Compulsion Games’ South of Midnight seems to be exactly what I expected: an action-adventure game featuring platforming and combat that feels reminiscent of the genre during the PlayStation 2 era. Having now played the game for about 90 minutes, the gameplay doesn’t wow me. That said, South of Midnight doesn’t feel like a game that needs to deliver a never-before-seen gameplay experience. The focal point of the game is clearly its celebration of the myths, sounds, culture, and language of the American South, and in that respect, South of Midnight feels like it’s going to exceed those expectations.
You play as Hazel in South of Midnight, desperate to find her mother after their home washes away in a hurricane. Early into her journey, she learns to be a weaver, a person who can both unravel the corrupting forces influencing a community and knit together constructs to glide or leap across dangerous swampland. As Hazel searches for her mom, her abilities and skills as a weaver continue to develop and she comes across numerous legendary monsters, beings who were once humans or animals and have since been twisted into mythical larger-than-life creatures by the trauma and tragedy that surrounded them in life. As a weaver, Hazel’s job is to put these legends to rest.
Hazel can use her weaver abilities to glide, grapple, double jump, and wall-run.
My time with the game saw me step in during an early chapter, which immediately precedes the level and boss battle I saw during my trip to Compulsion Games last year. The chapter starts with Hazel having only recently become a weaver and making the acquaintance of Catfish, who promises to help her find her mother if she first frees him from the grip of a colossal tree that resembles a scared and sad-looking man. The level then establishes the gameplay loop that South of Midnight will presumably follow for the rest of the story: Hazel platforms through largely linear levels, encountering and fighting groups of enemies who guard the memories that detail the truth behind a local legend.