South of Midnight Review

South of Midnight Review: 🔹The Good🔸 The Bad🔻The Ugly

Played on Xbox Series X with GamePass. Play time - 10 hours

The Good

🔹 The atmosphere is a standout, it will immerse you in a hauntingly beautiful American Deep South with its swamps, bayous, and gothic folklore.

🔹Graphics & Art style - The stop-motion art style and painterly visuals are stunning, making every some scenes a screenshot-worthy moment.

🔹 The narrative shines with emotional depth, weaving a touching story of Hazel, a young Black woman, as she confronts generational trauma, family secrets, and her identity as a Weaver. The Southern folklore elements, like Huggin’ Molly and Two-Toed Tom were educational.

🔹 The soundtrack is exceptional, it's was like playing a video game while having your favorite play list playing in the background and it all adds value to the game.

🔹 At 10-12 hours, the game’s length feels just right for its story-driven focus. Given how bloated the games are these days.

🔸 The Bad

🔸 The gameplay feels dated, reminiscent of early 2000s action-adventure titles. Platforming is decent, with familiar mechanics like wall-climbing and squeezing through gaps that don’t innovate or challenge.

🔸 Combat is shallow and repetitive, relying on basic combos and a handful of magical abilities that don’t evolve much over time.

🔸 Hazel’s powers, while thematically fitting, are underutilized in boss fights. All the power you learn is basically useless in most boss fights.

🔻 The Ugly

🔻 Story was very predictable and the ending didn't feel satisfying. Throughout the game you new exactly what's going to happen next and it's only saved by southern folklore.

🔻 For all its artistic brilliance, South of Midnight plays it too safe mechanically, missing opportunities to innovate. The lack of meaningful side content or engaging exploration beyond collectibles (lore pages and Floof) makes the world feel less alive than its visuals suggest.

SpawnSays: South of Midnight is a game for GamePass. Visually and narratively captivating experience that’s held back by uninspired gameplay and untapped potential. It’s a soulful, if flawed, journey worth taking for its art and heart, especially for those who value story over mechanics. Best played on Game Pass.