The Midnight Walk Review (Hawxye)
A gorgeous little gem of a game. You only need to take one look at it to know you are in for a treat when it comes to the visuals. Channelling the timeless techniques of stop-motion animation alongside inspirations such as ‘Tim Burton’ & ‘Mad God’, The Midnight Walk looks stunning from start to finish. I can’t imagine the time and effort that went into sculpting and moulding the world and characters, presumably by hand, and then moving all of that into digital 3D space. This style also lends itself to the tone and art direction of the game beautifully, with a more hand-made look and jittery animation style, the horror aspects of this game are escalated significantly. Overall, a visual delight from start to finish with sets and characters that make your jaw hit the floor.
I also want to praise the sound design, voice acting and music here. Across the board, it’s top-notch. I’ll be listening to the soundtrack on this one for some time to come, and I sincerely hope the voice actors here find further work on many other projects cause they were mesmerising. At no point did I want to skip any of the story, and I think the voice acting went a long way in service of that.
Speaking of, the story is also a real highlight. Each of the more contained stories along ‘The Midnight Walk’ are in service of the larger narrative as you make your way down the road, and I found myself invested in each one. No spoilers here, of course, but the overall story is one worth embarking on, and it sticks the landing brilliantly.
Finally, the gameplay. It’s fair to say it’s simple, as an atmospheric, horror-based, walking simulator, with puzzles and tense chase scenes throughout. Won’t be anything to write home about here, but it’s not a sticking point for me as it moves at a good pace and keeps you on your toes without getting bogged down at any point.
My only gripe with the game is perhaps the price point, which is a little steep for what you get here. Can’t help but think if even £10 was knocked off the price, there would be a lot more chatter around it and perhaps more coverage. I don’t begrudge what I paid, as I’ve had an experience I’ll never forget, and the work MoonHood has put in here is worth the price of admission for someone such as myself.
After rolling credits, I can say this game is not something I’ll forget anytime soon, and I highly recommend anyone picking it up if they like what they see! Perhaps wait for a sale though to knock a little bit off that asking price. You never know, maybe we’ll see each other on our journeys down ‘The Midnight Walk’.