Debuting from French studio Sandfall Interactive, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 looks too good to be true. If you’ve seen any trailers for the upcoming turn-based roleplaying game, you’ll have likely noted two things. The game’s warped world is a kaleidoscopic reflection of French aesthetics that is gobsmackingly imaginative and vividly realised. And the stacked voice cast features heavy hitters like Andy Serkis (Lord of The Rings, Black Panther), Charlie Cox (Daredevil) and Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI). After spending four hours with a demo taking place early in the game, I might be ready to believe it’s all true as I was astounded by the artistic ambition on display.
Perhaps it is suitable that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 should have such notable emphasis on its every aesthetic element. While I am not yet able to glean a clear understanding of the made-up proper nouns that saturate the story, I do know that the world is in peril due to the Great Paintress. When she’s not on the nod, restoring her creative juices, she pops up once a year to slash her deadly brush across a monumental canvas for all to see. She paints a number, in descending sequence, wiping out all who have reached that age. Now, she paints 33 and our heroes, with their newly appointed expiration date, set out on a nothing-left-to-lose expedition to defeat the Paintress. They’re, of course, far from the first to attempt such a journey though all before them were doomed. It’s a front-loaded, albeit imaginative, story with worldbuilding that centres around a shrinking bastion of humanity bordered by savage and upended biomes.
The early demo sees protagonist Gustave (Charlie Cox) violently cast away from his expedition team. The world outside his home is quickly taking a toll on his psyche, and he is unprepared for the unforgiving wilds that greeted the previous ill-fated expeditions. Thrown off-course and trying to get his bearing, we control Gustave through a fairly narrow zone of dreamy particles and otherworldly, high-fantasy flourishes. Gustave glides forward at a good pace, inspecting the occasional branching path for a glowing lootable or hidden fight. Enemies roam about the pathways and the first one to initiate the turn-based combat encounter gets an advantage. Combat breaks up the forward-moving pace of the theme park-esque exploration, but the real treat is often the incredible and dramatic cinematic cutscenes that pop up every fifteen minutes.
Getting a slightly zoomed-out view of the world via the overworld only makes the Continent more geographically confounding
I’m in awe, despite the look-don’t-touch nature of the environments in the demo, of just how ridiculously good everything from combat to cutscenes looks. There is an overworld that allows the player some wider space to stretch their legs between the biomes, yet another stage for the game to emphasise how handsome it is. Sandfall spares no effort in ensuring every tilt of the camera captures a scene with lenses sublime, surreal, or curious. Many humanoid and titanic sculptures jut messily out of the environment too, giving you the impression that the world has existed long before we’ve arrived, shaped by stories this game threatens to tell.
It is with Lune’s combat introduction that I finally began to feel enthusiastic about combat in the longer term
For players who find the simple designating of orders in turn-based JRPG combat a bit boring, Clair Obscur innovates on its genre inspirations. Left-trigger gets you flexing your finger with the “free aim” system, swaying a pistol’s reticule over potential enemy weak points for bonus damage. Be careful when firing multiple shots off quickly, as successful hits will cause enemies to stagger and move their hitboxes around. It takes Persona 5’s guns and gives it a little more player involvement. Special abilities almost always have some quick time event, with precise timing rewarded with critical effects. Players are also expected to learn enemy attack patterns to dodge or counter them. I’ve not seen this semi-active turn-based system used much outside of the Mario RPGs. Yet, a well-timed parry feels skilfully earned and breaks off a massive chunk of enemy HP. If you stuff up the timing, enemies hit hard and players will need to be smart with their health and action point management. It otherwise accommodates a skill transference for those who have enjoyed a Persona or Final Fantasy, and a switchable difficulty is sure to be further inviting.
Perfect dodges are great and all, but mastering the parry hits different
Between exploiting the standard array of elemental weaknesses, applying buffs and debuffs, and using restorative items during battle, combat’s early flow felt a little too familiar. Thankfully some bigger fights occur after you find your strayed teammate Lune. The second of three characters introduced, she occupies a mage-like role. Proving that each new party member will have a mini systems puzzle to exploit and benefit from in combat, Lune manages Stains. I won’t get too into it as I still don’t fully understand it, but it boils down to creating potentially intricate elemental combos that will chain between turns if played smartly. It is with Lune’s combat introduction that I finally began to feel enthusiastic about combat in the longer term. Each party member seems to have access to an ample array of gear, boostables, and skill trees that have an immediate effect on a given character’s key quirk. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 makes no secret of its JRPG inspirations, but my brief time with the early game proved that Sandfall Interactive is confident in going beyond homage with something unique.
I leave the demo with only two concerns I hope are addressed in the full game. Firstly, the game’s exploration seems to have little on offer. It’s not bad; my brief forays off the main path often rewarded me with some considerable upgrade, so they didn’t feel all that superfluous. My ears and eyes remained entranced by these tiny detours, but I would love to be surprised or even lost in later zones. My second issue is with the pace of combat. The current turn-based JRPG market has standardised features such as fast-forwarding combat, skipping animations, and even auto-battling. None of these are present in the demo, and combat against a single foe was already beginning to drag when sitting through all the intro, outro, and enemy wind-up animations. I actively dreaded fighting more than one opponent, simply because of how long it was going to keep me from the next plot nugget on my forward-facing treadmill.
Within four hours, me and Lune became fast friends
While the titular Expedition 33 and its crew of best-before besties remain alluring and a bit mystifying for now, Sandfall Interactive appears to have thoughtfully woven together an inspired new vision in reverence of the JRPG genre.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launches on April 24 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC.
Previewed on PC using code provided by the publisher
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