South of Midnight

It's not a bad game. However, it's also a letdown compared to what it seems to promise: A magical handmade stop-motion adventure in a fantastical version of the American South, and from a Black perspective to boot.

Alas, that's just the opening cut-scene. At times the game seems to aspire to be that, but it never quite commits. And that's really what South of Midnight lacks in many respects: commitment.

The game looks fine but it's a familiar video game 3D render that to me feels like the opposite of claymation. Sometimes a low framerate is introduced to mimic that stop-motion feel, but it's applied so inconsistently that at first I thought it was a glitch.

The music is, well, impressive. And surprising. Lots of original songs in very different styles by diverse artists. Yes, songs! At times this game wants to be a musical, but it never quite commits to the bit (commitment!). These are background songs, not sung by any characters in the game. More generally, this musical intervention often feels awkward because it's unclear as to what vibe it's supposed to accompany.

Is it an adventure? Sure, a very linear one. So linear, in fact, that every few minutes you go down a path and can't turn back. If you want to find all the notes and collectibles you'll probably have to replay levels from the main menu. (I didn't bother.) The world around you looks intriguing but there are invisible walls everywhere, and all the fascinating items you see in indoor places are just for show. Generally, level design here is quite simplistic. There are some secret areas, but no puzzles and no real traversal challenges.

The central challenge is: combat arenas. But ... why? With such a compelling concept to the game there just had to be a better game design plan, right? And the combat is below average. It plays smoothly enough, but there are very few enemy types and it gets repetitive and easy very fast. Still, the more serious problem with it is that it is just so forced and ... "gamey". Indeed, everything plays like a simplified clone of God of War (2018), but that game was about a literal god of war, while in South of Midnight you are an average teenager. How and why are you fighting monsters?

In summary, the gameplay is trite. There's nothing here you haven't seen in 100 other games, often with a lot more innovation than here. It's odd to make a game with combat at its core while not aspiring to make combat at least interesting (commitment!).

Even the story is a disappointment. It's serviceable and has a few interesting characters, but it's also simplistic, facile even, and doesn't have much of anything to say about the Black experience other than that there were slaves and it was bad. Which, fair enough, is true.

Despite all this, I can recommend it. The pieces are all a bit uninspired, but like a rushed low-budget theater production you can catch the occasional glint of magic in the eyes of the tired actors.

Not exciting, but playable.

I gave it a on Steam. Respond to this review there.