South of Midnight, Compulsion Games’ upcoming deep south folktale, has received a gameplay reveal trailer during today’s Xbox showcase.
Last year we received a reveal trailer for the upcoming action-adventure, and today Compulsion Games and Microsoft released the game’s first gameplay trailer. The footage is taken from around a third of the way through the story and features the main protagonist Hazel alongside her companion Catfish. You can check out the gameplay reveal trailer for the game below.
Alongside the new trailer, the game’s Creative Director David Sears, Art Director Whitney Clayton, and Game Director Jasmin Roy also provided some additional details about this interesting new upcoming title on the official Xbox Wire. “[Players] are really in control of traversing there,” Jasmin Roy explained about the game’s “wide-linear” environments. “So the way we built the environment is because we want players to follow the narrative, but have more to sink their teeth into – you can sometimes see some more open, hub-like sections.”
Art Director Clayton added, “‘The world Hazel comes from is inspired by the contemporary Deep South, but as you dive deeper into the world, things become more mystical and surreal. We wanted the feeling that you’re being pulled into a folktale, rather than, say, crossing a barrier like in Alice in Wonderland.”
The trio also talked about Hazel’s weaving powers, which will serve different purposes throughout the game. “We don’t want to reveal everything in this particular gameplay trailer just yet,” said Roy, “[but] the spells are going to be used for traversal, problem-solving, and combat. This is how Hazel expresses the use of her power, through the different gameplay elements.”
Clayton continued, ““We needed to find something that connected to [the lore] and also have this Southern Gothic influence – this idea of taking back feminine crafts, and making them powerful, because we knew we wanted a female protagonist. That concept inspired this idea of a sort of living lace.”
South of Midnight is slated for a release on Xbox Series X|S and PC in 2025 – and not the possible 2024 release that a LinkedIn resume appeared to hint at.
