Xbox Games Studios and Compulsion Games revealed South of Midnight today at the Xbox Games Showcase. It is confirmed to be coming to Game Pass at launch.
From the team that worked on Contrast and We Happy Few, the studio’s next game, South of Midnight is described as a third-person adventure set in the American Deep South. Playing as Hazel, you’ll explore the mythos and delve into the creatures spoken about in Southern folklore.
“South of Midnight’s trailer gives a sense of its world and story, but there’s more to learn. The game world will stretch across a fictionalized swathe of the U.S. – as Sears puts it, it’s inspired by “the more interesting geological, topographical, cultural, societal, historical areas of the South.”
While the game’s set in a version of the modern world, the settings you travel through will be almost exclusively rural, reflecting the places in between major urban areas and the sense of wonder and danger they can hold. “It springs from the concept that monsters are real – you just need to jump over the backyard fence,” says David Sears, creative director. “The farther you get away from the influences of civilization, the more magical the world becomes.”
That world will take in influences from two key genres of literature and movies that are less seen in games: “Magic Realism is, is one of the calling cards of Southern Gothic,” says Sears. “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.”
