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Xbox’s ‘South Of Midnight’ Is Renewing My Faith In Video Games

The 2024 Xbox Games Showcase presented a huge turnaround for the Xbox brand, and one of the critical standouts was Compulsion's Southern Gothic ode to spooky healing.

www.forbes.com

More in the link.

The games industry has seen a lot of strife in recent years, namely in the form of mass lay-offs, unfathomable studio shutterings and the seemingly unwillingness (at least by out-of-touch higher-ups) to seriously invest in any project that isn’t a dull, predictable sequel or a live service money-printing monstrosity.

However! There’s some light at the end of this dark digital tunnel—possibly. Lately, driven by some promising reveals and updates, I feel like the industry is starting to experience a bit of a renaissance in terms of creativity and risk. Maybe we’re witnessing a cautious return to the days of yore when the pure, joyful wackiness and unbridled riskiness of video games sat front and center, unchallenged, before the gaming public.

PlayStation’s upcoming Astro Bot is a great example, a brand new 3D platformer that feels like a direct conduit to the more carefree days at Sony when the ridiculousness of stuff like PaRappa the Rapper, Jersey Devil, Tiny Tank, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon and Blasto ruled the roost. Games weren’t only about profit, at least to use laymen and mortals; they were about making something inspiring, too. Something that made an artistic and emotional impact.

Compulsion Games’ (We Happy Few, Contrast) in-development Southern Gothic folklore swamp adventure South of Midnight—the initial unveiling of which I somehow completely missed at last year’s Xbox Games Showcase— appears to fall right in line with the aforementioned resurgence in exciting software that wants to, well, move people. Games are back, baby!

So far, I adore everything about the brilliantly titled South of Midnight, due for a vague 2025 launch on Xbox Series S|X (Xbox Game Pass day one!), PC and Steam. It’s a little Kena: Bridge of Spirits, a little Horizon Zero Dawn and a little Shadow of the Colossus, but rolled up into a possibly fresh Cajun package that has tons of potential. We’ll see if the team can deliver on all its lofty artistic promises, and lofty they are, as they could easily derail and become too heavy-handed, too on-the-nose or perhaps unsubtle in an off-putting way.

But going off the available footage, I’ve got to say, I’m all in. Games are making me excited again, and for that, I’m thankful. Vidja gamez, ya’ll.

To the kind people at Compulsion studio, though: Just please ship the game with a giant light-up Two-Toed Tom collectible statue, who (preferably) roars with unchecked rage when provoked. And also when not provoked.

 

[LordCBH]

Lmao it looks like shit though.

 

[Robb]

Looked like Forspoken 2.0 to me, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong of course.

Not that I’d buy it either way.

 

[Life Diff]

Tbh it just gives me xbox kena vibes. Nothing spectacular as even mixtape is doing the reduced framerate animation thing.

 

[Kilau]

For all the wrong reasons.

Vidja gamez, ya’ll.

 

[Arsic]

“It’s a little Kena: Bridge of Spirits, a little Horizon Zero Dawnand a little Shadow of the Colossus, but rolled up into a possibly fresh Cajun package that has tons of potential”

Huh? Did we see the same footage?

 

[mdkirby]

Really? It looked ok, like a game I’d probably play, except for the animation style. If there’s no way to turn that off (like the noir suit in Spider-Man2) then it’s a no from me. It’s far too jarring to the point of unplayable.

There was much more interesting stuff at that conference.

Expedition 33
Double exposure
Atomfall
Flintlock

All seemed fresh and interesting. (Plus good stuff from existing IP)

South of midnight was one of the weakest showings of the lot imo

 

[Roberts]

The whole Cajun inspired swampy mythology and stop-motion animation imitation makes it more interesting than usual.

 

[Punished Miku]

It seems like it could be a decent mid-tier game. I like the general look of it well enough, but its nothing mind blowing. Combat seemed basic. Hoping we get more platforming and grappling stuff. Kind of reminds me of a PS2 title, similar to how Kena did. It has potential, but the trailer didn't blow me away at all. I'll play it. Hopefully they also lean more into weirder locations and art design. I could see it getting a lot darker on some levels. Looks like they're just showing the very beginning of the game.

 

[adamsapple]

The whole Cajun inspired, swampy mythology and stop-motion animation imitation makes it more interesting than usual.

Yep, the games visual style is very interesting. They need to reduce the spider-verse jitter during game play though, that was my only big issue with what they showed.

 

[FewRope]

“It’s a little Kena: Bridge of Spirits, a little Horizon Zero Dawnand a little Shadow of the Colossus, but rolled up into a possibly fresh Cajun package that has tons of potential”

Huh? Did we see the same footage?

Delulu ass article lmao

 

[Chuck Berry]

It looks like a Spiders game.

Not a complaint. Just an observation.

 

[CGNoire]

“It’s a little Kena: Bridge of Spirits, a little Horizon Zero Dawnand a little Shadow of the Colossus, but rolled up into a possibly fresh Cajun package that has tons of potential”

Huh? Did we see the same footage?

He just being a Lazy writer.

Kena = Cartoon Artstyle
Horizon = Colorfull Saturated Pallette
SOTC = Climbing on Creatures.

...simply lazy writing.

 

[Elbereth]

The game has an interesting aesthetic, but the framerate (by design) just doesn’t seem to work here. This reminds me of when I tried the Spiderverse suit in Miles Morales. It was a cool novelty, but wore off in about 10 seconds. Impossible for me to play that way… I applaud them for taking risks, but I hope they make the framerate style optional. If so, I’ll definitely give it a whirl.

 

[SF Kosmo]

I really dig the style and personality of this game but the gameplay itself looks like a pretty mid-tier DMC-style linear beat em up.

But of course we have seen very little. I was hoping this glowing praise was based on some gameplay impressions, and not just a review of the same trailer we all saw.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Sweet preview, thanks for that.

Too bad I don't need my faith renewed.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Gameplay looked good. Didn't like the stop-motion cutscenes. But it's also been diagnosed with SBI, so we'll have to see how much it gets ruined.

Astro Bot is what renewed my faith in gaming. Just flat out fun. No BS. No agendas. Just awesomeness.

 

[BigBeauford]

Could be good!

Then again handing over my hard earned cash to a studio employing a racist community manager while also working with a racist consulting company is a no-go for me.

 

[Sanepar]

Yeah if your faith is games dominate by woke culture South Midnight delivery.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Gameplay looked good. Didn't like the stop-motion cutscenes. But it's also been diagnosed with SBI, so we'll have to see how much it gets ruined.

Astro Bot is what renewed my faith in gaming. Just flat out fun. No BS. No agendas. Just awesomeness.

Wait until we find out AstroBot identifies as a them/their

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Lmao it looks like shit though.

Really?

I thought it was the only interesting game during the Xbox showcase.

 

[Humdinger]

I hope the black lady isn't too sassy. I've had enough of sassy black ladies. I live down south, so the Cajun accents and Louisiana swamps aren't as exotic to me as they might be to others.

Compulsion's last game was We Happy Few, which wasn't very well-received. We'll see how they do with this one, but that makes me a little cautious.

Compulsion also has the Community Manager who hates gamers and thinks white men were a mistake. So... yeah.

 

[ManaByte]

Looked like Forspoken 2.0 to me, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong of course.

Not that I’d buy it either way.

It looked like Kena 2: Into the Bayou

 

[Roberts]

Yep, the games visual style is very interesting. They need to reduce the spider-verse jitter during game play though, that was my only bi issue with what they showed.

Honestly, I don't think they can really do much with that - you either scarp the whole idea of animating in twos and lose half of its identity or add something like motion blur and make the animation look ugly. I have worked on a lot of animation projects (not an animator, though) so my eyes are probably used to it, but I can see people having issue with that. I think it is really about getting used to it - we did that with cartoons (it's even more harsh in new TMNT than Spider-verse) so I guess we can get used to it in games. In the end, the only important thing is how it plays.

 

[Herbspiceguy]

It looked like babby's first Souls with forced DEI to me.

 

[PhillMeCream]

It strike me as a Sara Bond produced game,

 

[Dusktildawn48]

If sweet baby wasn't involved I'd be excited to try it out, but here we are.

 

[CherryFalls]

The anti-white's/SBI's new darling game are also '''journalist'' new favourite? I am shocked!

 

[GymWolf]

Lmao, people really lose their minds about this thing uh?

It looked ok at best and that stop animation shit was downright disturbing.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

 

[SJRB]

Vidja gamez, ya’ll.

 

[alienator]

i restarted the trailer a few times because i thought my computer was choking the video, then i found out it was ment to be like that and not some betabuild broken framerate, i really put off by this 'effect' and mixtape did it way way better.

 

[clarky]

Lmao it looks like shit though.

First post wins the thread again.

 

[Arachnid]

Forbes is so corny

 

[Topher]

A trailer "renewed" your faith in gaming?

 

[analog_future]

Lmao, people really lose their minds about this thing uh?

It looked ok at best and that stop animation shit was downright disturbing.

"disturbing"

Don't let this man near A Nightmare Before Christmas, Chicken Run, Corpse Bride, Fantastic Mr Fox, Coraline, James and the Giant Peach, or any other films of that ilk. Would hate for him to get PTSD

 

[diffusionx]

Just stunning, and brave.

 

[BennyBlanco]

It looks like the type of game that was coming out every week in the ps2 era. Shadowman and American McGee Alice type of shit. Not necessarily a bad thing but idk how you were blown away by that showing unless you work for Sweet Baby Inc.

 

[saintjules]

Looked like Forspoken 2.0 to me, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong of course.

Not that I’d buy it either way.

I actually thought it was more like Kena. At least the combat part.

 

[ungalo]

Action/adventure games are just so overrated because of journos it's crazy. They probably played a part in the fact we almost only get this kind of games for productions in a certain range of budget.

 

[Robb]

It looked like Kena 2: Into the Bayou

I haven’t played Kena but its visual style is a lot more pleasing. And it doesn’t seem like it ruins every cool moment by having the protagonist talk and explain where you should look like you’re 5-years-old.

Cutscene: “That’s the big gator over there.”

Gameplay: *same gator swims by in background* “THAT’S the gator!?”

I will never understand why protagonist just can’t shut up during gameplay.

 

[diffusionx]

I haven’t played Kena but its visual style is a lot more pleasing. And it doesn’t seem like it ruins every cool moment by having the protagonist talk and explain where you should look like you’re 5-years-old.

Cutscene: “That’s the big gator over there.”

Gameplay: *same gator swims by in background* “THAT’S the gator!?”

I will never understand why protagonist just can’t shut up during gameplay.

devs need to pander to ADHD zoomers who are used to looking up everything on their phone. They can't go 12 milliseconds without being told what's going on, and with just their thoughts in their head.

I found schizo Aloy in HFW to be really weird but apparently it's the new thing.

 

[Bartski]

looking at he title I was 100% it's Paul Patsy

 

[Methos#1975]

As a Cajun I'm shaking my head at them thinking this is Cajun influenced, it's creole influenced. Not Cajun.

 

[Tsaki]

I'll just say that it looked like a game from the makers of We Happy Few...

Spoiler

and the protagonist is just way too ugly

 

[touchfuzzy]

I'm pretty convinced most game writers don't actually understand what made Shadow of the Colossus special.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

I mean sure, the game looks good & fun, but "renewing your faith in gaming"? There's nothing there from what I've seen that makes it THAT special. This is what I hate about Western games journalism & media; when it comes to Xbox, they go out of their way to exaggerate a good thing into God's next miracle blessing upon the Earth.

They puff up Microsoft and Xbox to no end, meanwhile they seem to also go out of their way to mute and downplay anything good Sony does with PlayStation or make it sound like its "no big deal". It's blatant favoritism and they're probably one of the biggest reasons actual gamers who aren't in the Cult of Phil, ridicule Xbox so much. It's to balance out the hyperbolic hype games journalists push for the brand.

I'm pretty convinced most game writers don't actually understand what made Shadow of the Colossus special.

Most of them haven't even played it.

looking at he title I was 100% it's Paul Patsy

That dude is a true Xcuck. I will always love this reminder of his Xcuckery:

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

I have a slight feeling the author is not entirely sincere about his motivations for writing this article.

 

[nowhat]

Looked like Forspoken 2.0 to me

I'd say more like Kena, but with worse animation and more chatty main character. The premise seems to be the same though, clear all the evil shit to get nature going again. Which, yeah, isn't exactly novel.

 

[Mr Moose]

Probably the worst thing at their showing. I'm surprised this isn't a Paul Tassi thread.