French-flavoured RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's drama and battles had me on the edge of my seat

Stuff.tv

24-04-2025

Stuff Verdict
One of the freshest RPGs in years that puts tradition and modernity in perfect harmony. Clair Obscur is an astonishing debut. Quelle magnifique!
Pros Gorgeous visual design and soundtrack
Brilliant characters and performances
Intense and rewarding battle system
Cons Lack of mini-map
Introduction
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an RPG you could easily mistake for a Final Fantasy entry, had that series not gone out of its way to uproot itself from its traditions. Don't get me wrong, Final Fantasy XVI was an action-paced spectacle – and its charismatic lead voice actor Ben Starr also has a role in this new game – but also a divisive one. Many fans found its Game of Thrones-inspired mature tone robbed the series of its wondrous and magical side, while the emphasis on a singular protagonist was at odds with a genre that usually gives you a whole party of characters to invest in.
That's not to say new France-based studio Sandfall Interactive's debut effort errs on the side of nostalgia. Rather that it retains a lot of the structure of classic PS1-era Square RPGs, augmented with modern action mechanics and the kind of to-die-for graphics you used to only see in FMV cutscenes.
While it wears its Japanese inspirations on its sleeve, as you might infer from the title, it also stands out by being proudly and exceptionally French.
Got your number
Set in Lumiere, a kind of alternate Paris but on an island in a state of literal collapse, as can be seen by an Eiffel Tower torn apart yet hanging in suspended animation, this is a world where everyone's lives are literally numbered. Each year on a distant continent, a god-like being known as the Paintress paints a number that kills everyone of that age. As this ritual continues counting down, those who arrive at that number bid their loved ones goodbye before disappearing into nothing but decaying petals, while those whose number is up set out on an expedition to stop the Paintress.
And so this brings us to the titular Expedition 33, consisting of a group of 32 year-olds including Gustave, who's just witnessed his ex snuffed out before his eyes, as well as his adoptive younger sister Maelle, who decides to join this suicide mission despite being half the age of the other expeditioners – ironically the age that most wide-eyed heroes would usually be in most RPGs of this sort. Everyone else in this party has lost someone, giving everything a very mournful tone but also a defiant determination to continue the mission whatever the cost.
There are big emotions at play here then. It's helped by some brilliant performances from actors coming from both screen (Charlie Cox, Andy Serkis) and voice over (not one, not two but three from the acclaimed Baldur's Gate 3), which the photorealistic visuals also do justice (a triumphant showcase of Unreal Engine 5 for a relatively small team), and a sweeping heart-aching soundtrack that I could easily listen to while weeping in an opera theatre.
But the strongest emotions comes from the actual gameplay, where you really will be fighting for your life in every battle as if you were playing a hardcore Dark Souls game.
Active time parry
Clair Obscur taps into plenty of PS1-era Final Fantasy tropes, whether that's a party limited to just three active characters fighting in turn-based battles, a diorama-sized world map you can run around on, and quirky creatures – though some of the eccentricities might evoke more of Square Enix's Nier series. It also keeps its biggest secrets and challenges to the endgame of an otherwise digestible 30-hour main story.
Yet the turn-based battles are far from a pedestrian affair. Forget Final Fantasy's Active Time Battle system. These are just active, period. You could compare them to the action-based mechanics in Paper Mario, where a well-timed button press makes an attack stronger or reduces damage but that doesn't do it justice. What Clair Obscur does is add dodge and parry mechanics from hardcore action RPGs, which in theory means it's possible to play through an entire game without getting hit. Of course it's also ridiculously tough to do so. It really is no gimmick because enemies hit hard, so you do not just wait your turn to get hit; you need to stay alert all the time.
What that means is instead of fighting a lot of random battles that you eventually switch off from, every battle matters. You can't just spam the same attacks, also because each party member's skills require accruing points for, and which you can earn when successfully parrying. There are also traditional mechanics like targeting elemental weaknesses and even the ability to free aim a gun to target enemy weak points, but memorising attack patterns when it's the enemy's turn is vital.
They can get agonisingly demanding as some enemies have pretty long combos. Getting out of rhythm means it's easy to get caught by the next attack. It's dispiriting when a party member collapses only for the enemy to still give you a kicking with the remainder of its combo string. You can opt for an easier 'story' mode, but you only receive a little less damage while the dodging and parry window creaks open a bit more, so you're not getting a free pass.
When you do get those parries down it is just so enormously satisfying when you or the whole party answer with a counter attack. It becomes the best way to get through these battles faster since you're dealing damage outside of your own turns, and as you level up, it's not rare to see those damage numbers reaching ridiculous digits. They're not just well-earned victories but well-rewarded in XP, even more so if you can get through a battle completely unscathed.
Expedition 101
Despite also being a relatively more compact RPG compared to the bloated 100+ hour behemoths, there's still plenty of mysteries to discover in Clair Obscur, namely a mansion that you'll find yourself returning to from different doors throughout your journey. Most intriguing are final entries of journals penned from past failed expeditions, while you'll also notice the checkpoints you come across to rest and level up are also banners left by previous expeditions with their number displayed.
What would have been nice however is if there was a mini-map or some kind of way point system when it came to exploring dungeons as I often found myself getting lost. These environments of impossible vistas may look wondrous but they don't always have the most distinct landmarks. That may well be to capture the sense of discovery in old-school RPGs but there's a difference between exploring a pre-rendered backdrop with a fixed perspective usually from above compared to having the camera right down behind you.
It's a minor gripe though when the rest of the game is of such a high exquisite caliber. And of course what you'll want to discover for yourself is the way its story, which has many shocking twists and turns but also captivates you with performances that are naturalistic and nuanced. It's not all deadly serious and despite many battles often leaving your expeditioners' faces stained with dirt and blood, they can still lighten the tone with some sarky banter and the occasional silliness. It's indeed a game that will make you feel a whole breadth of emotions.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 verdict
Sandfall Interactive hasn't just taken the foundations of classic RPGs and given it a new paint job. Instead, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is imbued with a captivating and grown-up story brought to life by a star-studded cast and a tough but rewarding battle system that you'll be compelled to persevere with to see how this expedition's fate plays out.
With such a confident and triumphant debut as this, it surely won't be this studio's final fantasy.
Stuff Says…
Score: 5/5
One of the freshest RPGs in years that puts tradition and modernity in perfect harmony. Quelle magnifique!
Pros
Gorgeous visual design and soundtrack
Brilliant characters and performances
Intense and rewarding battle system
Cons
Lack of mini-map