Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review – A Baldur’s Gate 3 Moment for JRPGs

CRPGs had their revitalizing moment when Baldur’s Gate 3 hit the scene, breaking beyond the genre’s normal audience. Now JRPGs look to be having their huge moment thanks to French studio Sandfall Interactive’s debut title, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Let me circle back and highlight a crucial piece of that previous sentence: debut title. Sandfall Interactive, a developer of roughly thirty employees, appeared on the scene a mere five years ago and has spent their time meticulously crafting a modern RPG classic that will stand among the industry’s greats for years to come. Needless to say, there’s no better way to put your studio on the map than by flexing this hard with an inaugural game.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 paints a bleak picture wherein the last of humanity resides in the Paris-inspired city of Lumière, a shattered piece of the once-whole Continent that was broken apart by the calamitous event known as the Fracture sixty seven years ago. Each year, the mystifying and terrifying entity called the Paintress etches an age on her tower, denoting the elimination of all those at that age one year later. For sixty seven years, the number has counted down from one hundred, leaving an increasingly younger (and smaller) population scrambling for survival under this spectre of death’s inescapable design. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 picks up with all thirty four year olds, adorned in crimson red flowers as is the custom, being wiped from existence, resulting in even more orphans running rampant through the depressive streets of Lumière. 

Picturesque Perfection

While there are those who have resigned themselves to this fate, expeditions are sent out every year in an attempt to thwart the Paintress and end this cycle once and for all. A crew of (mostly) thirty three year olds come together to spend their last year embarking on Expedition 33 to finally achieve this several-decade pursuit from which no one has ever returned. The stakes are high and the outlook bleak, but protagonist Gustave is hell-bent on changing the future with the aid of his companions as they venture to the dangerous lands of the Continent. Gustave and his entourage are exceptionally well realized thanks to strong and often emotional voiceovers from an incredible cast that includes Charlie Cox, Jennifer English, Ben Starr, Kirsty Rider, Shala Nyx, Andy Serkis and more.

The cast’s unmatched skill in bringing these characters to life is immediately apparent, as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is brimming with tragedy from even the earliest moments. And the voice work captures the depravity of these grave situations. But eventually the talking must cease and action must be taken. This is where Sandfall Interactive show off their inspired turn-based combat. Partially reminiscent of stylistic Persona games with a heavy dash of reactive elements akin to modern examples South Park: The Stick of Truth and Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is, as the developers put it, an evolution of JRPGs in this regard. While reactive mechanics in turn-based games aren’t brand new, Clair Obscur wields its borrowed systems remarkably well.

Players aren’t stuck watching defenseless as the monstrosities of the Continent take their turns. This is where the reactive systems hum to life. Attacks can be dodged, completely negating incoming damage, or parried. The window for dodges is a bit more generous, although it offers no additional benefits. Parrying comes with the ability to generate AP on successful parries; parrying all attacks on a given turn also results in a counterattack, which can help end some fights before another round occurs. There are other mechanics, like jumping over and countering certain communicated attack types, that mix up the flow even more. Between the tactical offensive decisions and active defense inputs, Clair Obscur makes sure the player is engaged at all points of the experience.

There’s a beautiful rhythm in balancing skills and actions, building and using AP efficiently to ensure that battles are consistently won. To achieve this, players must understand that combat is as diverse as its cast; each character has their own style and mechanics to grapple with to effectively use each in combat. Gustave, for example, can be built into a multi-attack DPS beast, with a chargeable Overdrive ability waiting to be used as a lightning-fueled burst of big damage. Lune covers the mage archetype, but she comes with the added twist of adding elemental Stains to her weapon. As skills are cast, they result in specific elemental Stain buildups on Lune’s primary weapon. Other skills can absorb these accumulated Stains for additional effect. For instance, using Immolation results in a fire Stain. If Thunderfall is used on Lune’s following turn, that skill can absorb the fire Stain to output extra damage. The younger of the crew, Maelle, is all about flowing between combat stances—offensive, defensive, virtuose—based on the executed skills. For the sake of spoilers, those are the only party members we’ll discuss.

Modern Masterpiece

Each of these characters has their own skill tree to further expand their skillsets, all of which can be additionally augmented by Pictos. Pictos are slottabe attachments that can change up how AP is generated, add effects to certain attack types, and more. The depth on offer is immense, as players are encouraged to experiment and find new ways to synergize between party members. Marking an enemy as Gustave as a setup for Maelle was an early setup that found much success.

There’s so much praise to be given to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. At just north of thirty hours, the game is impeccably paced; you won’t find much filler here. Everything is kept moving along, quickly stringing one tragedy to another or a heartfelt conversation to the next. Exploring the stunning dungeon-esque environments are a real treat, perfectly accented by a truly incredible soundtrack—seriously, you’ll be hard-pressed to pick a favorite track; every single one is a treat for the ears that sublimely capture each onscreen moment. Whether in the throes of battle, navigating the isometric overworld or engrossed in an intimate conversation at camp, the mood is always fully realized.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review Verdict

[Editor’s Note: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was reviewed on PC and a copy was provided to us for review purposes.]