restricted, as you find yourself dealing with shadowy specters that use claws, exploding flies, or gooey spit. To take out these foes, you utilize Hazel’s aforementioned traversal talents, which have their very own equal results in fight; you may briefly stun foes by solidifying them, you may push/pull enemies, and you can also make Crouton take management of a hostile to assault its personal cohorts.

Degree development feels prefer it’s structured with fight encounters in thoughts, and the result’s that each one the degrees really feel the identical after some time. Basically, this consists of exploring a piece, discovering a stigma cluster, defeating a few enemy waves to complete the encounter, watching a brief cutscene in regards to the previous, after which clearing the remaining clusters, earlier than going by means of a chase sequence the place an otherworldly entity is scorching in your heels. The final half — the chase sequence — is thrilling, however the remaining is generally simply lather, rinse, and repeat till you’re accomplished.

The battles themselves are very forgiving even on regular issue; your dodges trigger damaging explosions, and you may heal by unraveling defeated enemies or by interacting with a glowing inexperienced orb. Nonetheless, the construction turned too repetitive to a fault that, on the midway level, I actually puzzled if I ought to simply allow the “Skip Fight” choice so I may get to the nice components quicker. Exterior of a choose few bouts in opposition to bosses and legendary creatures, there are not any different encounters that supply the identical stage of pleasure. It’s a darn disgrace given how a lot the sport excels in the case of the “journey” facet, and but the “motion” half is egregiously boring and uninspired.

All in all, even with my qualms in regards to the fight system, South of Midnight nonetheless managed to exceed my expectations. It has the 3D platforming goodness that ought to enchantment to followers of the style, and ranges which are a pleasure to discover from a traversal standpoint. Extra importantly, its compelling story hooks you with its wonderful use of the usually underrepresented Deep South as a setting, together with its wealthy folktales and troubled historical past. And sure, it comes as no shock that the sport explores darkish and unsettling themes, all whereas reminding us that love, forgiveness, and acceptance assist mend previous wounds.

South of Midnight can have an early entry launch on April 3 and a large launch on April 8 on Home windows PC and Xbox Collection X. The sport was reviewed on PC utilizing a replica supplied by Compulsion Video games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media might earn commissions for merchandise bought through affiliate hyperlinks. Yow will discover extra details about epicgamejourney’s ethics coverage right here.