The Midnight Walk

As games further establish themselves as an art form, they split off into different genres, different ways to express themselves to us. Take a step back, and you'll realise how wild it is that one moment you're gritting your teeth as you break down the armour of a Hungarian warrior in medieval Bohemia one minute, and dash your way through fantasy and sci-fi stories come to life with a friend in the next.

Games feel like they can be anything, but every now and then, it feels like something really attempts to push that artistic boundary forward in one way or another. Harold Halibut showed us what a stop-motion style of game might look like last year, in a fun but very simple adventure. Now, Moonhood Studios has the chance to build on that with The Midnight Walk, a journey through the dark with optional VR compatibility.

In The Midnight Walk, you are a Burned One, likely the last of your kin, who finds themselves waking up to a world without fire, largely without light. After rekindling the flame of a Potboy, you'll head out on a quest to Moon Mountain, taking yourself along the various paths of The Midnight Walk. A simple goal, one that draws you in right away with the cryptic nature of the world, and the mysteries hinted at by the characters you meet along the way.

Your mission will take you through the various locations scattered around The Midnight Walk, a town where its people have cut off their heads from their bodies. A kingdom created by a lumbering giant. The atmosphere of the world is as inviting as it is eerie, and Moonhood has done an excellent job blending creepy with cosy. Each location comes with its own mini story, something usually tragic, but tinged with a sense of hope, a theme that carries brilliantly through the narrative. You - or more likely Potboy - are that sense of hope, that even in the deepest dark, there is always light to be found. You might not solve all the problems of the people you meet, but you can help them move on, create something better from the bad situations they've found themselves in.

There are some great emotional peaks in the story, told with just enough dialogue, a beautiful soundtrack and the aforementioned stop-motion visuals. The care Moonhood has put into the look of The Midnight Walk cannot go unmentioned, and it stands out as one of the most beautiful games I've seen. The expressiveness of the characters, the way the world has the feel of a forgotten desk brought to life. It all breathes creativity and uniqueness in such an engrossing way, it felt like I was playing through a movie. It's worth noting I didn't play in VR. I simply don't have the kit for it. This doesn't really matter at this point in the review, but I do wonder what seeing the environments and characters for yourself adds.

The story is emotional, the characters and world fascinating, but this is a game, so how does it play? The Midnight Walk holds a strong emphasis on the use of sight and sound, relying on a linchpin mechanic of you closing your eyes to sense hidden objects, doorways, and avoid certain enemies. Death exists in The Midnight Walk, and you can be attacked by a variety of creepy creatures in your adventure. You'll have to sneak around them in certain segments of the game, while in others you're solving rather simple puzzles. This is where it feels like there may be a real gap between the VR and regular experience, as in VR I could see this being enough to keep the game engaging, but the simplicity with a controller was perhaps too much to be consistently exciting.

Solutions don't take more than a few minutes to figure out, and even as more elements are added to the game, such as the Matchlock gun which allows you to shoot fire from afar, and the quicker, deadlier Grinner enemies, it feels like they're only around for a couple of puzzles or encounters. A lot of this has to do with the game's length. The Midnight Walk only takes a few hours to complete, and considering the replayability exists largely in collectibles (as you can just press resume after beating the game to get the other ending), you might find yourself wanting more at the game's end. The ideas here are very good, but don't match the full extent of their potential. Still, thanks to the strength of the narrative and the adventure's atmosphere, I can't say it ever bored me.

The Midnight Walk doesn't always succeed as a game, but as a story and an art form, it draws you in effortlessly. It's a brilliantly atmospheric adventure, that makes up for limited gameplay with emotional peaks that'll make you question everything you've just witnessed and done. The Midnight Walk might be a shorter path than I first thought, but it's not one I'll be forgetting.