Strawberry Loft

Being stranded alone in a personal darkness can feel overwhelmingly heavy, stopping you from moving forward as it slowly consumes you. It takes over your life cutting you off from the person you used to know. Sometimes it almost feels like it’s alive watching and waiting for you to succumb to despair and give up. Eventually, we find a spark – something that moves or drives us, a hobby that brings back the joy we thought we had forgotten. We nurture that spark, and it becomes a part of us growing chasing back the darkness until it’s an inferno that banishes the darkness, and its monsters until hope is restored. This is how I viewed the beautiful views on The Midnight Walk breaking free from the darkness with a little help from a little flame that made a big change.

On September 24, 2024, I watched Sony State of Play and The Midnight Walk caught my eye immediately with its unique style. Marketed as a “cozy horror game” I thought it looked more terrifying than cozy. I had to give it a try knowing that it would probably scare me a little. I paused the game a few times, more than I’d like to admit out of fright, especially towards the end, but once to cry my eyes out. The Midnight Walk is cozy, creepy, heartbreaking, and inspiring. It’s also scary.

Before you can start your walk, you must piece yourself together with the game opening by giving the player character eyes and ears to borrow so you can see and hear the events of the game. You learn a cool mechanic right off the bat which is closing your eyes to concentrate and hear hidden objects around you. The game uses spatial audio playing sounds separately in your left and right ear coming in clearer depending on how you turn your character or your head. The Midnight Walk is VR compatible and some of the game environments feel like they were made to specifically shine in VR with scenes that encompass the player. Scenes happen around the player dynamically shifting their gaze all around them. I appreciate the care given to those sections, but I am way too scared to play this in VR.

When you start your journey, you find matches and learn the power fire has over the world quickly. It can distract monsters and illuminate the darkness, driving it away allowing you to move forward down your path. Working your way through the lonely dark world eventually you the player stumbles upon a small clay plot filled with coal. When you use a match lighting it like any other candle the fire brings the pot to life giving the player Potboy. My small son. It takes some convincing, but you befriend Potboy with food that makes him do a cute little dance. Suddenly the monsters don’t seem as scary because suddenly you’re no longer alone. You and Potboy continue the midnight walk with little direction. Potboy is comic relief in a scary world, his fire a brightness that I promise you’ll slowly fall in love with. I became very attached to Potboy. The more you walk the more connected you become and slowly the real reason you’re on this stroll becomes apartment and it’s too late to turn back. Potboy isn’t just a vessel to make your world less scary, but to heal the world shrouded in shadows. When I realized what was going to happen, I cried, and Potboy smiled assuring me everything would be okay. He was more willing to fulfill his role in the prophecy than I was. It was like he knew he was reigned by your hand to do good, and you must let him do it.

The Midnight Walk is broken down into chapters that take you through towns with their own story of being plagued by the darkness. My favorite chapter was Chapter 3: The Tale of Coal Haven. A small town that had all their matches stolen by a thief. Without the matches, the people of Coal Haven were unable to keep their town furnace lit and the small snowy mountain town succumbed to the bitter cold and darkness. The darkness pierced their hearts that should have stopped beating in uncomfortable bodies, allowing the town’s people to live without morals. In an act of revenge, they killed the thief burning her home and letting her perish. You piece her bones together revealing she was a small, scared girl who lit matches in an attempt to see the stars that had disappeared one more time. Every chapter in this game is heartbreaking behind the terror caused by monsters. With the exception of the darkness and creatures created from the darkness the villains in each chapter are just beings who were done wrong. They were caught in a crossfire they didn’t understand and emotions that were too big for their own heart are what turned them evil. Scared and confused, each chapter’s villain is lashing out until you and Potboy are able to heal them. Fire is shown to cause destruction by burning houses and loved ones in this dark world, but with Potboy the flame is gentle and forgiving. It’s a warm caress instead of a harsh oppressive heat. Potboy is a flame fueled by care instead of hatred. This game makes me cry so much.

While the big bad guys of each chapter are sympathetic and are changed by the darkness the real bone-chilling terror is the monsters created from the darkness itself. These monsters will chase you and sound horrific while they do it. I died to the very first enemy I encountered after just not running away from it paralyzed by fear and that was my first pause of the game. They’re grotesque husks, the crawlers born with their eyes sewn shut, nearly dragging themselves across the ground. The ones I hated and was most afraid of were the Grinners. They have long spider-like legs and a mask that hides its skinless wide-eyed face until it’s right on top of you. It actually gives you a head start counting down until it inevitably catches you. Hearing the Grinners count down had me sweating I was so scared.  The creatures with no soul were scarier than the characters hunting you down for a reason. I will say I nearly passed away when the Mulgrim squeezed into my hiding spot but couldn’t get me. I wasn’t expecting it.

 Each town has its own look architecturally and is filled with vastly unique citizens. No two areas look alike nor have similar citizens. Everyone keeps to their own space. What makes these characters and environments even cooler is that they were created out of clay. The developers scanned these clay models into the game and used a stop-motion technique on the scanned models. This is what sold me on the game during the State of Play demonstration. It gives The Midnight Walk an extra unsettling edge and breathes life into the characters. The grinners would not have been such terrifying enemies if they didn’t have their jerky bug-like movements or their unsettling faces that become exposed, their flesh looking too taught for their faces. At one point during the game footage plays of the game creators using the actual puppets to tell a story instead of the 3D models. They look phenomenal and bigger than I thought they would. I felt like the unique look would draw everyone in to play.

Personally, I don’t think A Midnight Walk is getting the recognition it deserves and I’m talking everyone should play this gem. I expected to see it everywhere and I have seen Scary Game Squad tackle the first half of the game which I think will push it into the spotlight it deserves. This is the first game I’ve played by developer MoonHood, but from what I’ve seen all of their games are well-liked by the people who play them. Right now, The Midnight Walk has over 800 reviews with an overwhelmingly positive score. I just want to see it dominate my YouTube home page and all over my TikTok for you page.

The Midnight Walk is a very straightforward journey that has some exploration but keeps you from getting lost. You get to make one choice in the whole game and it’s the biggest choice you could be given to make. The game has two endings, neither is technically right or wrong and in some way, both leave you feeling guilty or bittersweet. You can’t feel wholly good about either choice you make. It’s been a week and I’m still thinking about both endings. I was really glad the game auto-saves right before the big choice so it’s easy to play through both endings. I played through them both the same night. I think everyone should play this cozy horror experience.