South of Midnight is a winning little narrative adventure

Grade: A-

For this winning little narrative adventure we are in the South – all gris-gris gumbo yaya, decaying mansions and ghosts of the underground railway – and it is a bit midnighty, what with the sinister otherworldly beings you fight. 

Our protagonist is sassy, cornrowed Hazel, a mixed-race Lara Croft, who sets out to rescue her social-worker mother after her mobile home is swept downriver in a hurricane. Her snooty grandma Bunny, rotting in her vast plantation house, is no help whatever. But Hazel does manage to half-inch some magic hooks from granny’s ottoman, which allow her to manipulate glowing magic strands in the air and use them to unravel “haints,” the ropey-looking demon-things that pop up from time to time to attack her. 

Run, jump, traverse, move block, solve puzzle, cast spell, kill demon, have visions of benign ghosts, chase doublewide downstream. It’s all going on. The difficulty curve is gentle, the story absorbing and the game design and visuals (and bluesy soundtrack) obviously crafted with affection. The lore of the game – Hazel is a “weaver,” who can manipulate the invisible tapestry behind reality, or some such nonsense – unpacks at a pleasing pace. 

You buy upgrades with a currency called “floofs,” which will strike players as either charming or ridiculous but which indicates the general niceness of tone. “At its heart,” the loading screen tells us earnestly, “South of Midnight is a story of empathy and healing.” It adds: “Specific imagery may be unsettling for those with a strong fear of spiders.” Well, you’ve been warned. Son of a gun we’ll have big fun on the Bayou.