For as many RPGs as I’ve played over the years, I’m not necessarily a fan of the genre. Sure, you’ve got your classics, be it Final Fantasy VII or its remake, the various Pokémon games or Fire Emblem: Three Houses. But I feel as though even then, with turn-based combat a part of the core experience, there’s always something else to drive players forward.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of those games. Its turn-based combat is made exciting with real-time elements, while its story is packed with lore, intriguing characters and high stakes. To top it all off, the world is gorgeous, brimming with vibrant detail and stunning vistas.
It’s a true testament to the power of clever and creative ideas, as the smaller French studio of Sandfall Interactive has quite literally crafted one of the best RPG experiences in recent memory, and one that will certainly stand the test of time.
The Expedition of a Lifetime
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is initially set in the town of Lumiere, but set in a broader world that sees an evil being named The Paintress, counting down a singular number, one that represents the declining age that people can reach, before they fade away into nothingness. Each year, surrounding towns venture out via annual expeditions into the abyss to take on The Paintress and put this way of life to an end.
Players take control of protagonist Gutsave, played by Charlie Cox, although the party of playable protagonists does grow to a total of six throughout the 30-35 hour story. More than anything, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s story is drenched in lore and finer details that expand the world and its characters at any given turn. The story is certainly emotionally charged and intense in parts, but ultimately wants you to dig deeper and pay attention, as any of the game’s conversations and key relationships could hold key bits of information that unfold a character’s true motives, ambitions and personalities.
Even for a story that lasts that long, it’s one that never feels stale or old. It’s doing a bunch of things and progressing throughout its three main acts, but they in turn never feel like they’re building up towards one another, packing their unique spin and series of events that contain a consistent sense of pace and intrigue.
I would rather not spoil Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for its deeper premise, as the events that set the game in motion only a few hours in came as a surprise to me, and I would recommend it stay that way for anyone interested in checking this out. Overall, it does a fantastic job at managing multiple characters and a deeper sense of lore before ever wearing out its welcome.
Party Up
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has many driving forces, and its combat is unmistakably one of them. Encounters take place in turn-based fashion, with up to three of your six total upgradable and customisable party members available to take part in a battle. Players will soon come to grips with the basics, but there’s so much more hidden beneath the hood.
Choose your attacks, pick your targets and fire away. You can also use a series of special attacks for serious damage, or pick the right attacks depending on your enemies’ weaknesses and abilities. You can even call upon several items to help buff, heal and resurrect your fallen allies during battle.
But you’ll also need to react in real-time. During each turn, enemy attacks can be altered by either dodging or parrying them by pressing certain commands at the right time. To dodge an attack is relatively straightforward; you simply avoid any damage that you would have sustained from that attack. But parry at the right time, and you essentially block the attack while dealing back a major amount of damage, which can sometimes be catastrophic.
It’s a massive risk/reward play, though, as the parry window is quite small, and it can sometimes be better to dodge and live to fight again. There’s even a party-wide dodge referred to as a jump, which can get everyone out of the way at the same time, should the enemy’s attack cover multiple party members.
Party members will even have access to ranged attacks, which can be used to shoot specific weak points on an enemy before beginning their turn. This, however, will use AP, or Attack Points. AP must be managed at all times, and it will determine how often you can execute heavier special attacks. Sometimes it might be better off to simply attack normally, or even parry to gain extra AP, instead of shooting first and wasting those points.
Along the way, players will also need to manage their Pictos and Luminas, otherwise known as special skills and buffs that can be assigned to certain party members. The Pictos is the primary skill or buff, while Lumina refers to the points gained when using it. Once you win four battles with a Pictos skill equipped, it will be unlocked and its Lumina points can be assigned to any character, benefiting from those traits even if they don’t yet have that Pictos.
It’s a constant balancing act that, while at times tricky to navigate when you’re bouncing between all party members, is constantly helping with creating more engaging combat, especially as the basic enemies and even bosses get tougher and tougher.
Look the Part
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 looks incredible. While there’s a fair amount of side content to explore, such as building character relationships, finding hidden areas and cosmetics and even helping out certain NPCs, it all looks top-notch.
With a flair for French art and history, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 still packs in an impressive amount of detail through its unique dreamlike environments and stunning vistas. Lighting effects and textures aren’t too bad either, and the game runs quite well.
There’s a 30 FPS Quality Mode and a 60 FPS Performance mode, but given the game’s reflexive and timing-based nature, I chose the latter option for smoother gameplay.
Final Thoughts
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is, at all times, incredibly impressive. Be it the unique turn-based gameplay, engaging narrative or stunning visuals, there isn’t much that this game isn’t doing well.
Even if you’re someone who doesn’t enjoy RPG titles or turn-based combat, I urge you to give it a crack, as it’s so much more than the sum of its parts; It’s one of the best RPG experiences in modern gaming.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: Fantastic and engaging narrative; Unique turn-based combat; Stunning visuals and decent performance
Lowlights: Menus based on character progression can get a bit confusing
Developer: Sandfall Interactive, Sandfall S.A.S.
Publisher: Kepler Interactive
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC, Game Pass
Available: Now
Review conducted on Xbox Series X with access via Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
