When this game started to hit the promotional circuit, specifically the various award show/hype event things, the trailers hit people hard. This is the one where this sort of claymation-ish bright and brilliant art style shows a teenage girl in a swamp encountering Souther gothic folk creatures like a giant skeleton dude playing blues guitar and a talking catfish. We were excited about centering the type of stories and protagonists not common to games but ripe for story telling and, you know, it looked hella cool.
Plus it is a Microsoft exclusive at a time when Redfall and Halo Infinite were what we were associating with that space.
Then it came out and the reviews were generally positive but it did not live up to the ultimate hype because the gameplay was considered mid. Critical appraisal is that the story, voice acting, art, world/setting and of course music are brilliant but the combat and platforming are like whatever. Then other Microsoft games came out- Oblivion remaster, Claire Obscure- and everyone forgot about it. Microsoft/GamePass are back, baby! And we ain't got time for no AA ok-but-not-great game!
Well, I got time. I beat it yesterday and generally I can agree with the reviews. I will compare the game to Psychonauts 2, A Plague Tale, and Lost In Random- games that I dearly loved despite having a serious issue with the overall gameplay.
That issue is that aspects of the gameplay that are so important in other games- responsiveness, smoothness, the "trust" the player has that things are "fair" moment to moment, that your character will behave to the same inputs in the same way every time so that when you die it's your fault. The reason these games all fail to deliver this is, I think, is that they prioritize presentations. Detailed art, complex animations, environments that are more interested in narrative immersion than in clear action.
South of Midnight's gameplay is platforming and melee combat. If you've played like any 3rd person action game in the past 5 years you've played this game. Platforming in particular is basically Jedi: Survivor. Combat is basically Evil West (which is basically God of War: Ragnarok). You run around dodging attacks including the stupid red triangle indicators from off screen enemies.
However, I did not resort to dropping difficulty down to easy just to finish it like I normally do which speaks to one of the game's great strengths: pacing. Yes the combat is same old boring arenas but they are all unique. No random spawning enemies, and no endless slogs at the end to spike b.s. difficulty. At no point did I feel it was throwing enemies at me just to keep me busy, everything felt purposeful, so I wanted to beat the game legit on Normal mode. That is a rare quality and deserves praise, especially as it matches why people are coming to this game which is to experience the story and setting not to git gud at combat.
The game's structure is pretty strait forward- every section revolves around a creature you have to defeat and/or help, which means first you run around an area, fighting things and exploring story/lore, then a major fast platforming chase sequence, and at some point a boss battle. This is where the style and presentation and narrative delivers because without it would be boring fast. It was IMO perfectly sized- I was ready to be done with it when I got to the end but I was not tired of it or anything.
The only major disappointment was the last fight. I'm not one of those people that demands some amazing final boss but this one was really freaking lame.
Game is full of great details. You play a teenage athlete and the animations reflect that- some of them are really graceful, and some are awkward. The creature designs are great of course but so are the humans. The whole time I was wondering if it would be revealed the whole thing was a dream and I like that feeling.
The game absolutely has social/political stuff and yes it's "woke" but everything that isn't JD Vance is woke I guess... but yeah you play as a black girl and there's themes of poverty, corporate greed, the legacy of slavery, child abuse, and the rich people are jerks. You can't honestly be proud of having a game in this setting and NOT have this stuff in it anyway.
The game is $40 so if you like narrative heavy action games I would highly recommend it at a discount. I wouldn't join GamePass for it alone but if you already have it then for sure give it a whirl. I would put it in the same category of something like Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Genesis Noir- very different games but all games I played because I saw them on the service and I was like "aw what the heck why not" and had a great time.
Plus it is a Microsoft exclusive at a time when Redfall and Halo Infinite were what we were associating with that space.
Then it came out and the reviews were generally positive but it did not live up to the ultimate hype because the gameplay was considered mid. Critical appraisal is that the story, voice acting, art, world/setting and of course music are brilliant but the combat and platforming are like whatever. Then other Microsoft games came out- Oblivion remaster, Claire Obscure- and everyone forgot about it. Microsoft/GamePass are back, baby! And we ain't got time for no AA ok-but-not-great game!
Well, I got time. I beat it yesterday and generally I can agree with the reviews. I will compare the game to Psychonauts 2, A Plague Tale, and Lost In Random- games that I dearly loved despite having a serious issue with the overall gameplay.
That issue is that aspects of the gameplay that are so important in other games- responsiveness, smoothness, the "trust" the player has that things are "fair" moment to moment, that your character will behave to the same inputs in the same way every time so that when you die it's your fault. The reason these games all fail to deliver this is, I think, is that they prioritize presentations. Detailed art, complex animations, environments that are more interested in narrative immersion than in clear action.
South of Midnight's gameplay is platforming and melee combat. If you've played like any 3rd person action game in the past 5 years you've played this game. Platforming in particular is basically Jedi: Survivor. Combat is basically Evil West (which is basically God of War: Ragnarok). You run around dodging attacks including the stupid red triangle indicators from off screen enemies.
However, I did not resort to dropping difficulty down to easy just to finish it like I normally do which speaks to one of the game's great strengths: pacing. Yes the combat is same old boring arenas but they are all unique. No random spawning enemies, and no endless slogs at the end to spike b.s. difficulty. At no point did I feel it was throwing enemies at me just to keep me busy, everything felt purposeful, so I wanted to beat the game legit on Normal mode. That is a rare quality and deserves praise, especially as it matches why people are coming to this game which is to experience the story and setting not to git gud at combat.
The game's structure is pretty strait forward- every section revolves around a creature you have to defeat and/or help, which means first you run around an area, fighting things and exploring story/lore, then a major fast platforming chase sequence, and at some point a boss battle. This is where the style and presentation and narrative delivers because without it would be boring fast. It was IMO perfectly sized- I was ready to be done with it when I got to the end but I was not tired of it or anything.
The only major disappointment was the last fight. I'm not one of those people that demands some amazing final boss but this one was really freaking lame.
Game is full of great details. You play a teenage athlete and the animations reflect that- some of them are really graceful, and some are awkward. The creature designs are great of course but so are the humans. The whole time I was wondering if it would be revealed the whole thing was a dream and I like that feeling.
The game absolutely has social/political stuff and yes it's "woke" but everything that isn't JD Vance is woke I guess... but yeah you play as a black girl and there's themes of poverty, corporate greed, the legacy of slavery, child abuse, and the rich people are jerks. You can't honestly be proud of having a game in this setting and NOT have this stuff in it anyway.
The game is $40 so if you like narrative heavy action games I would highly recommend it at a discount. I wouldn't join GamePass for it alone but if you already have it then for sure give it a whirl. I would put it in the same category of something like Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Genesis Noir- very different games but all games I played because I saw them on the service and I was like "aw what the heck why not" and had a great time.
