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South of Midnight review

Poignant, symphonic and stupendously beautiful, South of Midnight is sorely let down by rote platforming and ill-thought-out combat.

You'll regularly be blasted with godly beams over grand vistas - you could play this with sunglasses at times - but just as often drawn to one particularly well-formed bush, or a cluttered kitchen, rusted-out sign, damp outdoor sofa or patch of flouncy, faded wallpaper. Enemies are all massive damage sponges, even the basic grunts (roughly counting, they take upwards of twelve hits, each a separate press of X, your one attack button) which means combat generally drags on too long and feels highly button-mashy. The result, ultimately, is a groan every time one of these comes up, and given the vast majority occur as compulsory parts of another four-step clear-the-area-of-corruption routine, they have the knock-on effect of spoiling the dramatic tension that South of Midnight otherwise works so hard and does so well to cultivate.

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