After finishing Avowed and dipping toes into Clair Obscur Expedition 33, I returned to the world of South of Midnight to finish the story. Most gamers recognize the stop motion style of animation and unique art from the trailers, but South of Midnight is about healing trauma. It’s a unique game mechanic that I don’t think a lot of people realize how essential it is to the story.
The Symbolism of the Art, Story and Healing Gameplay
South of Midnight stood out in its first trailer with the unique stop motion art style mixed with a fictionalized Deep South US setting. Hazel, the protagonist who becomes a “Weaver,” uses her hooks and spindle to mend the broken parts of her world. Beyond the music, storytelling and themes, it’s less obvious the game is about trauma and healing.
South of Midnight’s Trauma Healing Gameplay
The game heals trauma both in its gameplay and story. As Hazel, I battled “Haints,” which are dark creature representations of sorrows and trauma. The combat was all about unraveling them with Hazel’s hook and spindle. With all the Haints in an area unraveled, the area healed. Blackish growths give way to bright grass and flowers.
In lead up to boss fights, I’d cleanse “Stigma,” that symbolized facing and resolving painful memories. I’d heal mythical creatures by bottling their traumatic memories and place them on a bottle tree. Part of that bottle tree gameplay involved running from evil.
It seemed a way to run away from the pain of the memory towards the healing of the tree. Some of those were pretty dark. The various mythical creatures were spawned from memories of abuse, violence, starvation, neglect, betrayal, murder and more.
South of Midnight is very unique in that boss fights are actually about healing the creatures instead of truly hurting them. Sure Hazel would appear to attack them, but the target was their pain. Although a lot of the fighting took place in a typical boss arena setting, It often required traversing to the next location or getting booted out of the arena. Traversal in the game is fun, so it’s nice the game mixes it up
Trauma is not a fun topic, but I did enjoy healing it through the gameplay. When I first started battling the haints, I died more than a few times. Once I learned to block, counter attack and applied some upgrades, it was a lot of fun unraveling the trauma. I’d glide, twist, wall run and more, all on my way to healing.
Exploring a Painful History in South of Midnight
South of Midnight digs into historical traumas, of slavery and poverty as part of the story. Right from the tutorial following Mahalia’s ghost, she guides Hazel through a path similar to those escaping slavery through the Underground Railroad.
Slavery is a painful, but essential memory of the Deep South. I’m glad they did not shy away from the topic. The story weaves historical references into the story of healing. It also explores family secrets and identity, to benefit the story, not to shoehorn in social justice topics. This is especially true in parts of the story dealing with Hazel’s mother Lacey, Huggin’ Molly and Bunny, Hazel’s grandmother.
Those stories weave together child neglect, abuse and loss. Finding out about the backstory of Bunny and Hazel’s father was an interesting twist. Bunny was not exactly the best grandmother or mother and the game made that pretty obvious from the beginning.
The Southern folklore and original music lyrics tell the tale of current part of the story, enhancing the whole vibe. The blues tell a sad story, but with an upbeat conclusion.
The Healing Comic Relief that is Crouton
Many kids had stuffed animals to comfort them at night, but Hazel has Crouton. Once Hazel became a Weaver, Crouton took on a life of his own. Instead of just a weird stuffed animal, she’d use him to help heal trauma and solve puzzles.
His small size allowed him to get into tight spaces and he’s very throwable to reach tough spots. Crouton is useful and cute. Sometimes it feels like Crouton is the real star of the show. Its animations and sound effects give him a ton of personality.
The unique Deep South theme, music, folklore and healing gameplay make a South of Midnight a game you should play. Crouton makes it a game you must play.