I’m even worse at turn-based combat. I’ll inevitably end up with a team of glass cannons who get wiped out if someone sneezes on them—and they can’t even do that much damage because I didn’t bless their weapons with the Scrotum of K’Narl fifteen hours earlier.
I tried Baldur’s Gate 3, based solely on the enthusiastic response to its narrative and rich characters, but the combat was a brick wall I couldn’t surmount. It’s always humbling when the loading screen stops saying “You can change the difficulty at any time” and starts saying “Why don’t you have a nice lie down instead?”
Enter Clair Obscur: Expedition 33—the first (I repeat: first!) game from French developer Sandfall Interactive, and the latest critical darling trying to woo me back to a genre that routinely makes a fool of me.
Set in an otherworldly 19th-century France, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (seriously, the brass balls on Sandfall releasing a game with that title) introduces us to the residents of Lumière, still reeling from “The Fracture”—an event that saw their town ripped from the mainland and dropped into the sea. Since then, a giant woman—the Paintress—has awoken once a year to paint a number into the rock. Each year, the number descends. Each year, anyone of that age evaporates.
As their population dwindles, the town sends increasingly desperate Expeditions to the mainland in hopes of destroying the Paintress and ending the cycle. Tale as old as time.
The combat shakes up the traditional turn-based formula by incorporating parry/dodge systems and quick-time events. It’s not the first game to do this, but it blends these mechanics into a frenetic, maddening, and deeply satisfying experience. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but snatching victory from a titanic combo you know should’ve flattened your squad with a perfect counter? Never gets old.
That’s not to say the game skimps on traditional RPG elements. You’ll still be balancing attributes across your team to maximize and synergise your attacks and defenses. “Pictos,” found scattered throughout the Continent, apply buffs to your team and debuffs to your foes. Weapons can be upgraded and scaled alongside stats, and increasingly powerful and dazzlingly animated skills can be learned. The sheer number of customization options is a game in itself.
In fact, Clair Obscur might just be the gateway drug I needed to finally see the appeal of deep-diving RPG tweaking. Whereas coming across a seemingly invincible boss used to infuriate me, now I quite enjoy throwing my team build out the window and starting afresh to find the perfect combination to even the odds. On more than one occasion I’ve woken up in the middle of the night with an idea of how to add 3% to my critical hit chance.
It’s infinitely playable.
It’s also gorgeous. The game rinses every drop it can out of Unreal Engine 5, creating a world that’s both beautiful and varied. Lumière and its surrounding landscapes are awash with painterly style and atmospheric flair. The character designs are distinctive, and the environments are taken straight out of a dream. The detail of the art design is astounding with each area feeling like a distinct surrealist painting.
It’s a joy seeing the characters react to the landscapes too, with some stopping to marvel while others chide them for wasting time.
All of this comes together in service of one of the most engaging narratives I’ve experienced in a game. “French Final Fantasy” is probably the laziest way to describe it—but it’s accurate. The game's director, Guillaume Broche, cited Final Fantasy as one of the key influences during development.
The story of Lumière and its latest expedition is dense, surreal, at times harrowing, and deeply compelling. As the mystery around the Paintress and her motives unfolds and the characters start to spiral... well, suffice it to say the answer to what is actually happening will keep you guessing until the end.
I immediately restarted the game on New Game Plus (something I haven’t done since The Last of Us Part II), all to experience the story again with the new context I had. I’ve already found dozens of hints at what’s to come, and it’s only improved my admiration for what Sandfall has delivered.
And it's £40. In an era where new releases routinely push past the £60 mark (and the world waits to see what Rockstar prices GTA 6 at), Clair Obscur lands at around £20 cheaper than Baldur’s Gate 3 and nearly half the price of the recently announced Mario Kart World. For a game this detailed, this polished, and this narratively ambitious, it’s wild.
Sandfall Interactive themselves released a statement saying the low price point was to help get the game in front of as many people as possible. It speaks volumes, and hopefully the industry will take note of the game’s success. When independent AA titles can accomplish everything that Clair Obscur does, do studios need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars chasing the next Destiny and charging players through the nose? Is there's one trend the industry should follow it's this.
I can't really think of much in the way of criticism for this game. It's classy, polished, complete. The hype is justified. It's a Labour of love, engrossing, beautiful, tragic and utterly brilliant.
SUMMARY
Believe the hype. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is as good as you've heard. It's as close to perfect as gaming gets.
10/10
🧊🥶FROZEN IN TIME🥶🧊
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