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Defining Duke, Episode 222 | Our South Of Midnight Review Is HERE - Did It Deliver?! (Patreon)

Published:
2025-04-03 16:00:22
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

The next exclusive from the "Class Of 2018" has arrived! It's South Of Midnight, hailing from Montreal's very own Compulsion Games, and it's another mixed bag. For all the visuals, stop motion, and music do to set the game apart, the Dukes struggled to fall in love with story following its abrupt conclusion. There's a lot to dig about it, but we wonder how the Xbox fandom will react to this after effectively waiting since 2018 for a story that doesn't necessarily wrap it up or make the best use of its gameplay mechanics. Alas, it's another "good, not great" that the Dukes think you should check out at sometime, but can't really justify the 40 bones you'd spend on it outside of Game Pass. In other news, Nintendo has upended the industry with their newly announced game prices which reach as high as $90 on the physical front. How this will have a ripple effect on the industry is easy to guess, but naturally, we dig a little deeper into the conversation than that.

Timestamps:0:00:00 - Intro

0:23:56 - Xbox handheld teased by ASUS

0:28:15 - How Xbox games are selling on PlayStation and Steam

0:35:09 - Why are Activision games not on Game Pass?

0:38:40 - RuneScape Dragonwids announced

0:48:29 - First look at Star Wars turn based tactics game

0:52:48 - MindsEye is releasing June 10th

0:55:32 - Trails Beyond The Horizon confirmed for Fall 2025

0:59:34 - Atomfall has surpassed 1.5 million players

1:02:04 - Powerwash Simulator tops 17 million players

1:02:41 - Death Stranding reaches 20 million players

1:03:51 - Monster Hunter Wilds sells 10 million units in 1 month

1:05:08 - Expedition 33 has gone gold

1:06:45 - Assassins Creed Invictus is launching this year

1:09:51 - Ubisoft and Tencent’s new partnership

1:18:22 - What We’re Playing

1:54:31 - Nintendo Switch 2 Direct reactions

2:34:56 - Game Pass Pick Of The Week

Files

Comments

Sam Brown

So South of MIDnight?

SolidEvolution

It’s better than their other games so at least they improved

Breno Bezerra Bluhm

Just a little correction but $90 for Mario Kart World physical is only in europe. In the US is $80 for both digital and physical

Walk Forward Cutscene

Is Cog really going to keep citing “Amir” without mentioning that he’s a director at Tencent?

BigDumbStupidIdiot

Here before COG and Matty are cool with Fable being $80

Misanthropic_Altruist

More interested in Cog’s take as my tastes align more with his. Either way I’m playing it tonight and will post my thoughts in the discord.

PairOfShuse

Meaning no disrespect at all, but I don’t get the whole mentioning “I’m a white guy” saying you might not connect with it like other people. I think that’s a bad mindset. We don’t do that with Japanese RPGs. Matty, you’ve even said Persona 5 was essentially transformational for you and those are Japanese people. With the logic above, wouldn’t you not be able to connect as much since you’re a white guy? Or could Cog not relate to a game where the characters are white? Sure, if you’ve lived a certain way or are close to someone who lived or has lived through something, they could understand it on a deeper level. But that’s not skin color, it’s culture or even just experience. But the whole talk of not being able to connect maybe because of skin color is a really narrow way to think IMO. Between movies, music, and games I’ve related to people of all different ethnicities, some that aren’t even real, and I never go into something being like “well I’m *insert skin color here*, I don’t know if I’m going to relate to this”. Just some thoughts as I really do think this whole viewing everything through race, hasn’t really helped anyone.

Michael

What’s a good Blizzard game to play besides Diablo 4? That’s the only one I’ve played. Want to try something from them, preferably a single player campaign. They have any?

Cai

Not played south of midnight, but the reason he said that is likely because some of the stuff the character goes through relates specifically to her colour. It’s not just he can’t relate to a black character, but that he can’t relate to that character’s experience of racism.

PairOfShuse

I can see that. Granted we can all experience racism and empathize with that as well. Doesn’t really negate my point. Specifically a place and time racism, sure I can see both relating to it though. I still stand by what I said but thank you for clarifying that specific point.

Cai

Yeah that’s true, although I would assume it is specific to the character’s experience in the deep south - based on something Cog said prior. I think the IGN review put it fairly well. They said something like “the characters deal with struggles both universal and specific to the region”.

USAlien

StarCraft II or Diablo II resurrected

Zachary Abell

Selling better than PS games on PC outside of Helldivers. COD does count too, which sells best on PS and PC.

Zachary Abell

Listening to the Nintendo section and wanted to clarify a few things! -Metroid is 720p/120fps handheld, but is 1080p/120fps docked! -Pokemon SV are getting Switch 2 updates! Kind of.. they are getting a free update, which is probably just a stability update. Seems like Nintendo is doing Switch 2 games, Switch 2 enhanced games with new feature, Switch 1 “updated” games for Switch 2 (think stability), and then BC Switch 1 games. -Pokemon Legends ZA was running at 60fps! But the resolution is unclear. I’d say it’s safe to assume at least 1440p (docked) with DLSS. For me, I loved what I saw! Except the game price. I think the console price is totally justified, but when Nintendo is the one to charge $80 for games that are historically the lower budget “AAA” games.. I’m like “nah”. TOTK was a budget of around $200M, so charging even $70 for that on Switch 1 I got. Played it, and loved it, even through the poor stability. But.. Imagine seeing Yoshi’s Wolly World 2 for $80, or even $70 is ridiculous for a AA game.

Zachary Abell

$80 for Fable and $80 for Mario Kart is a big difference at least. Nintendo was charging $60 for AA games on Switch already.

Cruz Ibarra

Minds Eye has the same Actor playing the Main Character as Mafia 3's Lincoln Clay. I hope he gets to shine in this game!

Cruz Ibarra

The Switch 2 should be $399.99..

PairOfShuse

I get what you’re saying and that last part makes sense. It’s just a lot of hypocrisy/mixed messaging plus the feeling of where does it end. On one hand, the devs or game journalists/people in their orbit will say we need more diversity in games and specifically people of other ethnicities need to play it and enjoy it/be open to it. Then say someone like Matty does, but then a comment gets made of oh well I’m a white guy, so maybe I just don’t get it, gets thrown out there, then what’s the point? Or maybe he doesn’t connect as much or like it as much, then he could get a swarm of people calling him racist. Even in this case - let’s just take the example of Cog playing it. Well Cog isn’t a woman and didn’t grow up in the south, so by this logic can Cog really relate to it “enough”? I just think viewing things through the lens of race for everything has polluted peoples minds. I believe it was Morgan Freeman who said to stop racism etc stop talking about it. Just talk to me as a person essentially. Sure, specific stories are and should be told from the perspective of the area - the other example I used was Persona 5 as obviously extremely Japanese. But that doesn’t mean that anyone can’t relate to it. People of all ethnicities and gender relate to Goku from Dragonball and he’s technically just a human of some unknown race. Just because people can’t fight or aren’t super strong doesn’t mean they can’t think he’s cool, or relate to his morals, or think he’s funny or someone to look up to. I think the world would be a better place if people’s enjoyment isn’t judged by the color of someone’s skin.

Cai

I get what you’re saying, and I do agree it’s a pretty weird situation filled with mixed messaging. At the same time, I do think you’re misunderstanding what Matty said a bit. I think he was just saying it just might not have the same impact for him as a white guy, not that he can’t relate or engage with it because of his colour. It’s like when Colin and Gene did the spoilercast for Forespoken, they came to the conclusion it was probably more for teenage girls, so the writing didn’t hit for them. That’s not to say South of Midnight isn’t for white people, it’s obviously for everyone. It’s to say certain elements will resonate more depending on your own experiences. And if those elements are specific to racism experienced in the american south, it’s going to hit harder if you’ve experienced something similar. Even when Cog was explaining that, he specifically mentioned he’s not from the south, so it’s not the same. So it’s not even just a racism issue, but a racism in a specific region issue. I think some stories are universal, and can be placeholders for things we all go through, and I would imagine south of midnight is that for the most part. But in specific instances where they want to talk about very real situations, those discussions will hit harder if you personally experienced something similar. As you seem to be an Atlus fan I have an example for Metaphor but don’t want to spoil it just in case! Hopefully that all makes sense!

Mr. Scott If You're Nasty

First of all, really respectful conversation. You don't see this on the Internet too often.

PairOfShuse

Oh yeah that definitely makes sense and I truly do get it. Like if there is a situation that is similar to you in an every way, if it’s done well, then it could definitely impact that person more than someone else where everything could be the opposite. It just really gets into that dicey territory where looking through the lens of race could be used as an excuse to demean, invalidate someone’s opinion, etc just because they aren’t a certain skin color. Unfortunately I’ve seen it happen from games journalists and just other gamers too. I was always brought up to treat everyone as individuals which is why I’ve always just been friends with whoever and never really thought about it when I was a kid, and that just always stuck with me. That being said, I do get your point though and I think we both ultimately agree and understand each other’s viewpoint. And I didn’t mean to make it sound like I think Matty views everything through a race lens as a white guy. My example was meant more as a take one step further kinda scenario. My fault that it might not have been clear. A personal example would be, I grew up in a lower middle class to upper poor family. It kinda changed throughout time. My parents got me clothes and stuff and the necessities but most of the time if I wanted something, I worked for it to get it. I don’t know until I was much older that a lot of times around Christmas my parents would go into debt and struggle because they wanted us to enjoy things like that. I also didn’t know at the time either when I would go grocery shopping with my mom when I was young, there was a grocery store we shopped at a lot where parts of the store had dirt floors and when it would rain, it would sometimes in parts of the store. I thought it was fun as a little kid. Obviously that’s not the case. But once I went to college and made something of myself and live pretty comfortably now (six figures), I remember telling a similar story to motivate people to do their best and was treated by some people like I’m the problem now since have more money now (even though I’m by no means just throwing money around or would be able to). It’s like, wouldn’t you want for everyone to be able to better their life position and give people the motivation to do so, even if it makes your life just 5% better than it was? Just frustrating. Or another example might be like, I enjoy the movie Boyz n the hood. I don’t relate to it in a personal level, but I still like then movie and can sympathize or empathize with characters. But it’s not really a race thing to me. If it was a movie about white people living or acting the same, I’d feel the same way. I guess maybe I just look more at the culture someone grows up in and individual attitudes mostly. Haha I am an Atlus fan, just haven’t gotten around to Metaphor yet so thank you lol. This has probably been the best conversation about this I’ve been able to have to with someone. Very respectful, I hope on both sides, and I wish could be done more. It’s definitely easy to get riled up on the internet and I try not to do so unless someone is really giving negative energy back but awesome convo.

Cai

I totally agree. I’ve seen so many people say “you wouldn’t get it” or “well this isn’t for you” when someone dares to dislike or disagree with certain things. And yes ideally all these ideas could just be discussed in the open without any animosity, because ultimately we all just want to play, enjoy and talk about games. So I appreciate being able to do that with you! And i had pretty similar experiences growing up so that’s very relatable haha. But make sure you get to Metaphor soon because this is what it’s all about! Everyone has difficult experiences, and those experiences will lead to entirely different approaches to the same goal.

Robbie Agnew

Short answer: the game is fine. A shame, had a lot of potential.

Dante B

Warcraft 3, Diablo 2, Starcraft 2

Misanthropic_Altruist

I actually like South of Midnight more because it’s steeped in a culture I’m less accustomed to. My only complaint is that the gameplay so far is incredibly restrained. I initially compared it to Kena but feel Kena looks and plays much better. I’m still early on so maybe my opinion will change.

PairOfShuse

Oh yeah, I feel the same way about other games too. They can take you into a piece of a culture you know nothing about or only know from some other medium. Just kinda shows in your comment why I wish people would stop putting so much focus on what their skin color is and if they can “understand” the piece. Everyone can understand something, but they might not relate to something as much or they might be like you and enjoy something more because it is a culture or idea you are less accustomed to, My main message - enjoy what you like, don’t put yourself through some racial purity test, and seek to learn/enjoy something and put yourself out there to experience new things.