South of Midnight review: A bewitching Cajun caper

Developed by Canadian studio Compulsion Games, South of Midnight takes players on a journey through a Southern Gothic folk tale in the American Deep South.

Following a devastating hurricane that whisks away her home and her mother inside it, our heroine Hazel gives chase, stumbling into a world that blurs the line between reality and local myth.

Early on, Hazel learns that she is a Weaver, someone capable of seeing energy in the form of spirits and threads of the past, and you'll come face to face with what happens when negative energy known as 'stigma' spirals out of control.

South of Midnight leans heavily on the mythos of the Deep South to craft its world. Powerful emotions like fear, grief and rage leave their mark on the world, transforming the environment and, in some cases, individuals themselves.

You learn the story of a man abandoned to die by his brother, whose spirit morphs into a great tree. In another tale, a starved pet alligator kills its owner before gorging itself to be the size of an island.

It's a beautiful evocation of the kind of magical realism that wouldn't be out of place in a Márquez or Borges novel. Like I said, character.

At the start of the game, it can be hard to see how such creatures could coexist alongside an otherwise normal town, but South of Midnight dances that line between reality and fiction so deftly that you rarely question it.

It's such a gradual shift into unreality that moving from rural farmsteads to what is essentially Alan Wake's Dark Place seems perfectly reasonable.

If a beautiful setting and deep lore weren't enough, you'll also come across a genuinely delightful cast of characters, all of whom are expertly voice-acted.

As good as most of these characters are, Hazel included, nobody holds a candle to Catfish, the giant patchwork fish who narrates your tale, bantering with Hazel throughout the game. He's a character so good it might be worth playing this game for him alone.

The release is split into chapters that see you make your way through a certain area performing platforming challenges, solving simple puzzles and dispelling stigma.

Levels are very linear and could have done with a little more potential for exploration.

'Secrets', for want of a better word, are extremely obvious to spot and rarely require any real effort to find.

Platforming is simple but fluid. It's a joy to play when the platforming flows smoothly, but often it feels like more of a means to an end.

The same can largely be said for combat. During various points in each level, you come across areas of concentrated stigma where energy coalesces into balls of energy called Haints.

Armed with a few magical abilities, it's your job to take them out. Combat takes the form of a simple hack and slash style, rarely amounting to more than mashing your attack button and dodging enemy swipes.

Like platforming, when it clicks it feels great, but after the first hour or so I often felt like it was getting in the way more than anything. On lower difficulties it's too easy, and on higher difficulties it's too simple to stay engaging.

Thankfully, when it comes to boss fights, the combat is much more engaging.

Many of them reminded me of a classic Zelda boss fight, forcing you to dodge attacks before using a specific mechanic or ability to strike at its weak spot.

They're made all the better by the staging, which is excellent. As you make your way through each level, you'll pick up notes that hint at each boss's tragic past, humanising them and making that battle all the more meaningful.

This brings me onto another aspect of the game, which is the soundtrack, something I don't usually pay too much attention to in games but which South of Midnight uses expertly.

From song to song, South of Midnight flits between genres, covering everything you'd expect from a game set in the Deep South. Blues, jazz, folk, soul, country, even a number straight out of a Disney songbook – it's all here.

But more than just being great listening, I can't give Compulsion enough props for how they're implemented. Every needle drop is so perfectly timed and adds flavour to every set piece they feature in.

One area that I haven't touched on yet, perhaps to the surprise of some, is the game's animation.

In a bold move, South of Midnight uses a kind of stop-motion-esque animation style, something that received plenty of criticism based on how it looked in trailers.

Some people will undoubtedly hate this, but I thought it added a lot to that character I keep alluding to. Sure, now and then it looks a little janky, but more often than not Compulsion knocks it out of the park.

South of Midnight was a unique experience for me. The things I usually look for in a game – combat, puzzles and a generally strong focus on gameplay – were lacking.

On the flip side, areas I don't usually pay as much attention to blew me away. The animation and art style were beautiful, and the music really elevates the mood when it's used best.

Combine that with an enchanting world drowned in a fascinating mythos, a story that only grows as it goes on and a cast of memorable characters, and I found that, even when I began to tire of the combat or platforming, I was still fully engrossed in South of Midnight.

I won't pretend that it is a masterpiece; the gameplay is overly simplistic, levels are linear, and the pacing does drag in patches.

But for its faults, South of Midnight is an adventure I was truly captivated by, and I'm sure it will captivate plenty of others, too.

South of Midnight launches on 8th April 2025 for PC and Xbox Series X/S. We reviewed on PC.

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