Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review - A beautifully painted, emotional RPG bursting with new ideas
Would you venture out into an unknown world in an attempt to save the populace, with the knowledge that certain death awaits you? This is a question asked by a great many games nowadays, particularly in the RPG genre. Quite often we see an innocent youth sent out to conquer a mysterious evil, never knowing if they will survive the ordeal. With Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, this concept is magnified and examined through a wonderful level of depth, bringing with it bags of emotion that I’ve not felt in a video game for some time.
Set during Belle Époque, a period in France that epitomised peace, prosperity, and advancements in art and technology, during the late 19th century, the optimism of that time is at war with death and destruction. Here, in this alternate, fantastical version of the time, a villainous evil known as the Paintress paints a number onto a monolith structure, in this case the number 33, and everyone of that age, or approaching that age, in that year, dies, crumbling to dust.
It’s an event called the gommage, which translates to ‘erasing’ or ‘exfoliating’ and, with each year that passes, and the population of Lumiere dwindles, expeditions are sent out across the sea to the ‘continent’ where the Paintress dwells, in the hopes that she can be defeated, or even reasoned with.
It’s a captivating story from the off, as we see Gustave - an engineer who has developed technology with the goal of defeating the Paintress on the next expedition - going through the opening hour with his on again, off again girlfriend as she’s called to the gommage. From the starting beats of this tale we know that death, for some, is certain. This hangs over every moment as we find out that the expeditions, of which there have already been a great many, never return home.
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Frustratingly, that opening hour is also accompanied by some often wonky gameplay, which belies some sheer brilliance that emerges as the hours tick by. Wonky in what way? Well, the control of the characters feels very floaty, the platforming - more on this later - is terrible, and the visuals shift from character models looking plain ugly, to jaw-dropping landscapes, making the world feel rather jarring.
If I weren’t so excited by the premise of this game, this opening hour might have put me off from continuing. It doesn’t really help that the plot feels, in this opening point, obscure - perhaps living up to the name of the game. It’s only as we make our way past this point, the gommage happens, Sophie, our love, dies before our eyes, and Gustave heads out across the sea himself, that the game sprawls and genuine moments of wonder begin to happen.
I mentioned the visuals and, for the most part, they’re stunning. Utilising Unreal Engine 5 and its dynamic lighting to create dreamlike vistas that often stopped me in my tracks. The environments, so inspired by art from the late 19th century, warp and shift with an apocalyptic feel, due to the Paintress’ first acts of violence, the fracture, which tore apart France. This left the land wrecked, train lines pulled up, cities levelled. It’s beautiful destruction, in a way.
If you’re seeing parallels between the game and the First World War, this is intentional. After all, it was that war that ended the era of Belle Époque, and halted the dreamers of that time, as men were sent off on an expedition of sorts, to halt that war machine that churned through the youth of the world in ways never seen before, or since.
Despite the brutality of the fractured world, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is often beautiful, with each section of the game’s map being broken down into linear levels, with each feeling vastly different. Sometimes you’re trekking through mountainous regions pocked with budding flowers, at others, war-torn landscapes with crumbling buildings. Ugly in theme, but gorgeous in their rendering.
This can be said of the character models for the most part, though some feel unpolished compared to the greater picture. Again, this feels jarring. As does some of the dialogue which always aims to be poetic, heartfelt, and impactful, and for the most part works, but is sometimes tripped up by being overly ponderous. This doesn’t spoil the truly amazing voice work from a stacked cast that is headlined by Andy Serkis, and backed up by Charlie Cox (of Daredevil fame) as Gustave, Ben Starr, who always delivers, Jennifer English as the teenage Maelle, who has never been better than right here, and Rich Keeble, who has some genuine stand-out moments.
So, now you have an idea of the world, its characters, the themes and concepts at play, I get to introduce you to perhaps the best RPG battle system I’ve ever seen. Sure, this might be hyperbole, but it’s a section of the game that didn’t stop wowing me from the first moments.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a JRPG that doesn’t feel all that Japanese outside the turn-based battles.
In those battles, the game channels so much that has come before, using inspirations pulled from all over and refined into a tactical battle system that not only thinks outside the box, but flattens it, recycles it, and produces a box made of something entirely new. You control a party of three heroes, each of whom have six skills that can be changed out as you level up and unlock more.
These skills make up distinct styles of play for each character, and my explaining them may get a bit wordy, so bear with. Gustave, for example, builds up a power metre when he fights. Each hit builds his overpower bar which, when filled, delivers more damaging blows. Maelle (pronounced May-el), who might be my favourite character, using fencing stances. So, one skill will damage the enemy - the enemy designs are also top-tier - and she’ll move into a new stance, which then powers up other moves or impact the damage she takes.
Let’s say she’s in defensive stance, well, she’ll take 50% less damage, but also deal less damage. In offensive, this jumps to 505 more damage, but she takes 50% more. Then there’s a step above this, where her attacks are magnified to 200%, flattening enemies.
Lune (pronounced Lune-eh) is our magic user, and channels elements in her fighting. With each spell she casts, she creates a ‘stain’ and these stains are burned through other skills, increasing damage, or applying buffs and debuffs. She might cast a fire spell that burns ice stains, adding on extra burns to the enemy, or she later gets an ability called ‘Mayhem’ which burns four stains to deliver four elements of damage, with further debuffs to the foe.
Sciel (pronounced See-el) uses cards, a bit like the Marvel mutant Gambit, and applies a system called foretell to enemies, which her other skills then absorb, creating dark and light powers based off the moon and sun. Hers is perhaps the most complex to wrap your head around, but once it clicks, becomes a joy to use.
Then there’s Verso, who has a perfection gauge - each attack, parry, or dodge builds this gauge from rank D to rank S, building power as the gauge rises. This gauge falls if you take damage, however, making him a risky play. Some of his skills, which I’ll remind you, you choose yourself, feel like a gamble. Do you put in high damage skills that require an A or S rank, knowing that you might not reach that rank if you take too much damage?
The last I’ll mention, because my word count is rising like Verso’s perfection gauge, is Monoco (pronounced Moh-no-ko) who steals skills from enemies when they die, and morphs physically in his attacks. This happens while a wheel spins, buffing or debuffing certain corresponding skills. Each of his abilities comes with a wheel counter, so you can count where the wheel will land, combining effects.
If that’s all a lot to take in, it sometimes feels that way while playing, however, once the team members begin to click, you’ll be experiencing some memorable fights and moments. The way team members chain into each other, with the abilities complimenting and combining, is staggeringly good. Knowing you can apply a burn with Lune, Use Gustave to apply a mark to the target, increasing their damage taken on the next hit, then use that burn effect as Maelle to move into her most powerful stance and hit for big damage, feels magical.
I mentioned Verso, and his perfection gauge. You might be wondering, how do you avoid damage in a turn-based RPG? This is where Quick Time Events come in. Don’t worry, I rolled my eyes too, but they kind of work here. Every enemy attack can be dodged or parried, in real time. A bit like a soulslike - where more inspiration is pulled from - and these negate any damage you’d take. Later, you can parry with bombastic attacks, too, and even build another gauge that allows for one-off ‘ultimate’ abilities.
Usually, I hate parrying in games, my aging hands and brain just don’t match up to avoid damage, but this system felt like a breath of fresh air. Bringing in another level of control over fights. I will say, though, sometimes this made for some lopsided battles. For example, dodging and parrying is tough when you come across a new enemy and have no idea of their attack patterns. It’s worse when you learn a pattern, and then they randomly change, which feels like a test of instinct from the developers, that sometimes feels unfair.
What is also a little unfair is the awful platforming scattered throughout. Jumps feel far too unwieldy for any meaningful precision - which becomes frustrating in dedicated sections - and makes for some cumbersome exploration. That exploration also feels a bit hemmed in by the more linear levels, where you feel like you’re being funnelled down corridors, rather than getting out there and looking around these gorgeously designed areas.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, often feels like a mixed bag, but it’s thankfully weighted towards brilliance. Can I overlook these foibles because the story is so engaging, or the characters so wonderfully rounded? Yes, I can. I can avoid the platforming moments, and push myself into the next big fight, because it’ll get my blood pumping. Do these little issues paint the game into a corner at times? Yes, sadly.
Before I wrap up, let me give a couple more examples. A race of adorable creatures, the Gestrals, are kind of paintbrushes come to life, with fluffy hair, adorable wooden bodies. They’re obsessed with fighting and trading, feeling entirely original. They have the most lifeless dialogue, though.
The story, which moves through some of the most wonderfully dramatic beats I’ve seen in games, often feels so vague it borders on frustrating. Sure, it kind of plays out in the end, but the journey is so shrouded in mystery that it steals away some sense of steady progression, leaving the player with more and more questions.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is, thankfully, more wonderful than it is disappointing. It whisks the player away into a truly impactful world, with a powerful and emotional story bubbling away, enhanced by some stellar acting. There were moments I was brought to spilling a couple of tears, alongside some that had me laughing riotously. The battles, which can so often feel stagnant in a bustling genre, are refreshing, tactical, and delightful. This is a wonderfully imaginative game, bursting with identity, and it has a lot to say about important topics. Yes, the path is a bit muddy and cumbersome, but the destination is worth it, and the journey is magical.
Pros: Stellar battle system, gorgeous visuals, compelling and emotional, top-notch acting, refreshing in its genre
Cons: Awful platforming, vague story at times, clunky dialogue
For fans of: Final Fantasy, Lost Odyssey, Eternal Sonata
8/10: Excellent
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available 24 April on PlayStation 5 (version tested), PC, and Xbox Series X|S. A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.
Topics: Reviews, Xbox, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PlayStation, PlayStation 5, PC, Steam