Umair
While I’ve fallen in love with many videogame creatures over the years – World of Warcraft’s murlocs, League of Legends’ poros – South of Midnight’s Benjy is truly one of my favorites. You’ll encounter him in Chapter 3 of the upcoming action-adventure game, and while he isn’t immediately recognizable, by the time the chapter has drawn to a close and all the puzzle pieces have come together, his story will have left an indelible impression on you. A young, neurodivergent boy left to die by his frustrated brother, and now transformed into something other, he plays a central role in setting the stage for a creature-driven narrative experience. While the overarching story is Hazel’s, the game is full of unique personalities with tales all of their own.
As you’ve likely guessed, then, Benjy is just one of the many creatures we’ll encounter on protagonist Hazel’s journey. Compulsion has already given us a glimpse of the spider-like Huggin’ Molly, who snatches away young children, as well as Two-Toed Tom, a gigantic alligator intent on eating everything in his path. Creatures are at the heart of South of Midnight, with game director Jasmine Roy and narrative director Zaire Lanier explaining that each of the action-adventure game’s levels revolves around a different monster.
“As we picked out the regions, that’s where we tried to do a mix and match with the creature,” Roy tells me. “We wanted them to be at the center of each area as you travel around the world. Hazel is going to slowly learn about their stories, so they were very important pillars of our design.”
But, as with any culture’s folklore, there’s a lot to choose from. In my home country of Scotland, there’s everything from spell-slinging Druids (ask me more about those, I beg you) to the mysterious Cat-sìth, a large wildcat that haunts the Highlands. Given that the bayou is a melting pot of many different perspectives and worldviews, I ask how the team approached respecting the area’s heritage while simultaneously reimagining it for South of Midnight.
“Compulsion was very aware of what it didn’t know, and that’s a good starting point,” Lanier recalls. “When you’re trying to authenticate something that you’re not familiar with, you go to the source. It’s all about the research and having constant check-ins with the different people of different backgrounds working on the game.
“I think being humble enough to say that this isn’t necessarily our wheelhouse culturally – we’re a studio in Montreal – then hiring people who are a bit more familiar with it and are able to do the writing, as well as being open to correction [was really important],” she continues. “We all want to tell a good story. Everyone’s very passionate about the game, and [the directors and Xbox] put a lot of trust in our abilities to tell an authentic story.”
But, so far, one creature slightly deviates from its traditional image. The rougarou is often depicted as a werewolf-style lupine, but South of Midnight reimagines it as a were-owl. Its struggle remains the same, however, with the person within grappling to retain their humanity, while the beast claws at their soul.
I ask Roy and Lanier why they chose to make this change, and generally where the lines between staying true to the traditional folklore and adjusting it for the videogame format converge.
“Typically the rougarou is a werewolf creature, but there are some other iterations where it can turn into other animals,” Lanier says. “I think if you take the overall lore and slap it on something completely different – like he’s out in the middle of the ocean and he’s a merman – then that’s a little different because you’re taking it and making it something completely unrecognizable. The general feel of that story beat when you play it will be familiar to the audience and some people will like it, some people won’t. But I think we treated that particular creature with a lot of respect.”
“When you see a werewolf story it’s always about inner turmoil and how that comes out,” Roy continues. “Folklore in general always has that universal root that people can draw on and get into. It’s important to know that, in South of Midnight, we inspire ourselves with Southern folklore and we pay respect to it, but it is also our version of this mythology. It’s our own interpretation.”
In some ways, South of Midnight’s approach to its inspirations reminds me of Assassin’s Creed: they’re historical-set videogames, not precise retellings of historical events. South of Midnight aims to be authentic yet original while keeping Compulsion’s signature weirdness and, to quote the developer’s website, “hallucinatory” feel. I really can’t wait to dive back in when April 8 rolls around. In the meantime, you can check out my South of Midnight preview for a deeper look at the game’s action and storytelling.
