At this point I have to come out as a big fan of the Puzzle platform Contrast, who hit me about 10 years ago with his excellent 1920 mood and is still one of my favorite PS4 games today.
Why do I tell you that?WithIn April 2025, the new action adventure from Contrast developer Compulsion Games awaits us, which I liked so much in the first trailers that it landed directly on my Most Wanted list. The idiosyncratic mix of quirky southern atmosphere, banjo-tudel and grotesque-looking figures looks fresh and the gameplay snippets shown made from the fights made a fun impression.
Now that I was able to play the Xbox Exclusive for the first time, I have to reduce my expectations of the release-and that is truly not because of the still great atmosphere. But the adventure of main character Hazel seems to be limited in a playful way a few weeks before the release and, with a view to the skirmishes and the rums in the game world, not particularly interesting.
The most important thing at a glance:
Platforms:Xbox Series X/S, PCRelease:08. April 2025Developer:Compulsion Games (Contrast, We Happy Few)Genre:Action-Adventure (Third Person)Speech output:English, German textsPreis:44,99€
What is it about and how does South of Midnight play?
Before we come to my criticisms, but also for some praise, there is compactly summarized for you what South of Midnight is.
Land under in the US South States
We play Hazel, who lives together with her mother in the south of the United States when a tidal wave suddenly devours almost the entire village and turns the area into a swamp landscape. If this were not already exhausting enough, the young woman suddenly finds herself in a grotesque fantasy world, in which huge fish speak to her and gloomy shadows hunt her.
In the latest trailer you get a good first impression of the setting:
For Hazel, it is therefore not only important to find her lost mom, but also to find out where she ended up here.
Linear bouncy and “arena fights”
When it comes to how South of Midnight feels when playing, it should be mentioned again that I have only been able to play one chapter so far and thus only win a one -hour first impression.
And the consisting of a rather linear area full of mud and morast, in which you jump over tree trunks infested with thorns and make your way through the remains of the village. A few meters away from the main path, a few upgrade materials could be collected quite easily to improve Hazel's skills-which we also come to the combat system.
Fighting was always fought against 2 to 3 waves on opponents. For resistance, Hazel has two daggers in his hand and can also act magic and, for example, make monsters with tendrils unable to move. I was also able to unlock new attacks through a rather compact skills tree, including an air stamping horse that hurled the opponent in the nearby area.
Hazel can float with a paraglider over abysses, climbing and making Wallruns at predetermined places. However, everything in a very linear corset.
South of Midnight looks badly common and limited
Perhaps the Xbox Exclusive stamp and the high-quality trailers blinded me a bit, but South of Midnight is a trace of the section played so far. Or to put it another way: the gameplay really didn't hew me off the stool.
The jumping does not feel particularly precise and the arena fights quite unspectacular and not very demanding. In addition, the linear structure of the game world in combination with the rather unimaginative skirmishes gives me the feeling that budget for fine grinding or ideas for new things have been missing here.
Technically torn
You may have already seen it in the trailer. South of Midnight relies in cutscenes, but also partly with the movements of figures during the gameplay on stop motion, such as in the cartoons of Wallace and Gromit. This is of course a matter of taste, but when a rabbit jumps out of the bush slightly in South of Midnight, it looks like the frame rate had completely gone to my knees.
Even if the game also has its really pretty moments, for example, if the evening sun seems to be over the reed grass, South of Midnight is a good thing but truly not a Current gene graphics board. Therefore, as far as the presentation is concerned, I am still very divided.
Characters and atmosphere can compulsion
Do you have the previous games from Compulsion Games likeandTurned, the criticism of the gameplay will probably not be particularly surprised. Neither is I say that Hazel as a tough and eloquent normal, the unique southern states setting and the design of the NPCs are very excellent. So far, Compulsion Games has always shone and shines now.
If Hazel talks in a cutscene with an oversubscribed and clichéd Hillbilly, who comes with a strong southern states and tells confidence, then it is really fun to listen to the dialogues. By the way, there is no German synchro
Characters are idiosyncratic, mysterious or completely oversubscribed and, like the main character Hazel, have so far left a good initial impression.
When I trudge through the swamp landscape and suddenly sounds Bluegrass-Mucke with great banjo sounds, South of Midnight literally sucks me into his game world. Or when a huge speaking fish suddenly turns out to be a savior from the whole mess and we swim on his back in the evening red, then it's just damn cool.
First impression of the editorial team
Dennis Michel
@demig0rgon.bsky.social
Compulsion Games shines once again when it comes to his characters and the atmosphere. But also weakens with a view of the gameplay. If you screw down your expectations at South of Midnight and do not expect a presentation of an expensive AAA title, then you could keep the extraordinary southern state setting and the turned out figures happy.
I am no longer enough for the Most Wanted list, but I will definitely look into the game again for the release and try to find out what the mysterious events about speaking giant fish is all about. And also to see whether South of Midnight might not have more fish, uh, meat on the ribs.
