South of Midnight: 6 Tips to Help You Thrive in This Dark, Fantastical World

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South of Midnight launches on April 8, or play now with the Premium Version.
The sport arrives for Xbox Collection X|S, Xbox app for Home windows PC, Steam, cloud, and might be obtainable day one with Recreation Go. And with Xbox Play Anyplace, play on Xbox consoles, Home windows PC, and cloud with full cross-entitlements and cross-saves.
To have fun launch, we’ve put collectively 6 ideas that can assist you in each exploration and fight.

South of Midnight invitations you right into a darkish, fantastical world drawn from tales of the American South – and whereas this would possibly appear to be a fairytale, each the tales it tells and the challenges it poses are removed from simplistic.

Telling the story of Hazel, who good points the magical energy of Weaving after her mom is swept away by a supernatural flood, you’ll must cross a warped tackle the South in your hunt to seek out her mom, and solutions to what precisely is happening. Alongside the way in which, you’ll battle Haints – corrupted enemies borne from the sorrow of the world – and remedy the injuries of Legendary Creatures, the topics of real-life folktales dropped at life by developer Compulsion Video games.

Premium Version house owners can play from at present (forward of an April 8 launch date for all gamers), and to have fun we’ve put collectively some ideas that cowl each exploration and fight, which is able to assist you to put together for this very sudden journey:

Look In every single place

Navigating every of South of Midnight’s chapters might be so simple as following your Guiding Strand – a characteristic that sees magical threads information you to your subsequent objective. However that’s removed from all there may be to find. Every location is full of hidden areas – some require platforming to succeed in, others want you to make use of your spells, whereas others will lead you into battles you would possibly by no means have in any other case had. All of them would require a eager eye to seek out.

Your rewards for doing this often come within the type of Floofs – the sport’s improve forex – and we vastly suggest you’re taking the time to search for them. With only a little bit of concerted exploration, you may add upgrades to your talent tree (extra on these later) a lot sooner than by merely working from one goal to the following.

Even higher, you may additionally discover Life Filaments as you go. Most chapters include certainly one of these – often in its most hidden facet space – and gathering three affords a everlasting improve to your well being bar.

Develop These Tales

South of Midnight is all about tales – from the story of Hazel’s search to seek out her mom, to the tragic backstories of the Legendary Creatures you’ll discover alongside the way in which. However if you wish to dig actually deep, be sure that to look every chapter for objects, notes, and extra. You’ll see these marked by small circles as you method, usually in out-of-the-way places.

Far out of your common world-building, every chapter’s hidden notes add much more element to the characters and tales you’re studying about alongside the core questline. It’s possible you’ll uncover hidden motivations for why characters are the way in which they’re, merely since you took the time to examine their lives. It’s an enriching means so as to add to the broader story.

Improve Early and Typically

As talked about above, you may velocity by means of the improve tree with a little bit of exploration – and whenever you begin hitting tougher fight sequences, you’ll thank your self for doing it. Even on its common problem stage, South of Midnight’s fight packs a punch, with even probably the most fundamental Haint enemies eradicating entire chunks of your well being bar after a single hit – by no means thoughts whenever you come up towards a Legendary Creature. Upgrades are your technique of turning the tables.

Upgrades are likely to focus extra on providing you added perks, relatively than merely buffing a capability’s present stats. Whenever you Unravel a downed enemy to claw again some well being, for instance, you may add an space of-effect blast to stagger any close by Haints earlier than you get again into the fray. Including a fast double-dodge to your repertoire, in the meantime, will are available in very useful whenever you begin assembly enemies that may quick-fire a number of projectiles. Take the time to discover the talent tree, and prioritize upgrades that appear to be they’ll clear up issues.

Use Dodges as Assault and Defence

Hazel doesn’t have the flexibility to dam assaults – however she greater than makes up for that with a strong bonus to her dodge. Hitting the dodge button will assist you to escape in any route (with some invulnerability frames thrown in) – however hitting a wonderfully timed dodge, simply earlier than you’re hit, comes with a nasty shock for whoever was making an attempt to harm you.

Excellent Dodges ship out a blast of vitality, staggering any enemy round you and doing a little good injury, too. It’s value listening to not simply what assaults enemies can do, however the time it takes to drag them off – fairly quickly, you may be doing nearly as a lot injury by not attacking.

Use Spells as Interrupts

As we talked about, getting hit in South of Midnight can get very nasty, in a short time – and whereas Hazel has that useful dodge, it could actually generally be simpler merely to cease an assault within the first place. In opposition to most enemies, throwing out a spell – whether or not that’s a Pull, a Push, or a Weave (which incapacitates most Haints) – will break them out of an assault utterly.

Whereas it’s tempting to spam your spells as quickly as they’ve cooled down, we’d suggest maintaining one in reserve as an emergency interrupt – if you happen to see an enemy winding up throughout your combo, merely hit them with a spell and hold thwacking.

Chain Your Spells

When you actually need to hold an enemy locked down, you should use your full spell repertoire to maintain assaults going with out interruption. That is notably helpful after you have just a few upgrades underneath your belt.

For instance, you possibly can Pull an enemy in direction of you, with an added Weave impact (which you’ll additionally improve to have them take extra injury whereas tied up). As quickly as they break away, Weave them once more with that core spell – and once they break away once more, use Push to deal some injury and hold your distance, earlier than charging up your ranged assault to deal the killer blow.

With a little bit of follow, enemies that felt like they took an age of dodging and poking to beat within the early sport can start to go down in a single combo – it’s extraordinarily satisfying.

South of Midnight might be obtainable on April 8, 2025, on Xbox Collection X|S, Xbox App for Home windows PC, Steam and cloud, and arrives on day one with Recreation Go. Play from at present by buying the Premium Version, and get entry to digital extras.

South of Midnight Premium Version

Xbox Recreation Studios

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

$49.99

Immerse your self into the macabre and fantastical world of South of Midnight with the Premium Version, which incorporates the total sport, as much as 5 days early entry, and digital entry (in English) to:
• South of Midnight Artbook
• Unique Soundtrack composed by Olivier Deriviere
• The Boo-Hag Comedian e book by Rob Guillory
• Music Video: Songs & Tales of South of Midnight
• Documentary: Weaving Hazel’s Journey, Director’s Reduce

UNRAVEL THE PAST
From the creators of Distinction and We Completely satisfied Few, South of Midnight is a spellbinding third particular person action-adventure sport set within the American Deep South.

As Hazel, you’ll discover the mythos and encounter creatures of Southern folklore in a macabre and fantastical world. When catastrophe strikes her hometown, Hazel is named to develop into a Weaver: a magical mender of damaged bonds and spirits. Imbued with these new talents, Hazel will confront and subdue harmful creatures, untangle the webs of her family’s shared previous and – if she’s fortunate – discover her method to a spot that seems like dwelling.

A DARK MODERN FOLKTALE
When a hurricane rips by means of Prospero, Hazel is pulled right into a Southern Gothic world of reminiscence made actual and should embark on a journey to rescue her mom and safeguard her hometown. On this folktale for contemporary instances, Hazel might want to reconcile the burden of household, historical past, and legacy towards her personal identification.

CONFRONT MYTHICAL CREATURES
Wield an historic energy to revive creatures and uncover the traumas that eat them. Solid weaving magic to struggle harmful Haints, discover the various areas of the South, and reweave the tears within the Grand Tapestry.

HAUNTING BEAUTY OF THE GOTHIC SOUTH
Uncover the luxurious, decayed county of Prospero and its locals. Expertise a crafted visible type, touching storytelling, and immersive music impressed by the advanced and wealthy historical past of the South.