South of Midnight (2025)

Xbox will lay off 3,200 employees as its 'business today is not healthy'

Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions will become independent studios "with their IP, catalog, and runway for their next games." Ninja Theory and Undead Labs will have new owners "with funding" to complete their games Senua and State of Decay 3, respectively. However, the specifics of who will take on those studios have not yet been shared.

Arkane's leadership "is beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options" as the studio's fate remains up in the air.

Microsoft's commitment to closing every studio they own that creates anything worthwhile is infuriating. Another in a long list of reasons (including even more layoffs, and MS' continued actions aiding in a genocide) to boycott the company.

Xbox Is Planning To Shutter Peabody-Award-Winning South Of Midnight Studio Compulsion Games

Here's hoping Compulsion Games finds new ownership like Tango Gameworks did after MS shutter the latter. These studios deserve better.

This is one of the very best looking games in Xbox, running at 4K 60FPS, with a stop-motion style of animation I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. It’s done so well you can’t help but fall in love with this amazing, lush part of America. Pair that with incredible modern fairytale storytelling and a cast of excellent heroes and villains, all voiced to perfection by the actors - it really is something to see. Different, fun to play, with loads of collectibles to find and a deep story that pulls at the heart, South of Midnight is THE video gaming gem of the year so far.

Okay, so.

This game? Instant all time favorite and I've only played 2 chapters. The concept, the aesthetic and visuals, the smooth as butter gameplay, everything about it is just tremendous.

But trying to play it on GamePass Cloud? An absolute fucking nightmare of an experience. What a shitty, shitty way to experience something. Thankfully I don't care about visual fidelity or decent quality on graphics one bit, but I do wish it didn't lag the way it did at least, seeing as 90% of my deaths are just missjumps from too late input.

Still, game is fantastic.

Unfortunately won't be able to finish this before my Game Pass subscription expires, but I have (mostly) enjoyed my time with it. The art is jaw-dropping, the atmosphere second to none, the combat...well, it got better once I had enough abilities and cooldown reduction, but I probably could have played this on story difficulty and been happier.

Did I mention how gorgeous this game is?

"The combat is bad" is usually a telltale sign that the person didn't play to the 1/3rd mark when you get Crouton. The combat gets a lot more fun.

Also the combat (which you didn't fully explore) being "bad" shouldn't knock down a whole 2 stars from your review, when you're likely the same person glazing Sony's 3rd person walking simulators.

The REAL criticism for this game is that it dares to be a good Xbox Exclusive in an era where people just want the same tired franchises over and over. If it ever goes to PS5 or Switch 2, you can expect the reception to improve.Those same people will then come around and say that Xbox's bad sales are because it has no good exclusives. There's no winning with people nowadays.

I enjoyed my time with SoM. It is a beautiful game to gaze upon.

I never had any motion sickness issues or any graphical hiccups which I think some folks might have had issues with?

The soundtrack is fantastic and has been on my rotation in the classroom already.

Really cool characters with Hazel, catfish and the other creatures(Huggin Molly is creepy awesome) the lore of this game is just so damn entertaining.

It has collectiables for health, upgrades and story notes. It has some wild achievements for finding everything which I’m never really a fan of when it’s lesser collectables like tin flips(finding metal to move) or the upgrade spheres. So I didn’t upgrade everything either cause it’s based upon exploration

Which exploration isn’t a strong suit here. It’s fine and does let you wonder juuuuuust a tiny bit but at times I must have just overlooked things for as simple as it felt.

The upgrades/attacks are pretty basic. Push/pull attacks, a giant blast thing and the little teddy bear can take control of the baddies at times too. Which I feel is more combat than some folks mention but they’re not wrong in the fact the combat it the weakest aspect of the game.

It is very much set in an old school style. It reminds me of say Uncharted with the combat zones and Zelda with the kinda attack three times during boss battle stuff. It very much feels outdated or just that classic combat from like ps2 era or so.

But the story and look/sound of the game made it compelling to complete. I very much enjoyed my time with Hazel and company. Even with all it’s issues I think it’s best to ride out the storm and enjoy the adventure.

The game is nothing amazing in terms of combat, platforming, or puzzles - just something to take your time.

But damn, the fairytale storytelling and the Sourthern folklore, the stories that were something to remember, the graphics, the lighting, the little details in the outside and the house interiors, the characters, the songs and the sound design create a terrific atmosphere that makes it worth it.

I think the visuals and story are great. I think the way it controls is a little rough. I think the Alan Wake style encounters but with DMC fighting are pretty weak.

There is a lot of little annoyances with just playing that I feel hold this back from great but totally worth trying to see how it sits with you,

There's a lot to like about South of Midnight. While it feels very much like an old-school platformer on the PS2 and you're probably not going to find anything here that is innovative or miraculous, it's still an enjoyable ride. The aesthetic, the lighting, the colors and characters of this Louisiana inspired world are terrific. Voice acting is top notch and the soundtrack is inventive, catchy and unique. I really liked Hazel and the Catfish in particular.

I don't think the ending quite landed (I think it's missing a few scenes to cap things off) but overall was pleasantly surprised. Play this with a controller, by the way. Trying to dodge and weave on a keyboard and mouse wasn't ideal.

Let's start with: I REALLY enjoyed this game. The setting, the story, the characters, the atmosphere were all top notch. I absolutely loved the world they created and the exploration of American deep south folklore. The game has a modern fairy tale vibe, with all the dark twists and turns of the classics and manages to feel mature (not feel like it's just trying to be mature). While the twists in the story were often predictable, they held my attention with their emotional weight and maturity.

Now, the less good. The gameplay for the most part doesn't do anything more fresh than a PS2 generation action game. It's never bad, but often repetitive and simply mediocre. You get a fair number of abilities for combat and traversal, but they never really do anything special. The combat is fine but honestly doesn't add to the game and is too frequent for how repetitive it is. That said, if you upgrade your abilities and learn to use them well, you can clear most combat encounters very quickly.

The game is a great experience and absolutely worth the price of admission (though for me that price was simply my Game Pass subscription). I really enjoyed it overall and was genuinely emotionally moved at several points. If you're willing to put up with some dated mechanics and repetitive combat, the payoff is worth it.

South of Midnight feels like a southern take on something like Alice in Wonderland - a girl tumbles into a weird hidden world that mixes southern folklore and real-world pain in an interesting way. I found myself moved at times, and even downright captivated by Hazel's story and the beautifully-designed creatures she meets.

Speaking of design - the stop-motion aesthetics are great! You can barely feel them during gameplay (which is good) but they look fantastic in cutscenes. While the enemies are mostly just weird blobs, all the important characters are so unique and beautiful. Top-notch art design, really. They are also voiced expertly, and the dialogue is (for the most part) engaging.

I don't usually notice the soundtrack all that much when I play, but South of Midnight has songs dedicated to each level's story, and they really sweep you up and set the mood perfectly.

The gameplay is more of a mixed bag. I wish the combat was a bit more varied, since later encounters just felt too long - like I get it, I know how to defeat these enemies and how to use my abilities but this is taking too long. Especially true for boss fights. Platforming is, again, solid but gets kinda boring the more you play. I think the main problem is that the gameplay just feels outdated - this would've been a great action-adventure one of two generations ago, but we've all done this before...

Still, I like the visuals, characters, themes, writing (even when it was a bit on the nose), and overall vibe. Great Game Pass game!