South of Midnight Review, Gameplay Impressions, Videos and Top Features

South of Midnight from developer Compulsion Games and Xbox looks like one of the most unique games to go public in 2025. 

While a singleplayer third-person action game won’t register as shocking, the rest of the package will. South of Midnight is visually unmatched in its gothic style and design and the willingness to dive deep into longstanding folklore is engrossing. 

Trekking through swamps, navigating puzzles and some interesting combat scenarios along the way, if nothing else, has South of Midnight looking like another solid singleplayer effort in an era of great offerings. 

Some of the usual challenges the category faces, such as controls, repetitiveness and replayability, though, will determine whether it’s merely pretty looking or something much more. 

Graphics and Gameplay

If nothing else, South of Midnight found its visual and immersive niche and nailed it down to the point all other games thinking of flirting with the same space should remake their plans. 

This effort captures this unique, gothic-stylized version of the Deep South in downright engrossing ways. Gloomy swamps stretch off into mists, massive spider webs provide big apparent threats and stellar sound design, including ambient noise, really bring it all home. Little exclamation points like stunning lighting and reflections help, too. 

Incredibly cool stop-motion effects for cinematics and some gameplay elements just add another unique flair that gives everything a handcrafted feel.

But again, South of Midnight, very blatantly, was never going to encounter problems in the visual impressiveness or immersion departments. 

Combat is where things get a little tricky. It feels good overall and has some tried-and-true things going for it. A perfect dodge actually damages and knocks back enemies. It’s pretty simple to pull off, too, thanks to audio cues that help. 

When up close and personal, combat is punchy and the controls are responsive. Players can loop in weaving magic that includes push, pull and puppeteer-styled traits, too. The aim is to juggle and crowd control enemies, which scale nicely in challenge and number alongside the player. 

Every combat area grants one health item usage, so players know what they’re getting into when they choose to engage. 

There are some hiccups with the target lock, activated with a click of the right stick. It lets players flick between enemies, but the action is so quick and the player so outnumbered that it can wind up feeling lacking. 

Still, this is very much a story-first game and arguably an exploration game second. Controls for traversal feel great while jumping around and wall-running the gorgeous world. Tack on some fun platforming chase sequences for good measure, too.

Story and More

Players control Hazel, who sets out to fix the world in the wake of a hurricane by righting the very fabric of it after monsters and otherwise from folklore emerge. 

Hazel goes about solving the problem by tackling Haints in certain areas, effectively cleansing them and resetting the area to normal if successful. 

Along the way, players will meet some great characters only made all the more memorable by some fantastic voice-acting. That and, some of the characters encountered aren’t exactly human, which is fun. 

It helps that exploring a world with some rather surprising verticality is fun, considering the play area itself is a character in its own right laced with strong environmental storytelling. 

Beyond typical story progression, players can spend currency found out in the world in an upgrade menu. There, skill trees offer up upgrades of the expected fare, so there’s extra incentive to explore far and wide. 

South of Midnight isn’t shy about giving players control of the experience, though. It boasts five difficulty options, including a customizable option. Tweaking everything feels like it’s on the table, including changing a player’s damage output against enemies. 

There are droves of accessibility options too, including fully remapping controls and sensitivity toggles. As a whole, the game runs well with some slight hiccups here and there when the combat effects really get flying against a group of enemies. 

Conclusion

South of Midnight exceeds expectations in many ways, as it is much more than a standout stylized setting backed by a story with something to say. 

The world of South of Midnight beyond sheer visuals is impressive to experience for its verticality and overall depth. Memorable characters help, but this is more about the feel of exploring such a captivating space. 

Player agency also goes beyond the usual. Those who want to just enjoy the world and story can say no thanks to combat, effectively. On the very other end of the spectrum, those who want super-challenging engagements can make those possible, too, and that’s not even counting the stellar list of customizable options and accessibility suite. 

While it might not be apparent right away, South of Midnight feels like it’s going to land in the beloved cult hit bucket with all-timers like Psychonauts.