South of Midnight Delivers Major Fixes and Performance Upgrades in Rapid Third Post-Launch Update

South of Midnight, the recently launched game for Xbox consoles and PC, has quickly rolled out three updates since its release. The third update, which went live just a week after launch, weighs in at over 13GB for Xbox Series X users. While the patch doesn’t introduce groundbreaking changes, it includes several key improvements aimed at enhancing performance, visual quality, and user experience.

Technical Fixes, Performance Enhancements, and Gameplay Issue Resolutions in Latest Update

One of the significant technical improvements in this update involves reducing graphical pop-ins. Adjustments were made to render distances for objects like Kudzu, small plants, and animals to minimize distracting popping effects. Additionally, Xbox Series S players experienced a crash when transitioning between chapters 11 and 12, which has now been addressed. Other performance enhancements in gameplay and cutscenes have also been implemented, ensuring smoother overall performance.

The update focuses heavily on resolving various gameplay-related issues. For instance, it fixes bugs in the Huggin’ Molly boss fight in Chapter 9, where certain bottles failed to spawn during Phase 3, and players could not take damage from dropped yarn. Furthermore, progression blockers in earlier chapters, such as invisible walls and areas where players could get stuck, have been removed. Several other combat and collision issues, including rare occurrences where abilities failed to trigger, have been fixed.

HDR, UI Improvements, Localization, Narrative Fixes, and Cinematic Enhancements in Latest Update

The update also addresses lighting concerns, particularly related to HDR performance. Adjustments were made to ensure proper color balance and eliminate issues like oversaturation on lower-end HDR screens. On the user interface side, changes have been made to improve menu navigation and control remapping. Notably, the default key to back out of menus has been changed, and several issues with remapping controls and HDR-related UI glitches on Xbox consoles have been resolved.

South of Midnight’s third update also tackles localization and narrative issues. Grammar errors in the lore and in-game text have been corrected, and several localization issues, such as missing or incorrect subtitles in multiple languages, have been fixed.

On the audio front, volume adjustments have been made to improve balance, alongside various bug fixes for in-game cinematics, such as facial expression issues and misaligned character models. These improvements round out the comprehensive update, enhancing both the gameplay experience and overall polish of the game.