Just finished South of Midnight and it was a really good game, some gameplay issues here and there but everything else was going very good until chapter 9.
It’s just the context clues were so incredibly obvious and chapter 9 sort of derailed the story for me, it made what was a pretty strong start with some really good build up fall a little flat. The fact that nothing is ever address at the end also kind of makes it worse overall.
I think I am in the opposite camp - the game had a very good start, but a better finish imo. Chapter 9 onwards, there were something about those chapters that kept me really engaged. And I wouldn’t say nothing was addressed at all. We can keep it spoiler tagged, but what are you referring to exactly?
The big one is the kids that Molly was taking care of, there’s never any mention of them and frankly without Molly they will either be forced to go back to their parents or be put into a system that will likely leave them worse off before Lacey can get them the help they need. It was the entire reason why Lacey was working with Molly now there will be a lot more misery for the entity to eat and create haints.
Bunny just getting sent to live in purgatory as penance instead of actually healing and trying to make right by the people she has hurt. That was such an unsatisfying ending for me, she should have been allowed to take over for Molly and use her wealth and influence to help those kids.
Roux feeding the entity that is creating the haints, meaning that they will keep coming back even if people don’t suffer through trauma to cause them. Honestly, having the entity at all felt like a misstep because haints aren’t actually happening because of people emotion, they happening because this thing is feeding on the side.
Edit: Wanted to add that after having learned about Laurant and trying to be more accepting of him not being entirely human, it felt like a large step back foe Hazel’s character to not even try to put the clues together. Like there was a mural to her mother in Molly’s cave, and she didn’t even once think what the connection between Molly and Lacey was.
So, I partly agree and partly disagree.
On Bunny’s fate, I think that was really the point - that she was not willing to change, and didn’t care who she hurt, so in the end the best thing to do is just have her go away. I think if she had been shown as having some redemption that led to her becoming a caretaker for the kids or whatever, it would’ve seemed a bit too trite and SoM wanted to make a point that not everyone gets (or deserves) a clean redemption where we forgive them.
However on some of your other Qs I completely agree, the game touched on a bunch of stories along the way without closing them. Molly’s kids is a good one. But also - why don’t we talk with Rhubarb after we find out what happened to Benjy? Same with Patty. To some degree, same with Roux. Like we see what happened to folks but then never get to talk to them about it or try to help them move past it, which I thought was gonna be a core part of what Hazel was doing.
It’s not about redemption, as she wouldn’t be their caretaker that would still be Lacey and whoever adopts those kids in the future. She would just be providing her influence to ensure those kids at least don’t get lost in the system or go back to the parents that neglected or abused them. It’s not about her moving on from her grief, it’s just that nothing else can even help those kids now because Molly was such a massive positive influence. But I can understand why you think she would continue trying to do what she has always done if she doesn’t regret it.
Confronting Rhubarb about Benjy’s fate, imo wouldn’t do more than have him admit his guilt, as I think he already knows that Benjy is the tree. As he is the person we get the bottle to gather memories, that allows Hazel to heal Benjy and the others. Giving me the thought that he started down the path of learning about the supernatural because of it. But he chose to hide away from everything in the only place he could, to live with his own guilt bottling up his emotions.
By Patty do you mean Jolene? The reverend that killed her father? Like with Rhubarb I think at most we could get her to admit her guilt, but she wouldn’t dwell on it because she has long since started making amends for what she did. Is why she became a reverend, to do good after doing so much bad. She works to keep her community safe, and it’s implied she works with Lacey as they met through social services. Unlike Rhubarb who has hid himself aways from everything and everyone, Jolene is always helping people she thinks need her. I think Jolene would even allow herself to be taken to jail if Hazel pushed her in that direction, but doing so would only hurt the community more than anything.
Roux is, well imo there’s nothing there, he collects people that have committed horrible acts and uses them to feed the Kooshma so that it doesn’t apparently do worse things. To me bringing in these extra concepts took away from how personal everything else was, how it was all about people and how their actions can affect the world, other people and the animals around them. It also kind of seems off because even when doing the chase scenes, it never felt like this was actually important. Just one greedy person trying to collect something that wasn’t theirs and as a way to show case some of the platforming.
Itchy and Laurant were the closes we got to having a conversation with the victims and with Itchy we learn that he regrets fighting Molly. From the letter he left for her when he was a kid asking her to take him away, but by that time Molly had been gone with all the other kids and Itchy was left with nothing but regrets.
From Laurant we learn that the people that do get transformed can retain control of themselves, that they are still those people deep inside, but if they don’t bring themselves under control they stay stuck as a mythical creature. That there’s no changing them back completely, the only way they will find peace at last is death like Honey and his mother did or to embrace who they are like how Molly did.
Yeah I mean what you say makes sense too, I just would have preferred to close some those conversations with
Rhubarb and Jolene (lol, Patty, wat) especially.
Not like confront them or “fix” it but just to hear that someone else now knew what had happened and see them share some of that burden they had kept bottled up as guilt for so long. A little more character development I guess.
I did like how Itchy’s story went more.
Completed Doom: The Dark Ages a few hours ago. 30+ hours easily. 100% completion for all 22 chapters as well as the Mastery Challenges. Maxed out every weapon, melee ability and shield ability. Played on Xbox Series X via Game Pass Ultimate. Difficulty settings is listed below. Overall, I had a challenge but was never aggravated or frustrated which is the way I prefer it. Died 19 times overall. Below is my short review.
< Combat Assistance >
< Modifiers >
VISUALS - 9.0/10 (excellent)
AUDIO - 9.0/10 (excellent)
GAMEPLAY/COMBAT - 10/10 (superb)
STORY/CHARACTERS - 8.0/10 (great)
OVERALL - 9.0/10 (excellent)
My 2025 completed games -
Will continue playing Towerborne (game preview) tomorrow as im really enjoying the game and hope it gets supported for years to come as I love beat em ups. Don’t have any new game releases until July. Summer Game Fest, the Xbox Games Showcase and the State of Play in June should solidify the second half of 2025 for me.
2025 future game list with release dates -
Just finished with Doom The Dark Ages, it was a really fun experience with a pretty cool story.
I had started the game with the Ultra Violence settings and changed them as I continue, lowering the parry window, increasing game speed twice(120% and 150% afterwards), modified the damage twice for myself and the demons(250% then 300%).
With the super-fast load times and the high damage made it so that the game was going by super quick and made dying feel more like it’s my fault than me thinking something was off with the game. It also allowed me to change my strategy so quickly, that arenas I was struggling in didn’t feel like I was grinding at them for a win.
Destiny 2014. Four story missions in. Since I played four hours, my refund request was denied so I decided to go back to playing it. Still annoyed that other players are in my missions at times but the funny thing is that there was an optional objective that I completed with another player. LOL.
Division 2 Battle for Brooklyn
God this DLC is so good and so much fun. Can’t wait for Divsion 3
Just started up Robocop Rouge City, currently running around after the station looking for side quest.
Replaying Doom TDA and I have realized that the really high damage done and taken is my prefer way of playing the game.
Will be going back to shadows to finish the story soon.
Playing ESO to finish up the last couple of main quest for last years zones. Before the new quest lines drop for the new zone.
Just finished Robocop Rouge City and what a fun game!
I’m about to start playing Avowed.
Still playing Khazan. I have 2 bosses to go then I think I’ll get the lies of P dlc after
Well, Avowed was a bust, couldnt beat the first boss. Im going to play Claire Obscur instead.