The Midnight Walk Preview: Protect Pot Boy at All Costs!

One of the most intriguing games out of a largely lacklustre PlayStation State of Play was The Midnight Walk. A stop-motion adventure dipped in mystery about a journey through a world ravaged by darkness. With bold ambitions to marry up the cosy and horror genres, The Midnight Walk was a game that caught my eye rather quickly.

Recently, we got the chance to check out a portion of The Midnight Walk, including the game's first chapter and some elements from elsewhere in the adventure. We didn't get to play ourselves, but were instead guided through this experience by Moonhood's Olov Redmalm and Klaus Lyngeled, which did add an extra level of depth, almost like watching a director's commentary, although it would have been nice to have some hands-on experience.

The Midnight Walk takes place in a miniature world, where books and shoes are giant and the characters small enough to squeeze around them. We play as The Burned One, a character who awakes with the simple mission of restoring fire to the world, which has since been slumbering in darkness. There is a rich mystery and enigmatic feel to the world in The Midnight Walk, a sense you immediately glean from the game's visuals. The stop-motion animation immediately draws thoughts of Tim Burton, 9, Over the Garden Wall, and yet it maintains such a strong sense of unique creativity that using comparisons to other creepy animation works don't do the game enough justice.

More than 700 models are kept in the roomy office of Moonhood Studios, which appeared like a museum dedicated to the game in the short video tour we were given after the gameplay session was over. Styrofoam, ceramics, clay, and more have gone into making these models. Old WW2 newspaper cutouts, bits of a wagon, a developer's shoe, they all decorate The Midnight Walk without feeling cheap or distracting. The main character of Pot Boy (a little companion who travels with you on your jaunt) brims with such magnetic personality. There's such care and detail in The Midnight Walk that it is seriously difficult not to be impressed by the work in its visuals, even when just watching the gameplay.

The sound, too, is a treat. NPCs are fully voiced, and the soundtrack blends concepts of creepy and cosy better than you'd think when you hear these two genres are matching up. While The Midnight Walk certainly feels as if it slots into a creepier category than a true horror game, it does have its scares, as skittering creatures will pursue you in the game, forcing you to sneak from one safe location to another, fearing they'll devour your light. We can imagine, especially in VR, this will lead to some jump scares.

The Midnight Walk is coming to both VR and regular platforms, meaning it has to strike a balance between the demands of the two. The gameplay therefore appears rather simplistic, at least from what we've seen, but certain elements feel like they've creatively adapted to the limitations of the VR platform in its current state. The use of eye-monitoring technology feels especially intriguing, as it can tell when your eyes are shut, which in the game allows you to listen out for enemies and points of interest. Most of The Midnight Walk's gameplay is centred around your senses of sight and hearing. When you can't rely on one, the other will back you up, which made for some interesting segments later on in the preview.

Largely, the game appears to be a mix of sneaking past certain enemies, and then walking on to see the environments and continue the story. As we've not played the game ourselves, we can't really talk about how satisfying this is or not. From a glance, there are worries that its initial charm could fizzle out, but that certainly didn't happen during our time, and considering The Midnight Walk is aiming to be a shorter adventure, too, we'd imagine that the appeal won't wear off, but it's difficult to assess how rewarding the gameplay loop of stealth and lighting things on fire is without any hands-on experience.

The Midnight Walk is likely a game that will put you off or draw you in from its premise alone. If you're not a fan of stop-motion, or don't like the idea of a less action-packed adventure, you'll likely look elsewhere, but as someone who was stunned by the look of this game as soon as the preview session started, I have moved away from being simply intrigued to being very, very excited about what Moonhood Studios is cooking up. In a time where it feels like creativity and appreciation for art is challenged every day, it is more vital and refreshing than ever to have a game like The Midnight Walk, which so far looks to be a gorgeous adventure. My only hope is that the gameplay is rewarding enough to make me feel like I need to play this adventure, rather than just look at it in all its glory.