Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Developer : Sandfall Interactive
Publisher : Kepler Interactive
Platform : PC-Steam
Release Year : 2025
Turn-based Bliss
I am so glad that I went into Clair Obscur blind, because wow, what a game to experience with fresh eyes. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is, in my opinion, the logical evolution of the JRPGs I grew up with during the days of the SNES and PS1 and was something I didn’t know I was missing until now. Instead of the action based RPGs that have became the de facto style during since the PS2 days, Clair Obscur is instead a classic turned based RPG, with some added active mechanics to keep battles fresh. I love it so much! This modern blast from the past is so good, and I hope that this game is the start of a resurgence of the turn-based RPG, because I am so down for that. I am in love with basically everything this game has to offer, and I know for a fact that I will be going back to it sooner rather than later, because Clair Obscur is something special. I 100% consider it a modern day classic, and I can see it being talked about for years and years to come. Now there are a few things here and there that are not perfect, but that is to be expected, because nothing is perfect, ya know? If nothing else, these couple of rough edges just give the game even more personality.
I am going to go out of my way and try my absolute best to avoid any and all kinds of spoilers here, because the story is one I think everyone should experience without any prior knowledge. It is a beautiful tale, and I love how high concept everything is, and also how alive this fantasy world feels. Like, it’s kind of nuts how awesome Expedition 33 is, and I am jealous of anyone who gets to experience it for the first time.
Turn-based Joy
For decades developers, both from the east and west, have told us that no one likes or wants turn-based RPGs anymore. They also told us that no one wants their roleplaying games to have complex mechanics or too many skills, and that the ‘modern’ audience wants every little road bump removed so they face no pushback from anything ever. This is why The Elders Scrolls games have got less and less complex as the series has gone on, and why Final Fantasy moved away from turn-based depth to a more action-focused, and shallow, game design. Now I am not saying that either of those series are bad per say, or that their modern releases are complete garbage because I have enjoyed them quite a bit over the years, but to say they have the same mechanical depth they once did would be disingenuous. So, to see Clare Obscur reveling in its complexity and mechanical depth was such a breath of fresh air. Here is the game that shows the industry that: yes, we want turn-based combat; yes, we want complex systems; and yes, we want some actual depth to our role-playing games. Between this and the success of Baulder’s Gate 3, it is obvious that fans of the genera want complexity and depth in their roleplaying games.
To Battle!
Expedition 33’s combat system is amazing. Full stop. At its most basic, combat is a turn-based affair with active and reactive mechanics thrown into the mix for good measure; think of Super Mario RPG with its timed button presses, but much more impactful. The reactive element of the battles revolves around defense, with you having to dodge, parry, or jump over attacks in an attempt to avoid damage and even attack back. This is a system you are going to have to embrace and master, because the battles here are no joke and the difficulty ramps up fast. I don’t want to say it’s the Dark Souls of turn-based combat (because we hear that term thrown around way too much these days), but I would be lying if I said that thought didn’t pop into my head more than a few times during my adventure.
Another wonderful aspect of Clair Obscur’s combat is that each of your characters have unique battle mechanics. Their unique styles of gameplay means each and every fight is more than just picking your best attacks and hoping for the best, which engaging battles for the game’s runtime. I don’t want to go into how each of the party members play, because just like with the story, I think experiencing how each character plays is best; ruining the surprise when you get a new party member would be doing this game a disservice. Needless to say, you will have your favourites, but they are all fun to mess around with, and I was always switching members out to make sure everyone was leveled.
One last thing about the game’s combat system that I love is how important statues effects are, how you play around them, and how elemental weaknesses and strengths really make a difference. It is so much more than simply poisoning your foe, or setting them on fire, which I think is awesome: it’s about finding what works and then experimenting with how to pull it off and maximize your damage output. Just like everything else when it comes to combat, the complexity here is amazing and helps make the combat engaging for the game’s entire runtime. I never once wanted to avoid combat, or run away from fights, because I found the whole thing so engrossing and ever so satisfying. This is what I imagined RPGs, especially JRPGs, were going to be like in the future when I was a kid back in the ‘90s.
A Picto of Fun
The skill system here is wonderful in its depth, which is so nice to see after so many RPGs overly simplified everything. Skills here can be divided into two categories: pictos and luminas. You collect pictos as you travel the lands and defeat monsters, which you then equip to your characters to grant them skills and stat boosts. After four battles with the equipped picto, you learn the skill for good, which you can then equip to your other party members as a lumina. Each of your characters have a certain amount of lumina points (which you can raise as the game goes on) that determine how many and which of skills they can equip, and it should go without saying that the more powerful a skill, the more points it costs to equip. At first the system was a little confusing because of the obtuse terms the game uses, but once I wrapped my head around it, I found it to be really engaging. Some of the skills you will want to equip on everyone, with others working better with one person or another, and then you still have the three picto slots as well, which leads to a huge amount of build variety. I can totally see being able to break the game and make your team an unstoppable force of nature with the pictos and luminas, and I know when I play the game again, I’ll be trying new and different combinations.
Along with your skills, your weapons also make a sizable difference in how strong and effective your party is in combat. Just like in the Souls games (see, the comparison is hard to get away from), your weapons have different stat scaling; so, some weapons get better as you increase your strength, while others get better with your luck stat or other stats. I did find that I never had to reroll my stats when I got new weapons, but I can see that if you really wanted to maximise my damage you really should rerolled (rerolling isn’t free, but you get more than enough of the item you need to do it while you play). I found that the abilities on the weapons made a much bigger impact on your performance in battle than your stats, and once I found a weapon I liked, I would stick with them for a long time. It’s also wicked that you get to upgrade your weapons, and as they level up more and better skills are unlocked. I love the weapon system is more than just, “oh, this one does more raw damage, so of course I’ll equip that,” and that you have to think about what your party is packing and also the strengths and weaknesses of the enemies you are about to encounter. I can easily see people being able to make crazy powerful characters here if you want to meta game hard, maximizing your skills and weapons, and even though I didn’t do that, I love that the game allows that without punishing you for not doing it.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Even thought my PC is getting on in years, and it was not able to run this title anywhere near high settings, let alone max, the art style and art direction was still able to blow me away. Expedition 33 is just oozing with style and flare, with every scene (both battles and story beats) leaving me in awe of what I was witnessing. The boss battles in particular are visual feasts for the eyes that easily rival anything Square Enix has done in the last twenty years. The world is also beautiful in its strangeness which made me explore every nook and cranny with an ever increasing sense of awe and wonder. This is also not a case of style over substance, because whatever black magic Sandfall was channeling, they gave us something wonderful, and the world is full of personality and charm.
With the game’s visuals surprising me at ever turn, it’s such a shame then that the characters all have such lifeless eyes. It’s hard not to notice it once you do, and at times it 100% broke my verisimilitude and tore me out of the moment. I don’t know how you would fix it, or if it is something baked into the engine that sucked the life from their eyes, but thankfully it doesn’t take away from the game as a whole. Hell, the fact that this is the only issue I have with the game’s visuals and presentation says so much about the quality of the visual design.
The sound design from the sound effects to the music, is also amazing. The sound effects help give real sense of weight to the battles, as well as doing a lot of lifting when it comes to the world. And then you have the music, and holy fuck, it is on whole other level. I love that the battle music is different in every area, and the tracks that play during the boss fights are grandiose and so fitting for such intense battles. Not since Persona 5 and the Final Fantasy VII remake have I been this in love with a game’s soundtrack, and if I could afford it, I would 110% get myself the vinyl OST that was released not too long ago. That record collection would look real nice next to my Persona 5 vinyl set, shame then that my stereo and record player are in storage; living in rental means I can’t blast my tunes, but hopefully one day I can hook it all back up and get this soundtrack.
The Story…
Is very much something you have to experience for yourself, because talking about it at any length will give away far too much away. Sure, I could say spoiler warning and then jibber jabber about the themes and all that good stuff here, but I really do feel that this is a tale you have to experience for yourself. Simply reading an overview of the story will do it a massive disservice, and I know for a fact I won’t be able to get across how amazing it truly is. Let’s just say I am looking forward to other adventures set in this amazing world, because from what I have seen so far, I am interested in seeing more. Fingers crossed we don’t have to wait too long for whatever is going to come next.
One last thing about the narrative: there is so much post-story content, which is awesome. Instead of going straight to the end when I could, I spent hours exploring the world, leveling up, hunting for treasure, and just existing in Clair Obscurs’ strangely wonderous world. There is so much content here, and I for one, am all for it.
A Love Letter to the JRPG
I cannot get across how much I love this game. I was disappointed when it was finally over, and while I could spend more time with it (there are still a few things I have left unfinished), my backlog is not getting any smaller and I wanted to move on to other games. But I will say that whenever Clair Obscur hits PS Plus, or if I see for cheap either digitally or on disc, I will be totally playing it again, because trophies…and seeing it run actually well will be a real treat, because I know I will not be upgrading/getting a new PC anytime soon. Fuckin’ AI making it all so expensive.
At the end of the day, Expedition 33 is something special, and a game that I really think everyone should at least try. Now, if you’re not a fan of the whole turn-based gameplay I doubt this is going to change your mind, but I implore you to give it a try because the story and the world is worth exploring even if you hate the combat. I know I am asking a lot, but trust me, it is well worth it. This game is going to be talked about for years to come, and I am all for it.
