Everything we know about South of Midnight
When does South of Midnight come out?
We don’t but have a selected date, however the Xbox Games Showcase gave us a South of Midnight launch window of 2025.
What platforms is South of Midnight coming to?
Published by Xbox Game Studios, South of Midnight is an Xbox unique coming to
Xbox Series X|S and Windows. As it’s a first-party unique, we gained’t be seeing it on PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch.
Is South of Midnight coming to Xbox Game Pass?
Yes! South of Midnight comes from first-party Xbox studio Compulsion Games (the devs behind We Happy Few) and can launch straight into Game Pass when it arrives in 2025.
What is South of Midnight about?
South of Midnight is about within the American Deep South, in a world the place darkish magic and folklore exist in all places. In an Xbox Wire interview final 12 months, inventive director David Sears defined the significance of Magic Realism to the concepts behind South of Midnight. “It springs from the concept that monsters are real — you just need to jump over the backyard fence. The farther you get away from the influences of civilization, the more magical the world becomes… Magic Realism is one of the calling cards of Southern Gothic. It’s a licence to actually put magic in the modern world, and to have creatures there that are just accepted. We’re not going to give you an information dump in the game, and that’s in the spirit of Magic Realism, right? We’re explaining enough that you will just accept it.”
In South of Midnight, our character Hazel has to turn into a Weaver (somebody who can use weaving magic to magically restore and restore harmful creatures and damaged bonds) after a hurricane hits her hometown of Prospero. The South of Midnight Xbox page tells us that Hazel will “confront and subdue dangerous creatures, untangle the webs of her own family’s shared past and — if she’s lucky — find her way to a place that feels like home.” It sounds as if there’s an added thriller there, as Hazel can even be making an attempt to rescue her mom, “reweave the tears in the Grand Tapestry,” and work out her personal identification.
One fascinating side of South of Midnight’s story is that in accordance with the South of Midnight site, the sport’s narrative “lies within a storybook presentation that advances throughout the game. Like opening a book and closing it when finished, every chapter is guided by a dynamic narrator.”
The setting, in the meantime, is closely impressed by “the Deep South mythos.” Compulsion Games says Prospero is a “lush, decayed” space, and the sport’s music too is impressed by the South, with “our character-driven lyrical music incorporates a wide variety of instruments and vocalists with a personal touch of dark folktale essence.” Fascinatingly, every creature will, in accordance with an Xbox Wire interview, have their very own theme music which can finally construct into lyrics giving their backstory (you may see a little bit of this with Two-Toed Tom within the gameplay trailer).
Along with the sport’s darkish folktale environment, one other side which instantly stands out is its distinctive, barely juddering, stop-motion artwork type: “Continuing Compulsion’s signature direction, characters and shapes are more distinct, ‘hand-crafted,’ and enhanced by stop-motion animation treatment.”
We get a couple of extra hints on what to anticipate from the world itself from that Xbox Wire interview after Xbox Games Showcase 2024 with inventive director David Sears, artwork director Whitney Clayton, and sport director Jasmin Roy, the place South of Midnight’s world is described as “wide-linear” with every area having its personal biome. “So the way we built the environment is because we want players to follow the narrative, but have more to sink their teeth into — you can sometimes see some more open, hub-like sections,” Roy explains.
What kind of sport is South of Midnight?
South of Midnight is a 3rd particular person action-adventure sport set within the American Deep South. Compulsion’s FAQ tells us that the sport’s Weaving magic can be centered on fight, traversal, and puzzle parts, and that South of Midnight is for “anyone interested in a novel fantasy mythos with deeply thematic gameplay. Players who enjoy thoughtful yet dynamic gameplay experiences.” We get a glimpse of Hazel utilizing her powers for traversal in addition to towards enemies within the gameplay trailer.
Hazel’s Weaving powers will clearly be key, however one factor Compulsion appears to be eager on is the concept of Hazel as repairing the world. “From top to bottom, that’s the message behind Hazel, her combat design, her powers… Everything is a Weaving metaphor — Weavers are supposed to put things right, do good in the world,” Sears says within the newest Xbox Wire interview. “She’s literally repairing the tapestry, and with creatures — Haints included — we spent a good amount of time making sure it was clear that when you’re attacking or interacting, you’re doing it in a non-lethal but aggressive way. You’re doing it because you’re helping — removing the weight of all this trauma.” You may even see the bodily facet of this within the gameplay trailer (listed under) when flowers and greenery spring up after Hazel’s confronted an enemy.
South of Midnight achievement checklist
We don’t but have the South of Midnight achievements, however we’ll you should definitely replace right here as quickly as we do.
South of Midnight trailers
So far, we’ve had the preliminary announcement trailer for South of Midnight, which did an amazing job of showcasing its atmospheric really feel:
Then most lately we obtained the Gameplay Reveal trailer for Xbox Games Showcase 2024. This was an extended take a look at the sport, with over 4 minutes of Hazel’s adventures (and her companion Catfish).
South of Midnight is certainly one of our most anticipated upcoming Xbox exclusives, and we’ll you should definitely hold this round-up up to date every time we study one thing new.