We Happy Few devs reveal South Of Midnight, a new action-adventure set in a magical realist American South

I love magical realist Southern Gothics. Kentucky Route Zero, Norco, and Where The Water Tastes Like Wine are some of my favourite games, so Compulsion Games' South Of Midnight immediately has my attention. Announced during the Xbox Games Showcase 2023 as part of not-E3, this new action-adventure looks like it's got major bite and you can check out the trailer below.

The trailer showcases some pretty slick animation and shows young protagonist Hazel approach Shakin' Bones, who South Of Midnight's creative director David Sears describes as "an immortal figure, roughly analogous to the ferry boatman in Greek mythology, Charon, as he escorts you from the real world into a more fabulistic place" in an interview over on Xbox Wire Hmm curious.

Shears goes on to explain that South Of Midnight will take place across a fictionalised magical realist US, and you'll be exploring backwater parts of the country helping Hazel on her mission to "repair a broken world." The game will also feature magic (some of which we can see Hazel use at the end of the trailer) that will be used for both combat and traversal, and they'll also be a roster of monsters and creatures based on real-life folklore from the Deep South.

I'm incredibly curious about South Of Midnight, and keen to see more of what Compulsion has in store. You might know Compulsion Games from noir adventure Contrast and open-world survival We Happy Few, two games which I've not played, but it seems like the team is going in an entirely new direction with this Southern Gothic tale.

No release date yet, but South Of Midnight is coming to Steam, Game Pass, and Xbox Serries X/S consoles.

NotE3 and Summer Game Fest 2023 is over for another year. You can find out all the latest news by visiting our E3 2023 hub, or you can catch up with our round-up posts of everything that was announced at Summer Game Fest, the Xbox Games Showcase, the PC Gaming Show, Day Of The Devs, and our top highlights from the Wholesome Direct.