I enjoy finding out about good games from others recommending them. I had not one, not two, but three separate people all play this game and recommend that I check it out. Originally I was sceptical, this game had little to no marketing before it came out and was made by a brand new studio, Sandfall Interactive, who were made up of ex-Ubisoft employees and this was their first title. I expected a passionate, well thought-out game that would have some initial stumbling blocks that the studio would learn from for their next titles. What I actually got was… something else. What exactly? Keep reading and find out!
The story of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is centred around a very unique concept. Set in a strange and twisted version of France the world has seemingly been broken up by a great cataclysm that has been caused by an entity known as ‘The Paintress’. She sits on an island in the middle of the ocean that holds a huge monolith with a glowing number on it, currently set at 33. Every year, at the same time, everyone over the age of the number of the monolith mysteriously dies and turns into rose petals. Following this, the survivors of the alternate France, known as Lumiere, send out a group of people to the island in order to kill the paintress and stop her from killing off the population. As the name may suggest, you play as members of Expedition 33, and as can be expected things are pretty dire at this point. Soon enough, very young people won’t be able to live very long, and so it’s up to you to stop this cycle and save the people of this world. It’s a very unique premise, that plays all of its plot points close to its heart and really brings about some interesting twists and turns as it progresses. I can’t discuss it much without spoiling anything, so just to easily summarise I felt the story was excellent, the characters were all very enjoyable and relatable, the themes of inevitable death and acceptance were brilliantly told throughout the plot and overall it was a game story that I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. Truly, a fantastic narrative experience.
Presentation-wise this game is absolutely gorgeous. This is the game I wish I had dedicated my PC upgrade to as it absolutely is worthy of being witnessed at a high level of detail. The painted aesthetic of the world and the visuals looks absolutely stunning, drawing from the designs and concepts of many famous painters of the past, with colours popping and lighting complimenting the design of the environment and characters to really visually impress. I often times simply stopped moving just to look at the gorgeous locations you visit. There was one place early on that was a coral reef with the water suspended just above your head, allowing you to seemingly walk on the bottom of an ocean and revealing just how pretty the game looks. This is complimented by a wonderful soundtrack that has so many great tracks that I wouldn’t know where to start. It leans more on the epic and orchestral music rather than the catchy and snappy type of tunes, but that just matches well with the themes of the game and really compliment the beautiful environments. Even the sound design is excellent, with all sound effects used both in and out of combat working well, matching what they needed to do, and voice acting is absolutely top notch. These may have been some of the most appropriately expressive characters I have seen in a long while, and the excellent facial rigging combined with the stellar voice acting really helped to make the characters more relatable and I enjoyed listening to every word they said. A masterclass in visual and audio design, as it should be for a game so focused on art!
Gameplay is a fairly standard turn-based RPG system where you explore an overworld, run into enemies, and take turns smacking each other while managing gear, upgrades and new abilities. The biggest change this game makes however is with the addition of dodging and parrying. While these types of systems aren’t exactly new to RPG’s, see the Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi series for stuff like that, but what this game really focuses on is parrying. Like many skill-based games beforehand, parrying is king and matching your rhythm to that of enemies is key to success in combat, as it functions not just as a defensive tool but an offensive one too giving you the ability to stun your enemies and inflict extreme amounts of damage. Each party member also has a unique mechanic related to them too which adds further skill, such as an elemental combination and consumption system or a card-based fortune system based on balancing sun and moon cards. They all work to make a more dynamic turn-based combat system that rewards skilful gameplay and spices things up with each character’s unique abilities to keep combat constantly fresh and ensure that none of the characters feel same-y to one another. I didn’t think it would be possible to improve on turn-based combat so thoroughly, but such a system really helped me to enjoy this further and it even has accessibility options to help those that may not have as high reflexes, ensuring that all can get what they want from this experience. I love RPG’s and this system I would really enjoy seeing in other future titles from this studio also.
There are one or two little things though that are a bit of a pain. One of them is that the UI and Menu for gear at times can lead to things being very confusing for players to even understand. As an example, the system of Pictos and Lumina Points was not very well explained and I only really was able to dive into how it truly works, and how busted it can be, about halfway through the game. Perhaps a more thorough tutorial or a better indicator from the UI as to how these systems interact would go a long way to reduce headaches on those who don’t look up online how they truly work. I also found the lack of a map of any kind in the main areas quite annoying as it meant going back to find things I lost or missed out on required me to double check with a guide rather than just retrace my steps on a map. Finally, and this is not really a negative point but more of a note, if you’re not in a good place mentally right now this may not be a game you want to play until you feel a bit better. It’s a dread-inducing game that regularly plays with your heart strings, sets things up to hurt you, and overall is a very sad game that can have you second guessing your own motives and the characters you meet and grow to love. As such, maybe give it a while until you feel better before jumping in.
In the end, I would most certainly suggest checking this game out. It seems all the people that recommended the game to me were most certainly telling me the truth. It has been a while since I’ve found an RPG that impressed me like this, and I’m so happy I finally got the chance to try it out. It’s a beautiful, interesting, compelling experience that I was incredibly satisfied with, and the fact this is the first game made by this studio is nothing short of a miracle. I will be keeping an eye out for Sandfall Interactive’s work in the future as if they are anything like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 you can bet they will be absolute masterpieces.