Compulsion Games’ South of Midnight is a thematically mature game with a carefully and concertedly crafted narrative. The uncompromising character portrayals are reminiscent of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, yet its unique visual style sets it apart from anything else in gaming. The vibe is small reading cafe that prohibits phones but has an impressive collection of one-of-a-kind board games stuffed amongst an expansive sociology/anthropology collection. In other words, it’s a good fucking time. It demands your attention and satiates you multifacetedly. 

South of Midnight’s visual style, music, and storytelling is maximalist and attractive. This made it hard to gauge the length and scope of the game. In the first couple of hours, I was enthralled and worried that, before I knew it, the credits would roll. Eventually they did, 15 hours later. The game unfolds progressively with each area getting a little bit larger, every song getting a little bit more complex, and each story weaving a more cohesive world. Additionally, there is mixed presentation in the form of in-game stage play sequences, storybook recaps, and spoken word. There is a feeling that everything is purposeful and meticulously crafted which allows the narrative to play out unencumbered – mostly. The one exception is combat. 

Combat is simple, but not intuitive. I attempted to button-mash and spam abilities to victory until around chapter 5. As new enemies were introduced, fighting without strategy will result in repeated game overs. After reading through the abilities and upgrades, I realized combat is about managing enemies and their unique behaviors in an appropriate order. You can do that using a “takeover” ability which allows you to make one enemy an ally, or by using other abilities that create weaknesses on nearby enemies when defeating others. After the combat clicked, I greatly enjoyed testing the limits of my strategies and newly introduced enemies. However, I did notice there is an option to “turn off combat encounters and boss battles”. While regular combat encounters can become quite challenging without the right approach and skipping has no downside. The boss fights in this game are incredibly creative and enjoyable, and I would recommend not to skip them.

As many contributors to South of Midnight’s development have noted, the game is unapologetically Southern and Black. In my more than 30 years of gaming, I have never played a game where so many Black people get to exist complexly, in multiplicity, and respectfully with each other, and then also with White people. The tensions are there, racial, sexual, class, ability. There is an authenticity to all the characters in this game, but especially those who are Black, that allows them to exist outside of tropes and archetypes. I believe this furthers the themes of universal trauma, healing, togetherness, and human fallibility. Compulsion Games has received some pushback for its uniquely humanizing approach to characters in this game. I believe their concerted choice is to our benefit. 

Overall, I think South of Midnight is an expertly crafted encapsulation of human experiences. The game transcends game and mirrors the humanity of the player. Its an experience unlike anything I can recently recall in gaming, and I feel the very approachable asking price was more than worth it for the 15 hours of true, honest fulfillment it provided.