Astronomy Inspired Design in Media: Part 23
South of Midnight (2025)
Very limited spoilers ahead: visuals from later acts but no details on who/what
Just finished a play-through of South of Midnight and by far the best part was the animation and character designs. Absolutely beautiful game that makes use of Creole and southern American folklore
A necklace near the end of the game stuck out to me, and appears very reminiscent of an astrolabe and astronomical tool in general
The internal shapes are curved a lot like what you'd see on the face of a real astrolabe to show where stars lie, but clearly more abstracted in this design for just a nice symmetrical design. The scales of the snake appear like the segments of the outer rim of an astrolabe.
I have a tendency to see astrolabes everywhere, but in my defense, it is a very common instrument to pull from to give a vaguely astronomical feel to a design. Earlier in the game, a room is funished with various "science" props that includes an orrey and an armillary sphere as well
It sure is one hell of a statement necklace.
(Character designer's artstation)
This design appears a lot in this segment of the game, both on the back of the main character's outfit:
As well as the floor of the entire boss arena and opening area:
Just an overall very pretty game, give it a look if you haven't already. I was sold on the game from its release trailer a few years back since they beautifully animated and played one of my favorite blues songs for the trailer
