Gameplay - Main target audience?

[AdahnGorion]

I´ve looked at this game and while the artstyle looks great, the gameplay is odd.. its basically the same enemies over and over again and the same actions you do... you can also skip combat entirely..

So whom is the game for? is it meant to be more of a short emotional story? is it a entry game into time sequence combat action adventures?
Personally I am a tad biased against time sequenced combat and even more so when its simplistic.

Looking at the games age rating, it is for some odd reason +17
https://www.esrb.org/ratings/40341/south-of-midnight/
Blood, Strong Language, Violence

If we look at statistics for the game, then it had a peak of 566 concurrent players on steam and right now it has 284 players, this will most certainly rise later today.. but it seems like many people only the fence is taking the skip approach.


So whom do you think the target audience is?
Again I think it might be newcomers to gaming, that needs an entry into Action Adventures. It will be interesting to see if the story is any good, because I reckon that is what could lure in people that are not newcomers to our hobby.

The game also seems short (4-5 hours if you skip combat and 8-11 hours with combat)


Here are a few reviews as well. In all kinds of biases

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kothCE21ks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPXHt3HoLw0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSkelp-LQz8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfdu0Ur8ebA


So let us know.. whom do you think this game is targeting? and are you going to buy and play it? Have a wonderful day all and remember to be friendly

[Lilael]

Anyone interested in macabre fantasy and folklore. Anyone interested in the setting, stylization, or music. If you ever loved watching Coraline, Fantastic Mr Fox, Nightmare Before Christmas, Wendell & Wild..

It feels similar gameplay wise to Alice Madness Returns, which is also captivating for its surreal world and unique art direction. AMR also had repetitive combat but had a common criticism it felt too long. People want to say South of Midnight is too short - maybe it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

South of Midnight has a lot of tragedy and sadness like real world folklore/fairy tales too - that’s what gets the M ratings mixed with the language/blood IMO.

[AdahnGorion]

Originally posted by Lilael:

Anyone interested in macabre fantasy and folklore. Anyone interested in the setting, stylization, or music. If you ever loved watching Coraline, Fantastic Mr Fox, Nightmare Before Christmas, Wendell & Wild..

It feels similar gameplay wise to Alice Madness Returns, which is also captivating for its surreal world and unique art direction. AMR also had repetitive combat but had a common criticism it felt too long. People want to say South of Midnight is too short - maybe it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

South of Midnight has a lot of tragedy and sadness like real world folklore/fairy tales too - that’s what gets the M ratings mixed with the language/blood IMO.

I like stop motion. But I just can´t see myself having fun with the gameplay and there is no point skipping it.
Then we are need to look at character interactions and story.. I am not sure about the quality about it, the little I have seen have been mixed.

The lenght does not bother me btw.

[Adraxis]

I believe the target audience is Black female gamers who love the American South culture.
Props to the devs for being so brave in delivering a triple-A game to such a niche audience.

[Razzle]

Me! im the target audience.
the visuals are extremely good looking for me, stop motion in a video game is something that can be fascinating and iv been watching documentaries lately about how they made/lived/struggled with the production of wallace and gromit
buuut I just bought ai limit + first berserker khazan in the same day so i'd wait on a sale or pick it up later.

very curious do you make posts like this on all game forums or just the ones that ...wellll yknow :) gamers say (Dei) n whatever

cuz i saw your post about " be friendly but lets predict how hard this game will flop" And all what you post just seems like bait while trying to disguise it as a conversation and is basically what some people on the internet like to say (Sea lioning) look it up!

be better

[wezard]

the modern audience

[Lilael]

Originally posted by AdahnGorion:

I like stop motion. But I just can´t see myself having fun with the gameplay and there is no point skipping it.
Then we are need to look at character interactions and story.. I am not sure about the quality about it, the little I have seen have been mixed.

The lenght does not bother me btw.

Hey, that’s fair. I have never in my life looked at Alice MR, Psychonauts, or Jak & Daxter and said “I can’t wait to play this and be blown away by the gameplay.” It’s an action adventure platformer.

I think skipping combat is fine. I’m playing on hardest difficulty. But if someone did combat for the first 5 chapters then decided to turn it off and only do boss fights that’s OK. (Edit: The point is just do what you enjoy because we have the ability designed in the game to avoid what you don’t. And again if I’m thinking “I can’t wait to play a game with intense combat,” never would I look at the trailer and choose it. I’d go to Hades or Elden Ring. /end edit)

For me, I am enjoying the story and characters’ tragedies. The environments are also interesting and I enjoy looking for the collectble readables (which also provides more lore about location’s history and characters). Readables can be completely ignored if you don’t look for them and if a player only relies on the few cutscenes I can see how people don’t feel attached or compelled by the story. I also think you must follow the guiding strand game features for best cutscene reveal sequencing. Because you can go out of order and that make the unfolding of the character’s story iffy.

[AdahnGorion]

Originally posted by wezard:

the modern audience

By modern audience I assume you mean Gen Z.
I reckon that could make sense, but normally developers do target more than just one generation. But as a main.. maybe.. could be.

[VonFIDDE]

I did like the music, story ok but the combat killed it for me.

[AdahnGorion]

Originally posted by Lilael:

Originally posted by AdahnGorion:

I like stop motion. But I just can´t see myself having fun with the gameplay and there is no point skipping it.
Then we are need to look at character interactions and story.. I am not sure about the quality about it, the little I have seen have been mixed.

The lenght does not bother me btw.

Hey, that’s fair. I have never in my life looked at Alice MR, Psychonauts, or Jak & Daxter and said “I can’t wait to play this and be blown away by the gameplay.” It’s an action adventure platformer.

I think skipping combat is fine. I’m playing on hardest difficulty. But if someone did combat for the first 5 chapters then decided to turn it off and only do boss fights that’s OK.

For me, I am enjoying the story and characters’ tragedies. The environments are also interesting and I enjoy looking for the collectble readables (which also provides more lore about location’s history and characters). Readables can be completely ignored if you don’t look for them and if a player only relies on the few cutscenes I can see how people don’t feel attached or compelled by the story. I also think you must follow the guiding strand game features for best cutscene reveal sequencing. Because you can go out of order and that make the unfolding of the character’s story iffy.

Fair enough and thank you for the detailed description.

[AdahnGorion]

Originally posted by VonFIDDE:

I did like the music, story ok but the combat killed it for me.

Seems like combat really divide people.

[Ice]

Originally posted by Lilael:

Anyone interested in macabre fantasy and folklore. Anyone interested in the setting, stylization, or music. If you ever loved watching Coraline, Fantastic Mr Fox, Nightmare Before Christmas, Wendell & Wild..

It feels similar gameplay wise to Alice Madness Returns, which is also captivating for its surreal world and unique art direction. AMR also had repetitive combat but had a common criticism it felt too long. People want to say South of Midnight is too short - maybe it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

South of Midnight has a lot of tragedy and sadness like real world folklore/fairy tales too - that’s what gets the M ratings mixed with the language/blood IMO.

Coraline you say?
Alice madness returns you say?
That's all I need to hear.

[GonthorianDX]

The MoDeRn AuDiEnCe