It feels like every month this year I’ve had a game blow my socks off and enter my personal GOTY contender slot; Eternal Strands was incredible fun, and Monster Hunter Wilds proved to be a great entry point to the series with excellent fights and rewarding gameplay loops.
But now. Now a new challenger appears, and if I’m totally honest with you it was something I did not expect to like at all – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a stunning video game, one that I couldn’t stop playing and when I did have to stop, I couldn’t stop thinking about. From the combat to exploration, characters, world building and story, this is a game that has won me over in every aspect. It’s an utterly incredible debut from Sandfall Interactive and I can’t wait to see where they go from here.
Naturally, I’m going to avoid big spoilers for the story but I would recommend playing at the very least the opening hour or so before you read too much. I knew next to nothing going in aside from the small glimpses I saw at the Developer_Direct earlier this year (to show how much I didn’t think this game would be for me, I actually skipped most of this games segment there).
Done? Good. Let’s get into why this is a strong contender for the GOTY slot for me.
I’ll start with the combat as I’m traditionally not a fan of turn-based combat. I’ve tried several Final Fantasy’s, Blue Dragon, Golden Sun and the like and I’ve always bounced off because of the combat. I don’t personally find joy in menu selection and then watching the action play out. The closest I’ve gotten is Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth and Paper Mario, but even though I enjoyed them games I still didn’t enjoy the combat as fully as I’d hoped.
In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 though the combat just clicked. It’s turn-based, sure, but it’s so much more than that. We can have a party of up to three, and each of the characters offer so much variety that choosing three out of the line up is a very tough call indeed. I enjoyed Maelle and Lune’s abilities a lot, and found they complimented the other members very well no matter who I had in the party. Each character has their own quirks and way of fighting, with Lune for example using magical abilities that, in turn, create Stains – a sort of buff system that lets her power up attacks even more. Using a fire attack creates a red Stain, and this will then be consumed upon using a Lighting spell, as an example. It’s an easy to read system, and adds a lot of depth to the combat. Every other character has a similar set of quirks, from Maelle’s Stance-based move set, Gustave’s Overcharge, and Sciel’s Light and Dark card-based attacks. Getting the most out of them can be tricky, but longer fights can easily be tipped in our favour thanks to smart usage of all of their bespoke move sets.
Settling on a party member is just one part. Each can have up to six abilities assigned out of a list of dozens unlocked as they level up and each taking various amounts of Action Points, the ‘currency’ that governs what moves can be used each turn. Obviously more powerful attacks take up more AP, so we need to balance abilities to make sure we can get as many turns as we can. Each one also features several buffs (or debuffs) to consider, and in play things can get hectic as we’re smashing fools, healing allies, and hitting huge damage numbers.
Of course, we also have more basic elements such as weapons (although there is a huge list of these to find as well, each with elemental and stat buffs) to choose from, and a limited pool of items that can heal or revive in a pinch. But, the other passive battle aspect are the Pictos, and these are a game changer.
Pictos are extra buffs that allow a character all manner of useful passive abilities, from starting a battle with extra AP, to healing on a successful parry, doing more damage at the start of a turn, upping the critical hit chance, and so much more. These are unlocked as we progress through the game either found in hidden areas or as rewards for winning fights, and – in true Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 style – are so much more than they seem at first glance. Each character can assign up to three Pictos, and those in the active party members slots can be powered up as it were. Win four fights with a Picto equipped and its buffs can be detached from the Picto itself so that any party member can also make use of it without having to equip it directly. Each character has a Lumina point limit (that, of course, can be increased as we play) and each Pictos ability costs a certain amount. As long as a character has enough Lumina they can assign any Picto ability available (even if someone else has it assigned).
It sounds overpowered, and it can be at points, but the further into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 we get, the harder the choice can be. Do we spend 10 points on guaranteeing that we’ll have the first attack, or split it across chances to heal on dodge and doing more damage? By the time I finished the game I had dozens of Pictos to choose from, and setting up my party to make best use of them across the three fighters was a rewarding challenge indeed.
One final part on the combat. Once we’re set up with powers, Pictos, weapons, and members, we can get into fights and thankfully, all this hard work pays off massively. The flow of combat is just excellent, keeping players engaged at all times no matter whose turn it is to go. Picking attacks is as simple as pressing a face button, and taking all of the above into consideration means we have a plethora of options to go with. But it’s when the enemy come into play that things really won me over.
Every single attack from an enemy can be dodged, parried, or defended against with a button press (one per type of defence) and rather than flash up a button prompt, it requires the player to pay attention to subtle clues in the enemies movement to react to. It’s incredibly satisfying to pull off a perfect series of parries, and doing so triggers a potentially huge counterattack. It’s easier to dodge but we don’t get the same reward so learning to parry is really worth the time, plus, with the right Pictos in play we could potentially get much more out of it than simply attacking. There’s more to discover in this regard later in the game but I’ll leave that for you to find.
So, combat is incredibly rewarding, taking turn-based combat and keeping us engaged even when it’s not our turn, and I found myself actively looking for fights throughout which is not something I expected at all. Even towards the end, I couldn’t resist getting into a scrap just to test out a new Picto or power I’d acquired. It helps that Sandfall have – on the default difficulty – balanced it brilliantly. Some smaller scraps I whizzed through, whereas bigger bosses or harder hidden fights could take anywhere up to 15 minutes to (hopefully) barely make it through. Prior to the finale of the game, we do get a chance to tackle some optional, truly monstrous foes too, and while I won’t spoil anything here, we really need to be prepared for them. The few I tried handed me my arse without breaking a sweat, but it says something that I still want to go back and try them even now I’m done with the story of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
On that note, it’s not just excellent combat we’re getting. The world building and story of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is stunning, keeping us abreast of the in’s and out’s of the world of Lumière and the perils our band of Expeditioners face. We open with the impending threat of the Paintress on the day she is due to paint a new number on her monolith. When she does so, everyone of that age dies, and everyone up next is given the opportunity to go on the next Expedition to try and get to her and stop the cycle. It’s here we meet Gustave, Maelle, and Lune, as well as several other members of the Expedition as a whole. It’s a great starting point and very well realised with lots of side interactions to discover before setting off. It’s also startling emotional, and when the Paintress does her thing…well, I don’t mind sharing I got a little glassy-eyed. Again, if you’re reading this before playing I can’t recommend enough avoiding as many spoilers as possible before going into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
The performances are top tier too across the board, with some industry stalwarts such as Ben Starr, Jennifer English, and Andy Serkis putting in typically excellent performances, but the entire cast absolutely nail it from start to finish. I must shout out Rich Keeble’s character Monoco from a little way into the game – his interplay with the other cast is excellent and quickly became a favourite of the party for interactions.
All of this is helped with some utterly incredible musical accompaniment. I’m a big fan of music in games, and the score for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is absolutely going on my playlist. It can be rousing, emotional, sad, and soothing, but no matter the scene it fits perfectly. Even the battle music, for as much repetition as it gets, never got old. I’ve found myself several times these past few days humming the main theme as I go about my day, and if this is to be performed live somewhere near me I’d absolutely be there to listen.
Conclusion
As you can hopefully tell, I absolutely adore Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It’s the first game in some time that I’ve found myself utterly lost in, so much so that I genuinely did not want to put the controller down. Any minor gripes there might be to have (some areas can get a little confusing to navigate at times, though none are so big that it remains a problem for long) are easily outnumbered by the sheer brilliance of the full product from start to finish. Combat, presentation, exploration, story; it’s all so damn good that I cannot recommend highly enough that you go play this game. We’ve still got a long way to go this year, and a few big hitters to come, but man, it’ll take something special to give Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a run for its money.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
