Done With #13: South of Midnight

Not many games out there truly can capture the feelings of nostalgia of adventure platformers that used to be released almost every other months back during the fifth to seventh generation consoles era. Something that is rather obvious that it does not have the highest budget or the biggest scale in mind, but rather a very clear idea of how the developers want to turn out and a story that the developers want to tell. It’s rather surprising that Compulsion Games, the creative force behind We Happy Few, is able to craft an almost perfect gaming experience that captures that nostalgic feeling, while telling a very unique story within the American South setting, exploring those old folklore that is never really touched upon in the game media. And even with its short runtime and, in all honesty, its weak combat, South of Midnight is truly a complete experience that will make you brim with joy by the end of the game despite its dark comedy and undertone.

We take on the role of Hazel, a young biracial kid from the town of Prospero, which is essentially a fictional Louisiana. Being inspired by the deep south, the game’s setting is rich with history, and does not shy away from the rather dark reality of the past as you can see remnants of plantations nor the unfortunate disasters that keep striking in the present with hurricane waves and their damages to the town. Of course, the hurricane takes away Hazel’s mother, Lacey, which leads Hazel into this magical journey (literally finding out that she has the power to manipulate magical threads can be very empowering after all) of getting her mother back.

The visual storytelling through the usage of its settings and clever placement of items, especially ones scattered around living spaces, do incredible wonders in highlighting the theme of pain, guilt, trauma and underlying racism experienced by the black community and alienation of biracial kids.

And it’s the game’s themes and stories that really make South of Midnight such a standout among many action platformers of the past and the present. With the clever usage of Southern gothic folklore, it’s incredibly exciting to learn about some of the legends I’ve never heard of. Be it the legend of the Huggin Molly, the incorporation of Haints which are also prominently featured in the hit movie Sinners, Compulsion Games cleverly use them to represent the suffering faced by the interesting cast we encounter. Heck, even the Florida’s legend Two-Toed Tom was incorporated into the story and made me incredibly emotional. These mythical creatures are used to explore incredibly hard topic to discuss about like suicide and child abuse, but the corporations of them does not dilute the topics but rather enhance and reinforce how serious these are.

But what’s even more incredible and probably the hardest thing for me to write about as a non-black person is the very subtle yet easy to deduce hints of racism and slavery. The game utilises the notes, environmental subtext like eviction signs or even flashback memories of the Haints to tell the pain faced by the black community throughout the history. It’s all down to the minute details, such as our main character’s subtle changes in clothing throughout the game to reflect her inner struggle of being biracial and not being able to fully embrace either part of her identity.

What really ties this all together, however, is the game’s soundtrack. The lyrics to these tracks, which are from a great variety of genres with African American roots such as bluegrass, blues, jazz and souls, are written to perfection to fit each scene. Big story moments are accompanied by the banging beats of these tracks, hyping you up in boss fights and long chases. The usage of motifs to slowly build up the tensions of each chapter before the big reveals is very effective. Hard to not appreciate a game that finds a way to use music as yet another tool to tell a story.

But while the overarching story is incredibly strong, and the themes are super impactful, it’s hard not to feel like the game starts to get a bit formulaic after a while. The 14 chapters structure of the game with its 6 main bosses can be boiled down to 12 real chapters, with 2 dedicated to each boss and the theme the game is tackling. While they all move the plot along, Act 2 can feel a bit disjointed from the main story as it does not feel relevant to her finding her mother. It’s one of those cases where I feel like Hazel’s journey should be slightly longer to allow for the story to breathe a bit and have those additional connecting bits that make the story flow better.

Another thing that doesn’t feel magical, sadly, is the game’s bland combat. The simplistic nature of the combat can be a big turn off. It’s quite a shame that the game’s focus on weaving and magic do not really explore a lot on its combat side of things, making the seemingly big list of skills feel a requirement by the higher ups and not well thought out upgrades for the players. You end up mashing the buttons four times, no strings get added, no additional combo. The four spells are simple with a stun, a pull, a push and a possession, but unfortunately the incorporations and the upgrade to these also feel weak as the enemies can be pretty spongy with their high health.

But Compulsion Games really makes up for the lacking combat with how well crafted the exploration feels. As you progress through the game, more mechanics will be introduced and incorporated into the gameplay. Be it simple climbing, wall running or flying through the air with the weaving magic or more complex mechanics like controlling your cute plushie to solve puzzles, there is a lot of switch up to keep the game engaging.

Exploration is also very rewarding as you will be earning permanent health upgrades, skill points (even though I really don’t like the combat) but most importantly the notes scattered throughout the game that add the much needed context to people who aren’t from the South. The game also allows you to reload any chapters with your new upgrades to attempt exploring for missing notes and upgrade points too, adding quite a bit of replayability and easing the completionists’ pain.

But what makes exploration and the game in general very enjoyable on top of its story, exploration and soundtrack is that jaw dropping artstyle and graphical achievement of the game. Compulsion Games really nailed the stop motion animations, especially in the cutscene, which is the core of South of Midnight visual identity. The vibrant colour choices with that slight “brown” filter (to indicate the setting’s geographical location XD) does for me as a player as well. While the game’s set in one town, the usage of colour and creative choices on the environment really make it feels bigger than it is while not being disjointed and I buy the fact that it’s all in one location.

Straightforward is probably the best way to describe this game in one word. It’s a humble, straight to the point adventure platformer with a story that it wants to tell, eye-catching artstyle and most importantly authenticity. It’s a great experience and I’m really fascinated by a lot of these folklores that I have never been exposed to before until now. While there are some flaws, the game’s complete package makes them so easy to overlook. It may be a dark gothic south horror comedy story, but there’s a lot of heart and wholesomeness to it. Give it a go when you can, definitely not a skip especially with it being on GamePass.