Compulsion Games has caught my eye for some time with their upcoming Southern Folk fairy Tale, South of Midnight, with a truly wonderful take on a region that often goes overlooked in gaming. With its stop-motion and puppetry narrative combined with a slick bit of traversal, there’s plenty of reason to jump in and explore this colorful yet haunted world. Microsoft and Compulsion Games invited us to experience the third chapter in South of Midnight at our own leisure and see firsthand what the We Happy Few developers have been working on since its initial reveal back in 2023.
South of Midnight centers around Hazel, a young white-collar worker who finds herself magicked away to Prospero in the American Deep South sometime in the preceding chapters before our preview began. By then, Hazel has already established herself in the setting and is only just beginning to understand her potential as a Weaver before control is given to the player for this single chapter preview. Along the journey were a number of tutorials, some highlighting new methods of traversal for the first time, while others introduced mechanics to the combat little by little.
Truth be told, the combat was the feature that excited me the least about South of Midnight. It was the exploration accompanied by small vignettes of story or musical interludes that set this experience apart and any time that I was dragged into a combat arena, I felt disconnected from the narrative being told. It’s not to say that the combat in South of Midnight is bad, per se. It’s more along the lines of being your bog-standard character action.
Hazel isn’t much of a fighter but still has a decent grasp of her powers by the time our time with South of Midnight begins. She has a couple of timed powers that use the threads to both pull enemies closer or push them away with a metaphysical shotgun blast. Melee is your standard rote character action, with simple melee combos and dodging making up the majority of battle while your various abilities are on cooldown. We only got a small taste of the skill progression, but I was able to invest my collected points into an ability to help hold down an enemy while focusing my attacks elsewhere. The twisted and ethereal Haints won’t wait for Hazel to pay attention to them, so expect a lot of off-screen ranged attacks and having to juggle two or three enemies at a single time. Healing is minimal thus far, typically with one healing node in each combat arena, along with the ability to recover a pitifully small amount of health by unraveling a stunned enemy. Hazel can only take a few hits before going six feet under, but thankfully, South of Midnight saves before every combat encounter, and trying once again with full health takes no time at all.
When not stuck in melee combat, Hazel is free to explore the wide linear levels, often taking the less traveled path for a dead end and some form of collectible or skill point upgrade. It’s times like these that players can take a moment to enjoy the colorful South that Compulsion Games is cooking up. Following the beaten path often rewards Hazel with visions of past trauma afflicting those who called the town of Prospero their home. These traversal interludes become more engaging as Hazel draws upon her powers as a Weaver and discovers how to glide across pratfalls or run across walls, both common staples in most character action games post-Ninja Gaiden Black.
During these longer moments, as Hazel works her way through a series of platforming and free running, the experience is accompanied by a chorus that sings along to reveal the secrets through a folk musical befitting the time and location of South of Midnight. The final ditty, as Hazel discovers the truth behind the trauma of one of Prospero’s residents, was stuck in my head as a catchy earworm long after I wrapped up my time playing just one of South of Midnight’s chapters.
South of Midnight scratched a particular itch in its creative storytelling. At the same time, the combat left me wanting to drop it down to the easiest difficulty and just enjoy the ride. I’ve only just begun Hazel’s folk tale, and I’m genuinely curious to see where this story leads. South of Midnight will be available on both PC and Xbox Series S|X come April 8th, 2025, with a story that will last between 10 and 12 hours.
[Editor’s Note: South of Midnight was played on the Xbox Series X with an advance preview code provided by the publisher.]
