Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review

When I previewed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 earlier this year, I said, “I think the team at Sandfall Interactive has something special on their hands” but little did I know then just how special this game would be. 

The game opens with Gustave - voiced by Charlie Cox of Daredevil fame - reuniting with his estranged former love, Sophie, one final time, to honor her and others about to take part in their “Gommage”. The Gommage - a French term that roughly translates “erasure - is a solemn event that occurs once each year when the Paintress awakens, whisking away all of those of a certain age in a gust of brilliant red petals, slowly whittling away the last remnants of mankind in their last bastion - the city of Lumière. It’s a deeply intimate and somber beginning to a game, one that I almost felt as though I was intruding on, as if I had stumbled into a stranger's wake and was awkwardly a witness to it all. It was poignant and powerful, and one of the most emotionally provoking beginnings of a game that I have experienced in a long time. But with this loss, the resolute Expedition 33 soon departs, and the game proper begins, along with their quest to once and for all put an end to the Paintress and the Gommage that have taken so many. The setting of the stage is bleak, and this world is one falling ever deeper into despair. There is one line in particular, a line I found to be incredibly profound, that I think puts much of this world into perspective - “She loved her kids so much that she didn’t have them.”

Soon after departure, things quickly go badly for the titular thirty-third expedition, resulting from an encounter with an elderly gentleman - a thing not believed to be possible thanks to the Gommage -  leaving only a handful of survivors to push forward in their mission. The Expeditioners you play as - Gustave, Lune, Maelle, and Sciel - all hail from the city of Lumiere, the final bastion of humanity, heading to a place referred to simply as “The Main Continent”, where the Monolith and the Paintress reside. The world lies fragmented, the result of an event known as the Fracture, which occurred 67 years prior, that the party will have to traverse as they head towards their target. Throughout the course of their mission, they will be forced to confront their own pasts, meet creatures they believed to be only a myth, and discover truths that will shake them to their very foundation. The individuals of Expedition 33 - the Disaster Expedition - have a great burden on their shoulders.

The cast dynamics and interactions are one of the many strengths of Expedition 33, with Sandfall Interactive managing to create authentic, introspective characters that showed their struggle, their wavering faith, that they were fallible people that were each dealing with the situation in their own way. Unlike most RPG protagonists, Gustave - the stalwart leader - didn’t simply power through his emotions due to enduring faith in himself, but instead occasionally needs reassurance from his peers that this expedition is still worthwhile. Or Lune, who dealt with her own grief and despair by digging into and hyper-fixating on her work, her research, and making sure she left all the details she could in her notes, with the unspoken assumption that they would perish and fail in their endeavor.  

The more I uncovered about these characters, spending time with them in camp, and discovering the journals left by previous expeditions, the more I fell in love with what Sandfall Interactive has created. This is a world where, despite overwhelming odds and grief, the uniting force that pushes them all onward is to do what you can to leave the world a better place for those that come after. A sentiment that hits far harder with me now that I am a father. That even if you fail, you make sure that you have done something, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, so that those who come next are in a better position to succeed. By the end of the game, I was left feeling satisfied but full of questions and intrigue about what else the world of Clair Obscur has in store.

While this may all make Expedition sound like a heavy game - and I would certainly say it’s heavier tonally than many of its peers - it’s not without lighthearted moments. The Gestrals, a race of wooden mannequin-like people that serve as the merchants' love to fight, are genuinely silly. Whenever I had to win a fight against a Gestral merchant that challenged me to unlock their shop, saw them dancing on their beaches in swimsuits, or my Gestal party member Monoco commented on the new foot he acquired, I got a good chuckle. Side characters like the marshmallowy Esquie, who serves as your transportation, have some truly heartfelt and silly moments, with his interactions with the rocky curmudgeon Francois being some of my favorites in the game. These moments of levity I always welcomed, and do a fine job of giving players a chance to breathe and decompress a bit from the game’s more melancholy themes.

The world of Expedition 33 feels distinct, with its setting influenced by Belle Époque France—a period known as ‘The Beautiful Era’ between 1871 and the outbreak of World War 1—instead of the more common medieval European inspiration for other fantasy RPGs. Instead of heavy armor and capes, characters are adorned with slick suits and top hats, with uniforms that more closely resemble infantry. Architecture is also decidedly different, with a bent and distorted version of the Eiffel Tower in the distance among the ruins of manors and other brick buildings. All of the more modernistic facades are blended with fantastical elements as well, such as an area known as the Flying Waters that looks and behaves as though you are underwater, but you aren’t. Large conch shells line the ground, and the skeletons of large naval ships float in the air,  making it visually one of my personal favorite areas in the whole game. All of this looks positively gorgeous with some of the best visuals I have seen in a video game, and is perhaps one of the most visually striking RPGs since Elden Ring. However, sometimes the bright and dark areas are a bit too extreme, and it can be hard to see. Regardless, the world the team has created is a character all its own, and just as memorable and full of secrets.

The term ‘clair-obscure’ is a French translation of the Italian term chiaroscuro, referring to the interplay between light and dark, and how its contrast adds depth and dimension to pieces of art, and this very much applies both to the literal visuals of Expedition 33 and more figuratively with its themes. Light can shine brilliantly through luscious trees and in the distance of far-off vistas, while near absolute darkness can fill caves and the nebulous or foreboding crevices of the game. Color and the lack of color are also used powerfully throughout the game, with moments taking place in spaces of total greyscale, which do a wonderful job of instilling an added sense of foreboding in the dramatic and tense moments of the story they accompany. This balance of light and dark could also be applied to the tones and themes of the narrative too, the struggle between life and death, between the Expeditioners and the Paintress, between the past and the future. Clair-obscur is ingrained in the DNA of basically every aspect of this game to beautiful effect.

The more unique themes extend throughout Expedition’s soundtrack, too, composed by Lorien Testard. The heavy inclusion of strings, piano, and even the French Accordion further enriches and sets Expedition apart from its peers. Many tracks even include full vocal components, and even though I couldn’t understand the words, as they were all performed in French, the emotion and feeling behind them came through clearly and are paired beautifully with the scenes they accompany. There are tracks, in particular Une vie à peindre (A life of painting) and Une vie à t’aimer (A life of loving you), that sent shivers down my spine when they came on. The rest of the games coming out this year will have a tough time topping Expedition 33 as my favorite soundtrack. It’s just magnificent and elegant.

Just as master painters take the teachings and lessons of those who came before, Expedition 33 takes clear inspirations from greats in the RPG genre - in many instances, refining and elevating them. It incorporates a flask system with its healing Tints and attribute-based damage scaling reminiscent of Souls-like titles, a streamlined and more accessible take on Persona’s Social Links, Final Fantasy’s monster-learning Blue Mage skills with Monoco’s collection of feet, and even a fully traversable world map that harkens back to classic RPGs of the past. These elements—along with many others—come together to support a highly flexible party system and a turn-based combat style that remains deeply engaging throughout. 

The Pictos and Lumina systems feel akin to Final Fantasy IX and its Ability mechanic, allowing you to customize each character to a surprising degree. Pictos are special equippables that impart a unique property, such as increased damage on burning enemies or better healing, in addition to passive bonuses to various stats. After winning four encounters with one equipped, a Picto can be learned inherently, allowing for their unique bonus to be equipped to all party members, pulling from their respective Lumina pool, which can be expanded to allow characters more abilities as you progress through the game. What I particularly love is that regardless of how strong a Picto is, they will all only take four encounters to learn, and once a single character has “learned” one, all characters can equip it. There’s no need for each character to learn it on their own, greatly cutting down on grinding time, and once you have a full party, that means in no time you can master nine different Pictos in just a few minutes! 

Combat also incorporates a dodge and parry system that fans of Souls-like games will feel right at home with. Forgoing a ‘Defend’ option may be a bit of a turn-off for some players (and admittedly, its omission hurts accessibility), but enemies will telegraph their attacks via word prompts, letting you dodge them or parry them, which allows you to strike back with a powerful counterattack. Learning timings and recognizing the tells of an enemy’s various attacks is just as important, if not more so, than how you outfit and equip your party. Dodging is more lenient in its timing than Parrying, but parrying can lead to high-damaging counterattacks. Countering an impressive onslaught always gave me an intense feeling of satisfaction, and thanks to the dynamic camera movements and sound effects accompanying them, they never got old.

However, just because Expedition adapts mechanics from other games doesn’t mean that the game doesn’t have some of its own tricks up its sleeves. In addition to being able to freely aim and target enemy body parts with a ranged attack during combat, and the inclusion of small quick time events on attacks to boost damage (unlike dodges and parries, these can be automatically succeeded through the accessibility options at the expense of the small boost to damage) every character also has their own gimmick and system that makes each party member play differently. Lune, the resident mage character, will generate different charges based on the spells she casts, which can be further improved in different ways by spending charges of different elements, meaning you will be rewarded by planning out the order of your spells. Gustave, on the other hand, will gather “Charge’ counters that can be spent to power up his Overcharge ability in his mechanical arm. But by far, my favorite character, and the MVP of my entire playthrough, is Maelle and her stances.

Maelle is the nimble fencer of the group and depending on the stance she is in, she will either take half damage and generate more action points when she parries, an offensive stance that increases the damage she both takes and dishes out, or -her most powerful stance- the Virtuoso Stance let’s all of her attack deall 200% damage, with none of the downsides of her offensive stance, and managing to juggle these three stances is paramount when having Maelle in your party. I managed to deal over a million damage in a single attack with Maelle by the time I rolled credits, and that was before diving into the post-game, where you can eventually hit for multiple millions.

Between the picto loadouts, the skill trees each character has, the asymetrical gameplay of each party member, and the plethora of weapons each character obtains (each with a potential to have an element associated with it, can be leveled up to unlock abilities, and also favors different attributes for more damage ), players have so manyoptions on how they want to run their party, it’s staggering. In fact, if you want to play through the game using a single character, some pictos incentivize it, and it is, in fact, how I played through nearly all of my playthrough, on Expert difficulty no less. You can play Expedition however you want, and it still will feel rewarding.

On the topic of playing through Expedition 33, you can expect around 25 to 30 hours to play the main story, but there is plenty to test your mettle against and discover that can easily double your time with the game. Hidden Expedition journals, challenging special enemies, and post-game superbosses await you when you’re done, to say nothing of the New Game +, which further adds new rewards and challenges for players to uncover. People can only play and enjoy so many 100+ hour RPGs without needing a break, and I found Expedition stuck around a perfect amount of time to offer a captivating story with plenty of world-building without overstaying and becoming a chore. And whenever I want to revisit Gustave and the gang, there is a wealth of choice available to check out, too.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 may not be a ‘perfect’ game, but it was the ‘perfect’ game for me. It’s a game that left me awestruck with its unique setting and melodies, enthralled with its characters and world, hooked and held me with its gameplay, and has left me eagerly anticipating news of when I can return. This game is a celebration of the RPG genre made by a team whose heart and soul were poured into every aspect of the game. While some design decisions may not resonate with all players, Sandfall Interactive should be incredibly proud of their creation. In a time when we are debating whether or not games should cost $80 or more, and team sizes are exploding, the fact that Expedition 33 comes in below the standard price and was made by a core team of less than 30 people amazes me. I was hoping that this game would stick the landing when I first played the demo, I wasn’t expecting to come away from it with it as my frontrunner for game of the year, and as my favorite new RPG series. Tomorrow comes, and brings us (hopefully) one step closer back to this world of Clair Obscur.