South of Midnightis far from a bad game. Its story is filled with memorable moments, both heartbreaking and bittersweet, and it’s all wrapped in a beautiful layer of reverence forAmerican Deep South folklore. That’s all on top of some stellar presentation, which includes striking visuals and a riveting jazz, blues, and country-inspired soundtrack.
ButSouth of Midnightis also far from being a perfect game. When it comes to gameplay,South of Midnighthas some pretty glaring issues. And while these issues continue to pop up throughout the game’s runtime, they’re most prevalent duringSouth of Midnight’s final boss fight.
How South of Midnight’s Final Boss Summarizes The Game’s Biggest Issues
South of Midnight’s Final Boss Relies Too Much on Combat
Combat is arguablySouth of Midnight’s weakest component. The combat mechanics themselves are fairly solid, with attacks feeling quite responsive, magical abilities feeling fun to use, and the dodge mechanic feeling rewarding. But it’s how these mechanics are implemented throughoutSouth of Midnight’s runtimethat’s the real issue.
Simply put,South of Midnight’s combat feels too repetitive. Though new enemy types are added during the course of the game and players unlock new upgrades for their abilities, it adds little variation to each combat encounter. Most combat encounters will see players repeating the same five-hit combo repeatedly, and doing little to shake up their strategy.
One saving grace ofSouth of Midnight’s combatis that the game allows for plenty of downtime between encounters, where the game’s great story and enjoyable exploration mechanics have a chance to keep players' spirits up. But that’s not the case withSouth of Midnight’s final boss.
The King of Dreams and Nightmares, Kooshma is an ethereal entity that players need to face off against duringSouth of Midnight’s finale. But while previous bosses like Two-Toed Tom and Huggin Molly introduced their own set of gameplay mechanics to keep combat engaging, Kooshma’s boss fight is simply a sequence of consecutive combat arenas, broken up slightly by platforming sections and moments where players need to dodge Kooshma’s AoE attacks.
Having to play through multiple combat encounters practically in a row highlights just how weak this aspect ofSouth of Midnightis. Players face the same set of enemy types and use the same set of abilities they’ve been using for around 10 hours, and that does little to make this final fight feel climactic.
South of Midnight’s Final Platforming Sequences Are Far From Its Best
Much like its combat,South of Midnight’s platforming mechanicsare really solid in their own right. Double-jumping, gliding, wall-running, and grappling all look and feel good, and their implementation throughout the game is handled much better than combat, with more variation being given to the mechanics via the use of level design.
That said,South of Midnight’s final boss fightdoesn’t utilize the game’s platforming mechanics nearly as well as it could have. Between the multiple sequential combat encounters, Kooshma teleports the player to a distant floating island. They need to use their platforming skills to return to Kooshma’s location. Mechanically, these sections feel clunky, with players being asked to leap across wider gaps than usual and glide through several wind tunnels, both of which slow down the pace of the encounter significantly.
