South Of Midnight Review (XSX) – A Haunting Triumph from Compulsion Games

In 2018, Compulsion Games was acquired by Xbox, becoming part of their first-party studio lineup. Since that time, I have been excited to see what this team could create with these extra resources. Following the release of We Happy Few in the months after they were acquired, Compulsion Games began work on a new game. That game, South of Midnight, is finally here! The question is: Can it live up to the increased expectation that comes with being a game from a first-party studio? Let’s discuss that and more in our review of South of Midnight.

Game Name: South Of Midnight
Platform(s): Xbox Series X|S (reviewed), PC, Available On Gamepass
Publisher(s): Xbox Game Studios
Developer(s): Compulsion Games
Release Date: April 3rd, 2025 (Early Access), April 8th, 2025 (Full Release, inc. Gamepass)

What Exactly Is South of Midnight?

South of Midnight is an action-adventure game with a healthy dose of platforming thrown in. Set in a fictional version of the American Deep South, it is heavily inspired by folklore and gothic fantasy.

You take control of Hazel, a young girl living in the town of Prospero with her mother, leading what seems to be a normal life, albeit one spent preparing for a storm. It isn’t too long before Hazel starts seeing strands of light and hearing voices. Why, you might ask? Well, Hazel is a weaver—someone with magical abilities that can mend broken bonds and spirits. With this power, Hazel can also see the corruption, which manifests as vines and thorns that only weavers can see. Why exactly this corruption exists is a huge spoiler, and I’m not going to give it away here.

Stories Within the Story

I will, however, talk about the structure of South of Midnight, which might give you some clues without spoiling the core narrative. In South of Midnight, you find yourself being narrated to by someone you don’t initially know but will come to discover. While telling you Hazel’s story through a fourteen-chapter book, each chapter feels like a story of its own. These chapters are inspired by folktales and legends from the Deep South, such as Two-Toed Tom. Each chapter is a level to play through, acting as a vehicle that drives Hazel from point A to point B in her quest.

While I enjoyed Hazel’s story, people unfamiliar with these Deep South fables will likely find the stories within the story just as powerful as the main plot itself.

This storytelling structure made each small narrative feel bigger and more meaningful than it might in an open-world game, for example. That being said, if I were to give one minor critique of the way this story is told, it would be the pacing. Don’t get me wrong—the pacing isn’t bad at all! However, with each chapter being a self-contained story of varying lengths, some chapters can feel longer than necessary. This is especially true at times when I would have preferred to focus more on Hazel.

Effortless Fun

In terms of gameplay, some will say this is where South of Midnight stumbles. That’s because, at its core, there is nothing unique about the gameplay—it’s built using elements we’ve seen hundreds of times before across many titles.

Combat is hack-and-slash in nature, with the X button for standard attacks and B to dodge. You also get a few abilities to use and upgrade, from push and pull to a stronger area-of-effect attack and more. To upgrade an ability, you need to collect enough orbs, which can be found by exploring and clearing corruption. Each ability uses a different button for activation: the left trigger for pull, the right trigger for push, Y for your AOE attack, and the left bumper ties up enemies for a short time, causing them to take more damage. Perhaps the most interesting ability is attached to the right bumper, which allows you to summon Crouton—a stuffed toy gifted to Hazel by her mother.

Crouton can take control of foes for a short time, fighting alongside you. Crouton is equally important when it comes to exploration, as Hazel can summon him to help get to unreachable areas. Once summoned outside of combat, the player takes control of Crouton, and while playing as him, you can fit into places Hazel can’t. This little stuffed toy becomes crucial to puzzle-solving and traversal. While his gameplay is simple, it’s used sparingly, offering a nice change of pace from time to time.

It’s not just Crouton that is a multifaceted ability. You’ll also use push and pull while traversing and solving puzzles. There is one big difference between using these in and out of combat, however. While fighting, abilities have a cooldown and recharge more quickly as you defeat enemies. By contrast, while exploring and traversing each level, your abilities recharge instantly after use.

Speaking of traversal, you’ll climb many walls with white paint and slide down a few slopes while avoiding obstacles. Eventually, you’ll be able to double jump by pressing A a second time while in the air. Oh, and you’ll even get the ability to glide by holding B while in the air.

So, yes, everything in South of Midnight’s gameplay might be using mechanics you’ve seen before—hell, there’s even a wall run. The truth is, everything it does is fun (most of the time). Boss fights at the end of some chapters are a particular highlight, as they add a unique twist not seen in normal combat. One boss encounter, for example, has you ringing a bell to daze the enemy.

I found South of Midnight’s gameplay to be fun, and it only got more enjoyable as the game progressed. However, sometimes the platforming and combat can be shaky. This is due to the stop-motion animation style, which makes it tough to judge timing until you get used to it. That being said, you do have the option to turn off stop-motion in the settings if you find it too much of an issue.

Unique Look and Feel

I opted to stick with the stop-motion animation and just get used to the timing difference it creates. You might ask why. It’s simple—this stop-motion style gives South of Midnight a unique look and feel that we haven’t seen all that often in games. Of course, stop-motion is much more prominent in movies, and in truth, it lends a movie-like quality to the presentation of South of Midnight. Watching the cutscenes felt very much like watching Isle of Dogs, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and other great stop-motion movies.

Combined with the gothic fantasy art style, this makes South of Midnight look and feel like one of the most unique games I’ve seen in a long time. With both beautiful and unnerving sights to see through your adventure.

Beyond its striking visuals and animations, South of Midnight uses audio to masterfully set the tone. From the ambient calls of owls and foxes to the eerie yet beautiful score by Olivier Deriviere (A Plague Tale: Requiem, Dying Light 2), the game’s music perfectly captures its atmosphere. The standout moments for me were the unique tracks that accompanied each boss fight, weaving the story of each character into the battle itself. South of Midnight’s soundtrack is one I’ll be listening to long after I’ve put down the controller, earning a place among my all-time favorite video game scores.

Can You Play South of Midnight?

Due to its fairly simple mechanics, South of Midnight has a great deal of built-in accessibility. Often, when this is the case, games forget or ignore additional options, but I was pleased to see the team did not shy away from adding extras. You have typical features like colorblind options and subtitles, but something South of Midnight includes that you don’t often see is the ability to skip things like combat, chase sequences, and boss fights.

Sure, some people will say that’s just silly and to “get good,” but there are many players who simply don’t have the dexterity or mobility required to deal with some of the faster-paced moments that might require lots of different inputs. That doesn’t mean those players can’t enjoy the rest of the game and, most importantly, the story. You might think… at that point, why not watch a playthrough instead? As gamers, we all know that the magic of games is that they aren’t fully passive experiences. Any aspect of control we can have makes them feel personal to us in a way that just watching something can’t.

So, hats off to Compulsion Games and Xbox Game Studios for having the foresight to include options like these for those who need them.

Minor Technical Issues

On the whole, South of Midnight is a solid experience on Xbox Series X, running at a mostly locked 60fps with some minor dips during certain boss encounters.

I did experience a few bugs, but they were very minor and usually resolved themselves in a split second. These included things like floating above steps or getting stuck on the occasional obstacle. With an inevitable day-one patch, I expect many of these minor issues to be cleaned up between this review and the time you play the game.

South of Midnight Is More Than Meets the Eye

Despite some minor tech issues and the lack of truly unique gameplay elements, I enjoyed my time with South of Midnight. Its story and protagonist, Hazel, connected with me in a way I didn’t expect. The setting and art direction give South of Midnight an identity all its own.

On top of that, the stop-motion animations make it feel unique compared to other games—even if they can occasionally cause issues in gameplay. Thankfully, you can turn them off, so it’s not a big deal! South of Midnight is a game I would recommend, especially with its lower price point at launch and being available on Game Pass. It’s a great way to spend a weekend, with its 10–12 hour playtime.

Review Disclosure Statement: A copy of South Of Midnight was provided to us for review purposes by Xbox. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more info.

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