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In my 4 minute Clair Obscur Expedition 33 video review I compared it to the likes of Dragon Age Origins, Final Fantasy and how it breathed new life into a gaming genre that hasn't seen that much love in the past years. But today, I'd like to dig deeper into the Expedition 33 review and share a broader view of how this game stands on it's own two feet and manages to share one of the most inriguing stories in recent gaming history.
To put it bluntly, It's one of the best RPG's I've played in quite some time. With the amount of love, blood, sweat and tears that the relatively small development team at Sandfall Interactive poured in, I can't help but root for them and hope that this is the start of something incredible.
Need to know
- Developer: Sandfall Interactive
- Release date: April 24, 2024
- Publisher: Kepler Interactive
- Supported platforms: PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and S, GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud Gaming
- Official page
A must have for any RPG loverGame Score
Story & World – 10
Characters & Relationships – 9
Customization – 9.5
Visuals – 10
Sound – 10
9.7
Excellent
TL;DR
The story is excelent from the start to the very end, supplemented by utterly incredible visual and sound design to bring us an RPG worth the name. Expedition 33 rewrote what turn-based combat is supposed to be and made it fun and engaging for both casual and veteran gamesr. The very few issues I ran into were the not so great platforming mechanics and limited exploration options which just lead to dead ends with mediocre loot.
Pros
- Incredibly captivating story
- Outstanding visuals and music
- Innovative turn-based combat system
- Good for both casual and hardcore gamers
Cons
- Clunky platforming mechanics
- Restrictive exploration options with plenty of dead ends
Expedition 33 Story & world
The premise is quite simple, a cataclysm trapped the world in a repeating cycle, where each year a mysterious paintress erases everyone of a certain age. Starting at 100 and decreasing by 1 each year. To stop the paintress and save everyone before it is too late, expeditions start forming mostly made up of those that are soon to be erased.
As you probably cought on already, that's where the name Expedition 33 comes into play. It's just one more attempt to break the cycle and give humanity reason to keep going, or.. at the very least make the journey easier for those who come after.
The tone is melancholic, but grounded. The worldbuilding is dense and purposeful. Nothing across the 30+ hours of gameplay felt like filler lore. Every NPC I met, every boss encounter, and every dialog line felt like it held a purpose. I never felt like taking on a side quest or exploring a new area was a burden, even if some of the enemy encounters did get tiresome after some time.
Playable characters & relationships
In total there are six playable characters, but you will only use three at one time. The others will chill on the backseat waiting to jump into a dramatic last stand, once the main party gets knocked out.
Each of the characters has their own fighting style, weapon choice as well as their own skills, strengths and weaknesses. If you love well-crafted, masterfully voiced characters, this game is 100% for you. It won't be a random roster of copy-paste, interchangeable nobodies with no backstory or purpose. They are all unique, they all have their own desires, loved ones, character motivation and secrets that you might learn if you get to know them better through conversation and story progression.
Expedition 33 integrates a camp zone where you can safely interact with your characters. It strongly echoes the feeling of classic BioWare RPGs like Dragon Age: Origins or even the recent D&D masterpiece Baldurs Gate 3 from Larian Studios where party dynamics mattered just as much as the main plot.
And let me just add that this game will use those relationships and emotional attachement for some intense, tear jerking scenes and a hard to make choice at the end.
Expedition 33 combat
This is quite the puzzling part of Expedition 33. Why? Well it's because the combat system is turn based, not something that sees a lot of love these days. I personally love turn based games, but they can get a bit slow and stale after some time. I get that and so did the developers at Sandfall. They took what they loved and made the turn based combat system into something that is interactive, skill based and most importantly fun.
To win battles you'll need to dodge, parry, jump and even counter all at the right time if you want to survive. Granted on easier modes you could tank most of the hits and still survive, but good luck doing that on normal or hard more against bosses or even the hidden super bosses dotted around the world.
What shocks me the most is how this combat system and boss design echoes the well known Dark Souls franchise. Battles can get really hard, you might have to repeat some fights dozens of times before you learn the attack patterns and timings to parry or dodge.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Customization & builds
Customisation and variety is a huge part of this game, and I love it for that. You can dress up each of your characters in dozens of outfits and hairstyles that are purely cosmetic. But each weapon picked up will also differ visually, so you won't spend the game looking at the same staff or rapier.
A portion of the cosmetics are unlockable by doing quests, beating specific NPCs or completing challenges, while others can just be purchased at shops. My personal favourite was a very French bikini for Lune that I unlocked after beating a jumping puzzle.
In terms of character builds, Epedition 33 also does not cheap out. But to utilize the build mechanic you need to understand a deeper system than just putting all your points into strenght and selecting the skill you like. No, here you will need to master the Lumina system. In simple terms, each playable character has a limited number of lumina, which they use to equip Pictos. The pictos are what help you get new passive and active abilities. For example, if one character equips a pictos that gives them 25% more burn damage, and they play four battles with it equipped, it will become mastered and unlock for the rest of the party to use at the same time. By using this system you can make some insanely broken builds that spam out millions points of damage each turn.
Expedition 33 visuals and sound
Finally, the visuals of the game are as spectacular, well-designed and creative. Each new area looks better than the last. Some can be underwater maze-like zones with giant sea-serpants moving just above your head with some of the most engaging sountracks you can possibly hear. The first time video game composer Lorien Testard trully outdid himself by composing well over 100 sountracks for Clair Obscur.
Boss zones are some of the best depictions of all the hard work that was put in. They are all uniqe and stunningly crafted, while the music is so well placed that you can't help but feel like you're the main character in an anime fight scene. It's always shocking to think that the team crafting this game had no experience and still crushed AAA studios at the game awards.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review verdict
Having played Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for well over 30 hours on my first playthrough, I can honestly say it's an absolute must have for any RPG fan out there.
It does not try to reinvent RPGs or do something crazy that nobody asked for, it just refines what made old school RPGs special in the first place. Strong writing, memorable characters and thoughtful pacing all help it become a great addition for any gamer.
Sandfall Interactive removed the repetitive and fairly boring nature of turn-based combat and made it into something that feels new, rewarding, and almost Dark Souls-like.
If you miss narrative-heavy RPGs with real party dynamics that genuinely recall the golden era of gaming, this one absolutely deserves your attention.
Prefer watching instead of reading? Here's my 5-minute review
