South of Midnight - PC performance graphics benchmarks of Graphics Cards and Processors
We have tested the latest game south of midnight on maximum graphics settings with GeForce RTX and Radeon RX series video cards. We also evaluated the performance and quality of the game's graphics during our tests.
| THE GRAFICAL PART |
This subsection of our review highlights the main graphical aspects of this game. Particular attention is paid to the version of the graphics engine used, the version of the API used, graphic settings and the quality of development of the main visual aspects.
| Supported OS and Graphics API |
south of midnight — is a third-person adventure game that uses DirectX 12 capabilities and is designed for 64-bit systems Windows 10 and 11. The game is capable of scaling across a wide range of configurations, offering both basic graphics on minimum system requirements and advanced visuals on more powerful builds. Below are the official specs and a general description of the differences between minimal и maximum settings.
South of Midnight System Requirements
Minimum system requirements
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Operating system: Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
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Processor: AMD Ryzen 3 1300X / Intel i3-8100
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Memory: 12 GB
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Video card:
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AMD Radeon RX 580
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
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DirectX: Version 12
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Disk space: 60 GB
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Extra charges: Performance increases with more powerful hardware
Recommended System Requirements
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Operating system: Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
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Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1600X / Intel i5-7600K
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Memory: 16 GB
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Video card:
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AMD Radeon RX 6600
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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
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Intel Arc A580
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DirectX: Version 12
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Disk space: 60 GB
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Extra charges: Performance increases with more powerful hardware
| DEVELOPMENT HISTORY |
South of Midnight is an action-adventure game from Compulsion Games, formerly known for Contrast and We Happy Few. The project was announced in June 2023 as part of the internal Xbox Game Studios lineup. Development has been ongoing since 2020, amid the studio's expansion after joining Microsoft. The team set out to create an original project with a deep cultural bent, inspired by American Southern folklore and personal stories of loss, memory, and healing.
According to the developers, the game grew out of an idea to explore magical realism through the prism of the Gothic South, where reality and mythology intertwine. To do this, they brought in cultural consultants and experts in African-American heritage. The main character, Hazel, became a guide into this world: her story of loss and rebirth unfolds against the backdrop of a hurricane-ravaged town and magical creatures. The script was developed with the participation of writers familiar with the history and folklore of the region.
Early demos of South of Midnight generated interest due to its visual style and theme. After positive reviews at GDC and Summer Game Fest, development accelerated. The game was released on April 8, 2025, on Xbox Series X|S and PC, including an Xbox release Game PassDespite the modest budget, the project became a notable example of an authorial approach within a major publisher.
| GRAPHICS |
South of Midnight's graphics are based on the style of stop-motion animation combined with 3D modeling technology. Thanks to this, the visual style resembles a living illustration or a hand-drawn movie. This stylization immediately sets the game apart from others. It emphasizes magical realism and gives the events a sense of fairy tales, despite the dark themes. The color palette uses deep blues, ochre and muted tones, imitating the visual language of southern gothic.
The game is built on Unreal Engine 5, however, without the use of Nanite and Lumen. The visual framework is adapted for manual stylization, and most effects are created manually with an emphasis on animation and lighting. Interface elements are minimal, the emphasis is shifted to recreating the atmosphere. However, technically the project does not demonstrate a high level of detail - textures and models are simplified, reflecting the priority of the artistic approach over realism.
Critics have noted uneven quality: close-ups and cutscenes look impressive, while secondary scenes seem technically limited. The game runs stably on Xbox Series X at 60 FPS, but drops to 30 FPS are observed on Series S. Flexible settings are available on PC, but optimization is not perfect: frame rate drops are possible in open areas.
| GAME ENGINE |
South of Midnight is powered by Unreal Engine 5, but with limited use of advanced engine features. The Compulsion Games team decided to abandon most of the new technologies in favor of visual uniqueness and stability. Instead of Nanite, a classic approach to geometry is used, which allowed manual control of the stylistic features of the models. Lighting is implemented without global light tracing, mainly through static lighting and custom shaders.
The combat system, although not the central element, uses its own weaving mechanics. The player must use magical flows and fabric threads to manipulate the space and eliminate threats. Controls are adapted for gamepads, but on PC, a keyboard and mouse are also supported. The engine allows for a non-linear structure of the world, with the ability to return to previously visited areas after gaining new abilities.
Physics in the game are simplified. There is no destructibility, and interaction with the environment is limited to pre-set animations. Enemy AI is built on predictable patterns. Despite this, the UE5 architecture has achieved high stability and minimal loading: most transitions between locations are seamless. However, the lack of support for ray tracing, FSR or DLSS makes visualization dependent on the basic power of the video card.
South of Midnight does not try to compete with technologically advanced projects. The engine is used as a means of realizing an artistic idea, and not as a platform for a technical breakthrough. This emphasizes the studio's authorial approach, for which visual expressiveness is more important than technical achievements.
| QUALITY |
On the minimum At the graphics level, the game simplifies shaders, reduces texture quality, and reduces the drawing distance of objects. Environmental details, lighting, and effects (such as smoke, highlights, and shadows) work in the basic mode, and the overall number of visual elements is reduced. Despite this, the atmosphere and core mechanics are preserved, allowing owners of mid-range systems to enjoy the game.
RџSЂRё maximum settings, "South of Midnight" uses high-quality textures, more advanced lighting and shadow effects, and detailed character and environment models. With deeper visual details and rich effects (additional particles, realistic reflections, and detailed foliage animation), the game world becomes cinematic and believable.
| TEST PART |
Below you will find a table of equipment that was kindly provided by our sponsors: GIGABYTE, ASUS, Kingston и Deep Cool. It reflects the list of motherboards, video cards, memory modules and cooling systems used in the tests, and also indicates the current configuration of the operating system and drivers.
| Test configuration | |
| GIGABYTE | |
| motherboards | |
| ASUS | |
| motherboards | |
| Video Cards |
ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC |
| KINGSTON | |
| RAM |
16 GB DDR4 4600 CL19 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 3600 CL16 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 4000 CL18 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 5600 CL40 Kingston Fury Beast 32 GB DDR5 6000 CL30 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 7200 CL36 Kingston FURY Renegade |
| Storage devices |
Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Deep Cool | |
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Cases and cooling |
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| Software configuration |
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| Operating system | Windows 11 24H2 |
| Graphics driver |
Nvidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 572.83 WHQL AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 25.3.2 |
| Monitoring programs | MSI Afterburner 4.6.6 Beta 5 Build 16555 |
All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality using MSI Afterburner. The purpose of the test is to determine how video cards from different manufacturers behave under the same conditions. Below is a video of a test segment from the game:
Our video cards were tested at different screen sizes 1920x1080, 2560x1440 и 3840x2160 with Ultra High graphics quality settings without upscales.
| TEST GPU |
In the video card test, the default resolution is 1920x1080; other resolutions are added and removed manually. You can also remove and add any positions of video cards. You can also select any of our test processors from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the given video card tests (by default, the most productive solution is selected). The test is carried out on the most powerful CPU in this game and is scaled to other processors, taking into account their testing on NVIDIA and AMD video cards.
- Ultra
When resolved 1920x1080:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti level.
When resolved 2560x1440:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6800 or GeForce GeForce RTX 4060 Ti.
When resolved 3840x2160:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 4060 Ti.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 4060 Ti level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the Radeon RX 9070 XT or GeForce RTX 5070 level.
| VIDEO MEMORY CONSUMPTION |
Testing of video memory consumed by the game was carried out by the program MSI Afterburner. The indicator was based on the results on video cards from AMD and NVIDIA with separate screen sizes 1920x1080, 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 with various anti-aliasing settings. By default, the graph displays the most current solutions. Other video cards are added and removed from the chart at the request of the reader.
- Ultra
GameGPU
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 5 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 6 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 6 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 6 GB
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 6 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 6 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 6 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 7 GB
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 7 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 7 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 7 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 8 GB
| CPU TEST |
Testing was carried out at a resolution of 1920x1080. In the processor test, you can remove or add any processor positions. You can also select any tested video card from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the given processor test results (by default, the most productive solution from NVIDIA is selected). Testing takes place on the most powerful NVIDIA and AMD video cards and scales to low-end models.
- Ultra
When using NVIDIA video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3300
- Intel Core i3-10100
When using AMD video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3300
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Ultra
Loading and using streams:
- Maximum load: The game can load up to 12 streams.
- Optimal loading: Uses up to 8 threads as efficiently as possible.
| RAM TEST |
The test was carried out on the basic configuration of Core i 9 13900K with 32 GB DDR5 6400 MHz pre-installed memory. All used RAM was taken as an indicator. The RAM test on the entire system was carried out on various video cards without launching third-party applications (browsers, etc.). In the graphics, you can add and remove any resolutions and video cards as desired.
- Ultra
GameGPU
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
| SPONSORS TESTS |
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