‘Midnight Walk’: A ‘Cozy Horror’ Game with Stop-Motion Animated Flair

Just a few minutes into my initial dive into The Midnight Walk, I found myself questioning, “Is this genuinely gameplay?” It seemed more like watching a stunning stop-motion animated film. It wasn’t long before I realized MoonHood Studios was actually presenting real-time game footage, not a cutscene.

The artistic style of The Midnight Walk is strikingly similar to a stop-motion film, reminiscent of the likes of Phil Tippett’s Mad God or those old Tool music videos. This effect comes in part from the unique approach taken by the developers—MoonHood’s team carefully crafted around 700 objects in the real world, then 3D-scanned them to create digital models. These figures possess the trademark stutter of stop-motion animation, and the game’s shallow depth-of-field camera work ties the whole aesthetic together seamlessly.

Klaus Lyngeled and writer Olov Redmalm describe their creation as a “cozy horror adventure” that’s narrative-driven and set in a first-person perspective. The game weaves through multiple fairy tale chapters, all intertwined with themes of warmth, contrasts, and reigniting light in a shadow-filled world.

The journey in The Midnight Walk kicks off with our protagonist, the Burnt One, as they claw their way out of a grave to piece themselves back together. Traversing the Midnight Walk highway, the main character is accompanied by a quirky little creature named Potboy. This adorable, peculiar guide sports a brazier on its head, lighting players’ paths and fueling battles against foes using Potboy’s flames and a collection of matches.

Expect to encounter puzzles and stealth elements, and there’s even a button dedicated solely to closing your eyes to lean into the game’s audio experience, best enjoyed with headphones for the binaural soundscape MoonHood promises. They’ve even thrown in some “gunplay” for good measure, where the Burnt One finds a weapon that fires lit matches, offering an extended way to tackle adversaries and unravel puzzles.

While most of The Midnight Walk delivers on its promise of a “cozy” vibe, especially with Potboy’s presence, it doesn’t shy away from genuine horror either. The game is packed with nightmarish creatures: think scuttling, single-eyed mutants, massive spider-like fiends, eerie figures with stitched-up eyes, and hostile slug-like entities.

Drawing from inspirations such as Over the Garden Wall, The Nightmare Before Christmas, David Lynch, and Half-Life 2, MoonHood exhibits a blend of influences that crafts a truly distinctive feel for The Midnight Walk, setting it apart from any predecessors. Before last week, this game hadn’t even hit my radar, and now I’m eagerly anticipating its release.

Luckily, the launch isn’t too far off. The Midnight Walk will be available on PlayStation 5, with support for PlayStation VR2, and also on Windows PC via Steam, dropping on May 8.