South of Midnight bottles up some very special Southern magic, but is it enough?Different kettle of Catfish.Image credit: Compulsion Games Preview by Victoria Kennedy News Reporter Published on Feb. 11, 2025 From the moment Microsoft and Compulsion Games first teased South of Midnight back in 2023, my interests have been piqued. I fell for the game's stop-motion art style, eclectic cast of characters and its Gothic Deep South "folklorish" story-telling premise. As soon as Shakin' Bones began strumming on his guitar, I was left wanting to know more.But, what is it actually like to play? I went hands-on with South of Midnight last week, and I have to say, the game is absolutely beautiful. It has clearly been made with great attention to detail and respect for the Deep South by the team at Compulsion; the sights, the sounds, the music, the art - oh, they are lovely. The entire world of South of Midnight is alive with natural energy. Insects chirp, birds squawk, rabbits gamble around, alligators laze in the waters. This is all backed with soulful guitars and choral singing, which immediately puts you right into the depths of the Deep South.But, while the game itself has a wonderful atmosphere and setting, I do have some concerns.My preview build took place in South of Midnight's third chapter, which is known as A Big Fish. At the beginning of this chapter, protagonist Hazel is searching for both her house and her mother Lacey, who got swept away by a hurricane. But it is not just Hazel's home life the hurricane has rather unexpectedly affected. As Hazel makes her way through the world, it is clear there is something unusual going on. Gargantuan peaches can be seen here and there, a ghost by the name of Mahalia appears to Hazel as a spectral guide, and another voice calls out asking for help.There are also strange nightmarish creatures known as Haints popping up throughout the world. These Haints appear when the very fabric of the universe is damaged by deep-rooted sorrows and trauma. This in turn produces an anomaly known as Stigma, the source of the Haints, and only Weavers - that is to say, magical menders of broken bonds and spirits, such as Hazel - can see them. Yes, something otherworldly is afoot.Within minutes, I was met by some of these Haints, and got my first taste of South of Midnight's combat. Much of this relied on Hazel's recently acquired magical abilities, which are all themed around weaving. Hazel can use a power called Strand Pull to pull enemies towards her, and Strand Push to - you guessed it - push them away from her again. This tactic of pulling and pushing was especially useful when trying to deal with Haint nests in my preview, which would periodically produce explosive flying creatures known as Larva Haints from within. With Hazel's Weaver magic, I used these creatures to my advantage by pulling them towards me before launching them back towards the nest as they exploded.I used this pulling and pushing technique with the other Haint variations I came across. I ensnared an enemy from across the way, pulled it towards me, and then delivered some powerful slices with Hazel's Hooks - a pair of blades with a textile spinning wheel-themed twist. Each blow steadily whittled down the creature's health. Meanwhile, another magical ability known as Weave essentially allowed me to stun foes by confining them for short moments in an ethereal, threaded bind. These spells could all be upgraded by collecting items known as Floofs, which are earned by fighting Haints, or found throughout the environment as glowing threaded aura-like objects. This is a model of Crouton from South of Midnight. | Image credit: EurogamerBut, here's the thing. The first few times I fought off the Haints, I felt pleased with my efforts as I dodged and weaved (no pun intended) around the landscape. But soon, the rhythm of using these techniques became a little underwhelming and predictable. Despite coming across several different Haint varieties during the preview, including the projectile throwing Hurler Haint and the standard swiping Ravager type, each encounter became a little 'rinse and repeat'. I never felt like I was doing anything especially revelatory, and towards the end of the chapter I realised I was entering battle arenas almost on auto-pilot.I asked the South of Midnight team if there was going to be more combat variety in subsequent chapters, and was told I would encounter more types of Haint as the game progressed. Similarly, while chapter three had a very calm resolution (more on that in a moment), other chapters will include larger boss fights towards their close. We got a glimpse of one of these in an earlier South of Midnight trailer, in the form of mighty gator Two Toed Tom.There will also be an additional spell which is acquired later in the game: a little patchwork puppet pal named Crouton. Thanks to his diminutive stature, Crouton can make his way into areas Hazel is unable to reach, such as inside fox dens. Additionally, he will be able to be deployed in combat as a 'puppet master'-like spell, manipulating one Haint to attack another. However, as much as I love the sound of Crouton's abilities, these sadly weren't part of my particular preview build. Hazel fights off Larva and Ravager Haints. One of South of Midnight's Hurler Haints. Image credit: Compulsion GamesBut, while I did find combat in chapter three a little on the rote side, the game's story and setting went a long way to make up for it. After learning how to double jump and glide with the help of Mahalia, I soon found a mythical talking fish called Catfish, whose voice had been asking for help earlier.Following that destructive hurricane, poor old Catfish had been scooped up by a giant tree which was not letting him go. In order to free Catfish from its grasp, Hazel had to help the mighty tree resolve some of its emotional pain, which involved travelling to a nearby bottle tree, collecting a magical bottle from its branches, and attending to the Stigma and Haints in the nearby area.A simple task on paper, perhaps, but one that highlights just how much care and attention Compulsion has put into South of Midnight's lore, and its connection to the Deep South. For those unfamiliar with them, bottle trees are intertwined with folk beliefs in the South. It is said that a glass bottle placed on a tree can attract and capture evil spirits at night. Then, once these evil spirits have been lured in by the glint of the bottles, they will remain trapped until the morning sunlight destroys them.South of Midnight's bottle trees follow a very similar premise. In my preview, Hazel used a bottle to quite literally bottle up the painful memories which were trapped within the area, and as she did this, a story began to unfurl. With each new memory echo she collected, Hazel learned the tale of Benjy and Rhubarb, two brothers who were tormented by their community due to Benjy's differences. I found these memories incredibly affecting, and at one point had to put down my controller to gather myself for a moment. While these spectral flashes into the past were really only a small taster of what life was like for Benjy and Rhubarb, they were laced with emotion. Through the brothers' story, we began to understand the pain held in this area - a pain Hazel could help heal by using her Weaver abilities. Hazel meets Catfish. | Image credit: Compulsion Games Hazel and Rhubarb in South of Midnight's third chapter. | Image credit: Compulsion GamesOnce Hazel collected these memories in her bottle, she was able to use them to help Benjy deal with his trauma. Yes, Benjy is the giant tree clasping onto Catfish, and one of South of Midnight's mythical, folklore-inspired creatures.But healing Benjy wasn't simply a case of tapping a button and watching the game resolve itself in an artful cutscene. Rather, I had to climb up Benjy's trunk to the source of his pain, gliding, double-jumping and wall-running along the way. And truly, this climb was one of the most magical experiences I have ever had in a game, as while the platforming itself was fairly straightforward - look for ledges, avoid any spiky plants, glide over larger gaps and so on - it was all set to one of the catchiest and most poignant original songs I've heard in a game, which essentially recapped the chapter in aural form. "He was my brother, Benjy his name," it began. I am still singing it now.I felt buoyed by my climb, and empowered. Benjy's story was a sad one, absolutely, but there was hope that I could now help ease some of that pain and make the world a little bit better.I do wonder, though, if this formula of gathering and healing painful memories may - like the game's combat - become a tad predictable over time. South of Midnight is a linear game, and for now the impression I get is that Hazel will travel to a new area in each chapter, unravelling the story of a mythical creature by fighting Haints and uncovering memories at pre-determined points, before resolving their pain and moving on to the next chapter. Will this way of progressing begin to feel a little stale? I guess we will have to wait and see on that one. That big tree in the distance is Benjy, one of South of Midnight's mythical creatures. | Image credit: Compulsion GamesAs my time with the game came to a close, I also came away impressed by the team's approach to making South of Midnight accessible for all types of players. While I am personally quite enamoured with the game's stop-motion effects, I know it isn't for everyone, and there is the option to turn these off during gameplay (although, they will remain during cutscenes). Meanwhile, players will also be able to curate their difficulty settings on the fly, adjust camera shake and text size, skip chase sequences should they so choose, among other a collection of other options.As I have already said, I do have some small concerns about South of Midnight, but I'm also aware I have only played a relatively condensed section of it. If I put those concerns aside for a minute, I believe there's still a carefully curated substance to the rest of the game. The world Compulsion has crafted here is a magical one, and it holds a real spark of promise. I still eagerly await South of Midnight's April release, so I can once again venture back to the mythical Deep South with Hazel, uncover more of this beautiful game's secrets and listen to the stories it still has to tell.