Forced games are not strangers to bring something fresh to the game’s landscape. With a huge hit like the deal, we are delighted to bring stylish graphics with quirky characters and compelling storylines. It wasn’t surprising that Microsoft snapped the studio in 2018 and began development at the South of Midnight. Based on the deep south.
I’m a huge fan of this animation style and I’ll preface this by stating the fact that the fact that the game studios are bringing this into AAA games already fulfills me with a ton of expectations.
story
This preview begins with chapter 3 of the story. A brief summary informs that Hazel is just beginning to discover his power. She lets us know that she can use and manipulate the structure of reality presented here as illuminated string chains. Hazel is searching for her missing mother after the hurricane devastated her hometown of Prospero in the deep south of America.
You find a mother who guides Hazel through swamps and washed-down ruins, with many hidden paths with secrets and collectibles to discover. In this chapter, Hazel helps the giant catfish get out of the trapping spell.
Along the way, you will encounter enemies and several other magical beings trapped inside the tree after his death. In the full game.
Weave the path to greatness
The enemies of this world are restricted to certain sections of the game. Hazels enter the area contained in the thorns and waves of various enemy attacks through the central portal. You can see four different enemies in this preview, all with different movements and abilities, allowing you to change your attack style to beat them. Hazel has standard basic attacks and evasions, both of which need to be relied on to survive.
There are additional magical abilities important to your survival, strand pull, strand push, weave, and a fourth move locked for this preview. After killing the enemy, Hazel approaches his body and has a window of time to use his weaving movements to get a small health boost. This is very useful when you encounter a wave of enemies.
Each level has a health field that must be activated using weaving moves. This requires careful planning as it may not always be possible to get through the enemy without getting out. It can be frustrating at first, but rewards and satisfaction are valuable.
There are lock-on mechanics that can polish certain enemies. This can be frustrating with flying enemies trying to block your path. It takes some playthroughs and death to get the groove in it, but when you do, there is a rhythm and a flow I enjoyed.
There is a skill tree that allows for three upgrades to each of Hazel’s abilities. In addition to this, you can unlock new movements by gathering shining objects. We were able to find enough space to push back nearby enemies and unleash the ground pound movement that could surprise them for a few seconds and give them a competitive edge.
Elsewhere on the menu will be a collectible area for magical items, storybooks, patterns and letters collected on your journey. There was not much found in this preview, so I hope it will happen more frequently in the full release. It is worth noting that everyone I found was on a side street away from its main purpose.
Please look at the parts
On the Xbox Series X, the stop motion animation style looks totally breathtaking. The level of detail for each tree and walking area is truly amazing. Forced Games provided a truly beautiful looking world that you want to dive into immediately. The cutscenes are very faithful to this style, with the almost puppet-style Labyrinth encountering Spider-Man’s Spider-Verse film.
You can turn off the stop motion settings if you want (I don’t know why you want it!) I was playing around with this, but it looks good on its own. The game is targeting 4K 60fps for the Xbox Series X. During the playthrough, I didn’t notice any dips or major flaws in frame rates or performance.
I’ve been thinking about it so far
The impulse game for this game has not been denied. They are based on previous titles, but they use resources to improve this experience with Xbox Gaming. Hazel is a fascinating character with plenty of snarks and personality to interpret what’s going on in this epic world. Gameplay is tougher than expected, and you can’t learn how to defeat certain types of enemies over and over again.
There is a lot of exploration here and you can’t wait to dive into this incredibly gorgeous world. Midnight’s South aims to be a strong competitor for the best games of 2025.
Midnight Shot’s South will be released on the Xbox Series X/S, PC and Game Pass on April 8th. Stay tuned for a release that is close to the official review.
