Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review - For Those Who Come After
A debut title from developer Sandfall Interactive, turn-based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been highly anticipated since its announcement. With a stellar cast including Jennifer English (Baldur’s Gate III), Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI), Charlie Cox (Daredevil) and Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings), this is a huge project from a team that is clearly creating some of the best of what this industry has to offer.
In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, once a year, a being known as the Paintress, paints a number on her monolith. Everyone of that age turns to smoke and fades away, an event called the Gommage. You join the expeditioners of Expedition 33, a team of 32 year olds with one year left to live, as well as Maelle a 16-year-old, who has volunteered to venture away from their home in a dangerous attempt to destroy the Paintress and stop her from painting death ever again.
Clair Obscur’s story is as profound as it is captivating, heart-wrenching and even funny, at times and its prologue introduces you, and has you rooting for Expedition 33 after only a few scenes. The world that Sandfall Interactive has created is intense and scary. It’s a world littered with death and loss so much so that you can feel it wearing down on the expeditioners as their adventure progresses. But what’s beautiful about this world is that it also holds many secrets, both mysterious and fun. It takes a truly special story to be able to take something as sad as the Gommage and add-in fun and joy without dampening the intensity of it all.
I haven’t played a lot of turn-based RPGs because I often find them to be overly repetitive or I find the overall management of my team to be overwhelming. Most of my experience with RPGs comes from games like Pokemon or Ni No Kuni, games that I love, so I was concerned that the learning curve for Clair Obscur might be a little too advanced for me. But with some extensive tutorials, great item and ability descriptions and a “Expedition Basics” menu you can access at any time, it didn’t take long for me to pick up on how things worked. I think for something with as much depth as it has, Clair Obscur is very welcoming to all types of players.
One of the strongest elements of the game is its combat. As you explore the game, you will encounter Nevrons, the game’s name for enemies, that each have their own set of moves and abilities. You’ll often have to take down multiple Nevrons at a time using the abilities of the Expeditioners in your party. A few hours into the game and you’ll have gathered all five playable Expeditioners, but you can only have three of them in combat at one time. If all three of your initial group are eliminated you can send in your two “reserves” for an attempt at a final stand.
Here are just a few of the basics of combat: each person in your Expedition gets one turn and each enemy then gets a turn. You can spend your Action Points to either take free shots at the enemy or use one of that character's abilities. Each character is distinctly different. Maelle, for example, takes on different stances ‒ defense stance, offense stance, etc. ‒ and each one of her abilities is slightly stronger if performed while Maelle is in the corresponding stance. One of the more interesting expeditioners, Monoco, is able to take the feet from previously defeated enemies and then transform into that enemy during battle to perform one of their moves. You can pick these abilities that correspond with Monoco’s Bestial Wheel and if the move corresponds with Monoco’s current position on the wheel, similarly to Maelle, those moves are stronger.
On an enemy’s turn, unlike other turn-based RPGs I’ve played, players are able to respond to moves in a variety of ways. You can dodge or parry and, later on, there are also jumps and counters you can perform. Performing a successful parry can sometimes cause players to perform a counter against the enemy. There are also QTEs that you must perform with each move where you’ll have to hit a button once or twice to get the max damage. Something as simple as these mechanics, completely transforms turn-based combat for me. You have to remain active and engaged during each battle and, even the fourth, fifth, or sixth time you fight the same type of Nevron, you always have to stay on your toes. It makes for an incredibly entertaining experience.
The more Nevrons you take down, the more you’ll be able to upgrade your team. Each member of the team has their own stats and skills to upgrade as well as weapons and Pictos, which are other abilities that can be equipped on any character. Luminas are an item that you can collect to upgrade your Pictos. I found some of the UI for upgrading to be a little convoluted at times. I spent most of the game not really understanding what Luminas were used for or how to use them properly. You also gain so many points for your stats that it was hard to tell which stats were worth focusing on. Around 25 hours into the game, my characters each had their stats in the 30s. It makes choosing which points to put into which stat, kind of pointless considering the sheer amount of points you can get from battling.
Let’s talk bosses. You’ll encounter many non-skippable bosses throughout the game as well as some secret hidden bosses you’ll find simply by exploring. Each boss in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is like a cinematic masterpiece - each element of these battles move and flow unlike any of the normal enemies you’ll have encountered out in the world. You’ll have to form a genuine strategy and try out different moves to see what works best. These bosses, naturally, will be significantly more difficult, but learning its moves and how to best dodge or parry them, will make for a satisfying conclusion.
I could talk for ages about all of the things that you can do in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. While the story itself is moderately linear, there are places that you can go on the continent that are not required for the story and just act as extra places to get loot. There’s even an entire mini-game involving gestral volleyball. Each time that you think you’ve seen everything, you’ll find something else to discover.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a wonderful turn-based RPG. It has heart and its characters bring everything to life in an intense world that is filled with intrigue and mystery. With 30-60 hours of content, its $50 price tag, in my opinion, is perfect. Sandfall Interactive has created quite a stir with this title, and players will surely be waiting to see what they do next. In the meantime, I’ll be playing through it again, because I simply can’t get enough.
Breakdown
Game: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Developer: Sandfall Interactive
Publisher: Kepler Interactive
Availability: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5
Accessibility:
Three difficulty options
Enable/Disable camera shake
Enable/Disable camera movement
Enable/Disable automatic QTEs during combat
Colorblind Mode
Colorblind mode intensity
Persistent center dot
Game Length: 30-60 hours
Reviewed on Steam Deck
Final Thoughts
I had a wonderful connection with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from the very beginning. There’s something entirely captivating about its highly relatable characters, diverse world and engaging combat. I completed the game in about four days because I simply could not put it down and, when I did put it down, I was constantly thinking about it. Sandfall Interactive has created something truly wonderful that will have you longing for even more when the credits roll.