Charming characters, stunning scenery, and fiercely French… This… Is Clair Obscur –
Expedition 33.
We’ve had a host of celebrated games recently, from Blue Prince and Citizen Sleeper, to
Avowed and Monster Hunter, it can be easy with how fast things move to always be chasing
that next high. The just alright get passed over, there’s no moment to discuss the good, and
those that do get talked about, you’re trying to convince your social circle that they deserve
attention more than any of the other current competitors for the sacred resource that is their
time. The language has also increased. You need to lift it above the last, make it stand out
from the rest, it needs to cut through the noise. Combine these two and you can end up in a
situation where it looks like every game you’re seeing people talk about is the next coming of
the divine. If hyperbole were a currency, there’d be no cost of living crisis.
I end up reacting to this like any sane person would, I dig my heels in and resist as fiercely
as I can, if something gets too much praise, if people are too excited about it, then for some
unquantifiable reason it makes me resist boarding that hype train even if I would enjoy it. I
need my praise in the correct amount like medication, a measured opinion from Keith down
the local carries more weight these days.
I could sing the praises of Clair Obscur, pull out the thesaurus, invent new compound words
to try and get across just how much you should play this game. Instead though I’ll take the
simple approach. While playing Clair Obscur somewhere around the 5 hour mark, I thought
to myself I wish more games were like this and that enjoyment never waned. There is no
revolutionary combat system, or industry changing narrative. It’s as simple as every key part
of Clair Obscur Expedition 33, is strong enough to stand on their own merit, and as such, the
whole thing profits.
It’s soaked in the ink of the JRPG genre. Once a year, the Paintress wakes, and paints a
number upon a monolith, and at that moment, anyone of that ages, fades out of this life.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 takes place when the number on that monolith reads as 33.
Every year an expedition is sent forwards to try to stop her, and every year it fails. Time is
running out as that number gets lower and this year, it’s your turn. That’s prime JPRG right
there. How many times have we gone on adventures to take down evil queens ruling over
the lands. If I had a nickel for every divine being or god I took down because we disagreed
with their methods, I’d be Scrooge McDuckin’ it right now.
On show is a story about resistance, about romance, futility, and existentialism. How does a
society adapt to knowing that once a year a giant number in the sky is going to tick down
and removed your loved ones right in front of you? How do you as a single person fight that,
what can you do except try to make something beautiful out of it. The prologue sets the
scene of a world known, and then the game starts and shows how little you can actually
know of a world when you spend it living in one city. You’re tasked with a mission sure, but
as an individual how do you approach that concept. How quickly can you adapt if you’ve
lived an entire life in black and white, and suddenly you’re introduced to a world full of colour.
The prologue, the main story, even the optional side content can hit pretty hard emotionally,
death, loss, and the ability to carry on run central to Clair Obscur. There’s beauty in the
message that Clair Obscur is trying to tell you, but if you’re not in a stable place, this game
could easily sucker punch you, as you go from watching your party members be jovial to
traumatised with the stroke of a brush. It conjures images and memories of Lost Odyssey for
me, a game steeped in misery at times and yet filled with characters who lighten the
moment, and are thrown in to this insanity together as you fight your way through it. Clair
Obscur isn’t just a wallowing walking tour. It’s not misery for the sake of it, every puncture
serves a purpose. Every hit is measured and gives rest after to allow it to sink in and to allow
recovering. It’s refreshing to have a game that can carry such a heavy story in a way that
even the low lights, can be highlights of the journey.
I don’t want to spend too long waxing poetic about the story in Expedition 33 to do so will risk
incursion in to spoilers and as you know, that ain’t something we do here. It’s not hard to find
something else to talk about either, like looking at a painting, the more you look, the more
you’ll see. The combat works like this as well. Look at it briefly and you’ll see a turn based
system that looks like those seen in many an RPG, look closer and you’ll see more parts of it
start to appear. Little touch ups just added to enhance the overall.
Attacks in combat are accompanied by quick time events, hit the button at the corresponding
time and you’ll do bonus damage, miss the timing and you might just do a reduced damage
amount, you could miss the attack or even end up damaging yourself. The first comparison
my brain jumped to was the gunblade in Final Fantasy VIII but that’s because my brain will
take any chance it gets to do so. Just mentioning the name has me hearing Liberi Fatali in
my head…
Of course there are myriad comparisons you can make from your own history. Quick time
button presses during combat aren’t new. Neither are the concepts of dodging or parrying
attacks either. As the game progresses you’re introduced to new ways to defend yourself.
Dodges, parries a jump, a counter. Jump and counter are gimmicks for specific attacks with
the main two methods for defence being dodge, and parry… Dodge being the safer option,
while parry has a smaller window to execute, but if successful rewards you with AP the
currency used to cast your skills, and a counterattack if you parry every swing. The core
concept here being use AP to cast skills, attack the enemies, and if you’re good enough
parry, if not dodge. One of these is vastly superior to the other though, as if you can time the
parries… And you should take the time to learn, you can practically trivialise most fights in
the game, Even if you’re fighting an enemy that will have 8 turns before you. If you can parry,
every enemy attack will deal damage back to them, and you’ll be swimming in AP when your
turns do come around.
It can lead to a… Inconsistent difficulty curve, as you might be able to learn some parry
patterns while others elude you, but you’re given the freedom to approach optional areas if
you choose. Take the time to level your characters up or learn the pattern and keep
persisting until you succeed. The only penalty for failure here is frustration and a short reload
screen. Combat is also kept interesting by every character having their own skill tree, and
unique mechanic they’re playing with. Gustave brings an overcharge. Every hit or dodge
increasing a counter, when it hits 10 you can power up an attack. Maelle stance dances
between offensive and defensive. Skills can swap your stances or gain bonuses, the goal
being to efficiently dance between both while looking to eventually slip in to Virtuoso stance,
which gives dramatically increased damage to then deliver the final blow. Other characters
have their own playstyles and abilities, I don’t want to spoil all the fun, so let’s move on.
Combat is also supported by Pictos, items you can slot in to each character giving them
stats and passive abilities. Win 4 combats with them equipped, and you’ll learn the passive
ability for any party member to use without the item equipped. They don’t gain the stats, but
it means you can end up building up your party around specific sets of Pictos. There is a
max limit to how many passive abilities, you can have equipped as they have a cost of
Lumina, but you can increase the max limit through items in the world. These aren’t little
passives you might be used to from other games, there’s no 2% increased damage. These
are Pictos like. If you’re fighting alone gain 100% crit chance. Every attack does either 50%
or 200% damage or… Die when combat starts.
You can spend a lot of the game playing around with the new Pictos you find, they are
myriad and there are some fun combinations you can make. Having a character enter battle
instantly die, explode damaging all enemies, and then get buffs when they are revived, is
hilarious. I spent a long time running around setting up a party that worked around the debuff
burn, and then swapped over to a lone wolf party, where I only had a single member, but
they did more damage than 3 would combined. There is a lot of creative room in Clair
Obscur, I will admit though, I’d love to see Picto loadouts, or just a better management
screen for them, swapping them in and out for different combat situations was the least
enjoyable tedium of Expedition 33, and alleviating that would pretty much remove one of the
only problems I encountered.
We can talk about the art style, how colourful and vibrant areas of this game are. Filled with
vistas, and backdrops that you can’t help but pause at for a moment, or the music that I’m
sure has already been added to a lot of playlists over the past week. Pick a piece of the
game and there’s something positive you can say about it. No hesitation or having to pause
and think, you don’t need to clarify with if’s or buts, you can just find something positive on
show, and talk positively about it. You get it by now though, if I keep talking, you’ll add this to
your list of games to take a look at one day… That backlog isn’t a problem though, you’ll beat
it… One day.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 costs just £40, or 45 Euro or $45, another positive. Our
playthrough took 25 hours to roll credits during which we unlocked 28 achievements out of
the total 55. It’s worth mentioning there is a New Game+ mode, and there are missable
achievements. You could do everything in one. But, there are options if you do. As always
we mention this so you can gauge if you have time for the game, and what an average
playthrough looks like if you’re going through the story. You can sink a lot of time in to the
endgame after credits roll with optional bosses or more side story to discover, so the game
has a lot more going on than just 25hours and out if you want to spend longer here,
especially when adding in New Game+ if that’s your thing. It’s also on Gamepass if that’s
your thing.
If you’re going to bounce off Clair Obscur, the obvious points are the story depending on if
you have any raw trauma, and the combat systems reliance on the active parry/dodge
system which, while it can take the combat from punishing to pushover with a single button,
if you can’t get the timing right, can lead to frustration just as easily.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a game that conjures memories of Lost Odyssey, Final
Fantasy X, Bravely Default and a host of other RPG greats. A game willing to treat me like
an adult, as it introduces me to a world filled with interesting characters I grow to care about,
and then watch as they are subjected to the horrors of a world they weren’t prepared for.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is at times emotionally devastating, at others defiantly heartwarming, and most importantly throughout, very willing to remind you of just how damn
creepy Mimes are.
