After a slow start to this console table generation , Xbox is looking to make its mark starting in 2025 . Major entries in franchises likeGears of War , Doom , andFableare on the fashion , alongside an ambitiousPerfect Dark revival . The most challenging game in its lineup , though , is n’t a glitzy secret plan from a pre - existing franchise ; it ’s something only raw .

in the south of Midnightis the latest plot fromWe Happy Fewdeveloper Compulsion game , and the studio ’s first project since beingacquired by Microsoft in 2018 . The action - risky venture project , set to found in 2025 , is alone in two primal ways . For one , it has a unparalleled visual panache that makes it seem like a playable stop - gesture film . It ’s also a video recording biz fructify in a office that few big - budget games have ever profoundly explored : America ’s deep South . It ’s a magical realist story inspire by southerly medieval literature and folktales from the area .

Today , Xbox released a raw documentary about the labor and its bearing to both capture an authentic southerly story and make that tale relatable to all musician . Ahead of the reveal , Digital Trends visited Compulsion Games ’ studio apartment in Montreal , Canada , where we saw a fresh gameplay demo and verbalize to several appendage of the originative squad about the project . The conversations painted a ikon of a team that ’s well equipped to tackle such a unequaled task thanks to unbridle creative energy at every stage of production .

“ Creatively as a studio , we ’re more like a jazz band than a person who comes in and direct everything , ” Compulsion studio head Guillaume Provost tells Digital Trends . “ It does n’t matter if the pianist start play or the singer starts tattle . It does n’t matter which helping of the creative team gets that first foothold on a creative project . ”

Creating the deep South

South of Midnighttells the tale of Hazel , a contraband track and playing field virtuoso living in the South who discovers she has magical powers . After a hurricane rages through her community , she sets out on a quest to mend unlike biomes prompt by region from New Orleans to Appalachia . With such a specific circumstance , Compulsion sleep with it had to do everything it could to ensure it was in truth catch the raft and sound of the American South .

Authenticity was the name of the game , and Compulsion went to some serious length to achieve it . The first affair that stands out to me during the demo is n’t the stop - motion style but the dense soundscape . In Chapter 5 , Hazel finds herself in a miry domain that ’s been ravaged by the hurricane . The sounds of mosquito buzz pours out of the speakers in a naturalistic density that I ’ve never quite heard in a game before . There ’s a understanding it fathom so tangible : Compulsion did significant field recording around the South to capture the exact atm you ’d take heed on a raging summer ’s day . Audio director Chris Fox describes it as a “ sound house painting . ”

That philosophy stretch to its soundtrack , which takes inspiration from folk euphony of the region rather than solely tend on traditional orchestral euphony . The latter does appear , but only in moments that are stand for to feel affected , like Bos fights against evil heart call Haint . Otherwise , the soundtrack is dotted with organs , acoustic guitar , banjos , and more rustic instrumental role that giveSouth of Midnighta distinct soundscape strand in Southern culture .

A adult finish of the projection was tie musicality to action . During the demo , Hazel agitate an tremendous alligator named Two - Toed Tom , a local legend that initiate in the 1920s . It ’s a thrilling fight where Hazel want to duck its gnashing teeth and apply her magic to fling rocks at a Christian church bell to stun it and open a weak point between its jaws . A eminent - energy folk melodic phrase plays in the setting , dynamically flip-flop to young effort as new phase of the fight begin . Chris Fox narrate Digital Trends that this is just one of the waysSouth of Midnightties music to gameplay .

“ We ’ve actually made a music system where when the player inputs a traversal power , they ’ll actually sing along to the backing track , ” Fox says . “ It works with MIDI and samples , and that ’ll switch depending on what backing music is fiddle at the time and what song is playing . So you ’ll feel a melodious expression and that come back to the action equals musicality estimate . It give you a feeling that you ’re act euphony while playing the game . ”

The same cerebration was applied to its nontextual matter , which turns intimate southerly fix into magical realist playground . During the demo , Hazel passes through an old , rickety church that count like something you ’d see deep in the center of Louisiana . The level is a mess of wooden planks and storefront that have been discombobulate around the swampland by the hurricane . Crows sit on fence C. W. Post and thick vegetation line of work the roads . Despite look just like claymation model , these feel like material places .

We were definitely urge by Guillermo del Toro and his creatures .

That feel derive from rich inquiry , which included two hebdomad - long trips to the South ( on one , Chris Fox had a closemouthed call with a bear ) . There were several ethnical touchpoints that Compulsion puff from as well to catch the right smell . During my interviews , I heard William Faulkner andBeasts of the Southern Wildname - checked , and the chapter I understand was named after Flannery O’Connor ’s short storyEverything That turn out Must meet .

The most of import design computer address , though , come from substantial folk tale . The giant Hazel encounter were establish around various cryptids and other legends of the area . The tricky part about that ? There are n’t a peck of firm illustrations of those creatures . That ’s one of the place where Compulsion had to take originative liberty to adapt unobserved beast into foeman .

“ too soon on , it was about figuring out what their tone is , ” art director Whitney Clatyon narrate Digital Trends . “ There ’s this dark-skinned , eery elegance that feel like a folktale atmosphere that sink in the whole world . We desire that to derive through their designs . We were definitely animate byGuillermo del Toroand his creatures . They ’re twist , they ’re unpredictable , but they ’re refined . He was one of the earliest references . ”

Fighting and weaving

For its gameplay , South of Midnightisn’t break young ground — and that ’s by design . The team ’s focus was on creating a liquid action - adventure deed of conveyance whose mechanics flow from its storey . The setting was the first element the team settled on during development and design decisions were informed by that choice . As presently as the team knew it would be grapple with a variety of regions , from flat swamp to more vertical urban center streets , it decided that it should make a traversal - ponderous escapade game that would show off those infinite .

The main hook is Hazel ’s magical powers . She ’s a Weaver who uses white thread to wangle the world and move around . Outside of battle , she can reveal objects in the environment , grapple , and glide all with the same magic skillset . Her powers are shown off in a moment of side - exploration when she come across a curt platforming puzzle that grants her a Floof , a resourcefulness that ’s used to upgrade her power via a square science list .

Hazel ’s magic is just as useful in conflict . In plus to perform stock gash with her hook , she can apply her threads to temporarily bind up an foeman , perform a heal Unravel finisher , and more . All of that action looks quiet too asSouth of Midnighttargets 60 shape per second ( though you may not think so at first since it ’s repeat an “ liven up on twos ” stop - motion style ) .

All of it cave in me flashbacks toKena : Bridge of Spirits , a similarly tight activeness - risky venture game that perfect in on game finger above all else . The general biome structure feels alike , complete with some optional geographic expedition , platforming , and collectibles . But the more lineal comparison come from the style Hazel heals the macrocosm as she moves through it . After clearing a fight , she uses her illusion to turn the envenom landscape painting back to a vivacious American landscape painting , just as Kena does in her adventure .

That idea , like many others , is thematically motivated . This is a biz about healing . While some creatures are evil spirits to be agitate , others are humans so haunt by trauma that they ’ve been warped into giant . Hazel ’s story is about finding out why they transform and using empathy to restore them .

A relatable experience

Throughout the studio sojourn , everyone I spoke to hammer home how importantSouth of Midnight ’s themes are to every tier of the project . Even something as small as the lineament retaining the handcrafted imperfections of real plosive - motion models is intentional ; part of the tale is about how imperfection are part of what defines us . There ’s a sincerity to the task that I can already feel in just a short glimpse of it .

It ’s my conversation with the acting side of the project that really highlights what makes that access particular . When asked about what drew him to the project , operation and articulation manager Ahmed Best note how important he feel it was for a television game to center on a Black adult female in the waySouth of Midnightdoes . Hazel ’s two actress , Adriyan Rae and stunt performer Nona Parker Johnson , both had similarly personal connections to the character . When Johnson mentions her track background , all three performers share a mutual laugh over their running retentiveness . There ’s a genuine experience there that they all unite to .

Not all heroes bear capes ; they wear braids .

to the south of Midnightaims to make that story relatable to the player . When the topic of agency get up , Johnson explains why it ’s crucial for games to center heroes like Hazel . It ’s not about telling a story just for Black women ; anyone should be able to identify with what she ’s die through .

“ We ’re constantly submerge with what the status quo believes is the universal human experience , ” Johnson says . “ What ’s important about feature characters like Hazel — and other Black female character , Black nance characters , and other POC part — be the ace who you ’re guiding through a populace express you that this cosmos is also one that I can relate to . For me , it ’s run into this person and relating to them and not believing that you ca n’t name with them because they ’re Black , or a woman , or from the South . ”

There ’s a moment in the docudrama that stands out most during the cover . A team member observe that what ’s so moving about Hazel as a grinder is that a young Black girlfriend might be capable to cosplay her and use her own lifelike hair to do so . For Adriyan Rae , details like that are what make the projection so vital .

“ I hope players learn that Black people can be the lead of a game , or the wind of a moving-picture show , ” Rae says . “ Black people can take up space , and it ’s marvelous . Our tarradiddle deserve to be told . I hope that footling sinister girls , including my girl , can cosplay and face into this biz and see that there is magic within them . That they are capable of more than they ever could sound , and that they ’re beautiful just how they are . And I hope that everyone come across the relatability of the biz regardless of if you ’re a woman or if you ’re Black . There are themes that can touch everyone . That ego - healing is crucial . That having empathy and care for your neighbors is important . That growth and nakedness is important in resilience .

“ The biz open with a horrendous hurricane . Us on the outside , we see the hurricane hit over there and we say , ‘ Oh , that ’s terrible . ’ But when you ’re playing it and you ’re invested in a character that ’s clothe in this world , it allows you a unlike grade of understanding and empathy . When you have empathy and understanding , that ’s where sexual love thrives , and that ’s where unity comes in instead of segmentation . ”

It ’s answers like these that highlight why Compulsion ’s driveway for legitimacy , coupled with smooth gameplay and inviting art focusing , makeSouth of Midnightstand out in a sea of upcoming action - adventure game . The creative lengths that the studio has extend on to genuinely seize a Southern experience makes for a fib that feels custom - build for a dark , divisive epoch in American chronicle . various history can help work up a kinder and more empathic earth for everyone .

“ My son playsSpider - Manall the time , and he plays as Miles Morales , ” Ahmed Best aver . “ And the affair I love about Miles Morales is that he ’s a Spider - Man who look like my son . But to my son , he ’s just Spider - Man . When you have rich fibre in beautiful games likeSouth of Midnight , you realize that not all heroes weary cape ; they bear braids . ”

“ full stop ! ” Rae adds , perfectly punctuating the thought .