Latest news with #ClairObscur:Expedition33Sandfall
Forbes
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
I Hate Turn-Based Games, I Love ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33'
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Sandfall At this point, there was essentially no question that I had to play Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a game I had heard nothing but praise for, and one that is now officially the highest user-scored game in Metacritic history. I wasn't expecting the best game of all time, but after a day of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, I understand the hype, at the very least. And the most surprising thing the game has done has turned me, a notorious turn-based combat-hater, into someone who positively loves the system they've come up with here. The story is great, the characters are great, the environments are great, the upgrade systems are great, but focusing on the combat, it just works. And if other people like me are asking if they should play this as a turn-based game when they normally avoid the genre, my answer is an emphatic yes. The bones are relatively simple. You do attacks, you build up an AP meter that lets you do better attacks. But each character has their own little minigame to increase their power and make their strategies more complex. That's fun in and of itself, but it's not the main reason it works for me. Expedition 33 Sandfall That would be the stellar addition of real-time combat with the turn-based aspects. I understand this is not the first game to do this, from Yakuza from Paper Mario, but it's more central to combat and better executed than I've seen before. There are three main levels to this: Perfect Attack Or Defense – Almost all special attacks have a quick-time event that when landed correctly 1-3+ times can dramatically increase damage or add extra healing or defense with those types of moves. All have a different cadence you will learn the more you use the move. Dodge – This is the basic aspect of combat, where you learn the timing of each enemy move and are able to real-time dodge them as they come in, with things like Perfect Dodge sometimes offering you things like bonus AP. It's a way to take on tough enemies or win seemingly impossible battles if you're simply good enough at this system. There are also 'jump' dodges later that allow you to counterattack at the same time. Parry – The evolution of this system, for the truly timing-skilled is Parry, where if you manage to deflect a move perfectly or every hit of a combo you will retaliate with a massive attack that turns an offensive enemy turn into them receiving a huge chunk of damage. I am not very good at this yet, but perhaps in time. Expedition 33 Sandfall It's a balance. You learn how to synergize your skills, weapons and upgrades for the manual turn selection portion, but defense is almost entirely turn-based and if you lose fights, it's not purely because of bad skill selection strategy, and gives a different kind of player a leg-up. I know it's technically 'quick-time events' which a lot of people hate, but it genuinely feels good. I cannot recommend this game enough. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Bluesky Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Forbes
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Players Just Ensured Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's Record Score Can't Be Touched
Metacritic Metacritic I wrote an article over the weekend that confirmed that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the RPG from first-time developer Sandfall, was in fact that highest user-scored game in Metacritic history. Now, players have caught wind of that. Some pushed back on this, saying it was early and this was just based on a few hundred reviews playing super early. Well, people have been playing over the course of the weekend, and there are now 600% more reviews in, up to 3,300, and the score has actually increased to a 9.7/10 from a 9.6 previously. I've said that it's possible scores fall in time, but what's just happened here has cemented Expedition 33's title of the highest scored game on this platform. Nothing else is close, or will get close, anytime soon. These thousands of reviews mean that of the top 100+ best-scored games on the Metacritic list, it's already passed many of those in total scores. And again, this is not a close competition. I've only been able to find one 9.3 at all, The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine DLC. Every other historic game you've ever heard of is somewhere between an 8.9-9.2. Yes, that one. Yes, that one too. Check any one you like. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Sandfall So, is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 actually 0.5 out of 10 better than every game in history? I haven't played it yet (I start today), but I have heard the praise and I mean…still no. I don't buy that. I am not saying the game doesn't deserve high scores, but we are seeing some level of a 'love bomb' here, the opposite of a review bomb. Early impressions are so good that people are racing out to give it 10s. Then articles are written about the scores (more than just mine) and people fly back to give it even more 10s, hence the 600% increase and 24 hours moving the score up. I have seen this happen with other games, Stellar Blade comes to mind most recently, but even that ultimately ended up with a 9.2. Still, I've never seen anything like this. I mean, whatever. Give it that honor. It sounds like a game that is universally beloved and if we want to hand this achievement to this tiny studio for an amazing game, I'm all for it. But what's just happened is that this is going to be emblazoned as the top scoring game for the foreseeable future, which is certainly something you do not see every day. Or every year. Or every generation. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Bluesky Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
