The Midnight Walk

A clay-crafted descent into surreal horror and whimsy.

The Midnight Walk is an astounding achievement of artistic vision that triumphantly tells both a heart-warming and terrifying story of perseverance and finding light in the darkest of times. It is an impressive labor of love that hopefully will find the audience it deserves and be at the top of game of the year lists come Winter.

The Midnight Walk is gorgeous and touching – it took hold of me early and didn't let go until the last step on my journey.

The Midnight Walk is a special game and one that tells a deeply affecting story while exploring a range of poignant themes. Its stunning art direction and masterful audio design come together to create an experience unlike any other. Though it offers little in the way of traditional challenge, the emotional journey it delivers lingers long after the credits roll.

The creation of The Midnight Walk is an interesting story in itself. According to its developer, MoonHood, every single asset within the game was first handcrafted with real clay before being placed and animated into the game world. That level of passion is easily seen and felt not just in the game’s stunning visuals, but in its incredibly strong worldbuilding and atmosphere.

There can be something strangely unsettling about stop-motion animation, particularly the old-school stuff made before the likes of Wallace & Gromit gave the medium a softer edge. A few games over the years have tapped into that stop-motion aesthetic (last year's Harold Halibut being a good example) but the new handcrafted horror game The Midnight Walk really leans into the creepiness that sometim...

"Cozy" and "horror" seem like words with opposing definitions, but developer MoonHood Studio has repeatedly marketed its debut game, The Midnight Walk, as a cozy horror game. I understand where the studio is coming from; despite jump scares and chase sequences, the Tim Burton-esque art style is nostalgic, reminding me of watching Corpse Bride or The Nightmare Before Christmas as a kid. That said, ...

The Midnight Walk is a one-of-a-kind, often atmospheric and melancholic journey through a hauntingly twisted and imaginative world made better in VR.

As a VR-optional walkabout adventure, The Midnight Walk is light on thrills or variety, but it makes up for that with some of the most arresting and artistically accomplished visuals inside a headset.

The Midnight Walk is a new venture from some of the people who brought you Lost in Random. Depicted in a claymation art style, this dark foray sees you embarking on a hike up a mountain in the middle of the night with a little clay creature with a pot for a head. Featuring a dark and mysterious world where everything around you is in stop motion, this debut from MoonHood is exactly what it looks l...

In the first half or so of The Midnight Walk, each successive chapter introduces new puzzle mechanics, or iterates on the existing ones with new complications or special conditions. This keeps the game interesting, and ensures there's always something new to learn, even when the puzzles aren't particularly challenging. However, the puzzles in the second half of the game don't live up to the expect...

A wondrous dreamlike world to explore in or out of VR, but a story that doesn't always hit as hard as you might want.