In the fall of 2020, two former Ubisoft developers founded their own studio, Sandfall Interactive, specializing in the development of AA games with a small team. Their plans included creating a turn-based RPG game for PC and consoles on the Unreal Engine 4 engine, with a subsequent transition to Unreal Engine 5. Those plans came with an announcement trailer, bright and painted as if with acrylic on a snow-white canvas. I’m talking about the announcement of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
On April 24th, we finally saw the whole picture. The debut miracle from Sandful Interactive, a studio that no one had really heard of, because they are young and this is their first project. But just like that, they managed to make a name for themselves, by showing what talent and perseverance are.
These wonderful developers managed to show that the JRPG genre does not belong only to the Japanese studios, and created the French Persona (no offense to the latter – a great series of games). In fact, the game took ideas from many other projects, but at the same time it turned out not to be a simple copy of its predecessors, but something new and exciting.
This is our review of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
In the world of Expedition 33, the refined aesthetics of La Belle Époque France of the late 19th and early 20th centuries meet dark fantasy vibes, creating a unique atmosphere in which history and magic intertwine.
Imagine Paris, where the Eiffel Tower rises against the backdrop of the reconstruction of the city and the first automobiles, and the air is filled with the aroma of sparkling wine and the laughter of courtesans. This is the time of the invention of cinema and Einstein’s theory of relativity, when the Orient Express rushes along the rails and the Ritz Hotel becomes a symbol of luxury. However, in Expedition 33, this elegance and harmony are distorted by mystical forces.
City streets and stately mansions are transformed into disturbing, bizarre landscapes, as if torn from the feverish dreams of symbolist artists. Here, reality and fantasy intertwine to create a world where every building can hide secrets and every corner can be full of surprises.
Two mysterious structures tower over the Continent, where the exciting expedition unfolds: the Paintress’ Monument and the Indigo Tree. This giant tree with blue-violet foliage shimmering with an ether has become a symbol of magic and power. It is said that at its roots lies the source of Chroma – a mystical energy that fuels magic and grants life force. Like the Erd Tree in Elden Ring, this monumental oak is visible from almost anywhere on the Continent, beckoning adventurers to its secrets.
“Expedition 33” promises to immerse players in a world where history and mythology intertwine in a thrilling journey across the mysterious continent.
In Expedition 33, players will be able to explore the Flying Waters, a surreal space where the usual laws of physics cease to apply. This place resembles the ocean floor, strewn with bizarre coral reefs and algae that hide dangerous creatures. On the deserted coast, you can stumble upon a mansion lost in a giant mollusk shell. This world tempts with its eccentricity, but at the same time it is frightening: all its distortions are the result of the apocalyptic creativity of the Artist. Thus, a journey through this space may not be a fairy tale, but a real immersion in a nightmare.
The developers have created a unique world that balances between time and timelessness, reality and fiction, abundance and decay. In this, they are helped by the power of Unreal Engine 5, which provides impressive details of the environment, play of light and unusual color schemes. However, it is worth noting that not all visual elements are perceived positively – some of them can cause discomfort to players.
However, the game’s visuals are so captivating, so striking in places, that after playing about half the game, I realized that I had already taken about a thousand screenshots. Oh, how I regret that the game does not have a photo mode.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s music does not fall behind the visuals. These are clearly verified compositions, so organically integrated into the world of the game that it cannot be imagined without them, starting from the title theme, ending with the battle motifs and the music that accompanies you in the locations. And what is interesting is that I did not perceive a single melody as alien. Each melody complements the atmosphere of the game with colorful notes.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG, but it also features elements of dodging, parrying and jumping with counterattacks in real time. It looks like the Persona-style combat system, and is also reminiscent of the recent Sea of Stars. But the game did not just copy the mechanics of these titles, but took them, reworked them and stepped far to the side.
The battles in the game are stylish, moderately intense and do not fall to the monotonous pressing of one key, you need to skillfully combine shooting at weak points, attacks and techniques that differ for each character. Almost every enemy has vulnerable areas, shooting at which you can inflict both strong damage and knock down enemy techniques. And thanks to high-quality special effects in battles, you can not only see the damage numbers, but feel your damage to enemies, the enemy after a blow or attack will roar and play an animation when hit or at least mutter something.
For some, the parrying, dodging and jumping system with counter attacks may seem like a dubious, maybe even negative mechanic, but it is an integral part of the gameplay. If the fights were just a turn-based tactical puzzle, it would quickly become boring. Instead, there are now sequences when the Boss attacks you with a combo of 3-7-10 attacks, and you can both dodge and parry all these attacks in response, delivering a good slap to the Boss at the same time… And all this is done in a beautiful form. Having perfectly parried the enemy’s attacks, you can counterattack them, and boss fights were designed with this aspect in mind. Without counterattacks, you will pick at enemies for a long time, but having learned dodges / parries, you will reduce the time of fights by 2-3 times. And yes, the game is demanding in terms of skill, if you skillfully use these mechanics, not a single fight will be a problem for you. If you can’t use these mechanics correctly, then it’s better to set the difficulty to easy and just enjoy the plot.
These mechanics added adrenaline and exciting emotions to the battles for me, added tension, because I didn’t just wait for my turn, but carefully watched the attacks of enemies, listening to the sounds of blows in order to parry them in time and hit the opponent in response. And believe me, when the Boss hits his 10-hit combo, and you can parry it, in response knocking down 1/3 of the boss’s HP – this is an unforgettable feeling.
Let’s talk about the сharacters.
Each!!! сharacter has their own combat mechanics, and I’m not talking about archetypes like a mage, tank, fighter or shooter. No. Each hero is unique in their combat style. Maelle is a knight who changes stances, each stance gives its own bonuses and additional effects to skills. Sciel uses Light and Darkness buffs to enhance skills, wielding impressive Glaives. Lune is a mage who can turn the tide of battle in your favor with her spells, and each spell gives her its own pigments that enhance her magic, and other heroes are unique in their mechanics.
There are no mana points in Expedition 33- mana is replaced by action points, which you gain with attacks. Each skill or shot costs a certain number of action points, and you need to both gain them wisely, for example, by parrying, equipping a certain tattoo, and gaining them with attacks and skills.
You can strengthen your heroes by increasing levels, for which you will receive stat points, but also tattoos with passive/active effects. For each level you will receive 3 attribute points, which you can invest in one of 5 characteristics. Vitality is responsible for the amount of HP, Might is for attack power, Agility is for speed in battle (and at the same time slightly affects defense and the chance of a critical attack), Defense itself – reducing damage to you, and Luck – giving you a chance of a Critical Attack.
Tattoos (Pictos and Luminas) give you both an active ability, attack and passive attributes. Characters have Luminas points – allowing them to wear tattoos. You can equip 3 tattoos – which will give attributes depending on the level and cost of equipping the tattoo, and after 4 fights with these tattoos, the characters will be able to equip their passive effects to themselves without having a tattoo on their body. This allows you to flexibly customize your characters, if you want them to shoot painfully and with debuffs – this is possible, if you want them to survive fatal damage and resurrect with protection? – also possible.
You can experiment with these bonuses in a very wide way.
The main thing in the combat system is that you won’t be able to go away for tea or sandwiches while the enemy is attacking you, or press a button and get distracted while your heroes are attacking. Attacks and abilities periodically require pressing a QTE button, pressing which in time will give you an enhanced attack/skill, and if you miss it, you will lose damage. And yes, some will find this a stuffy mechanic, but some will see it as a good opportunity to get through a difficult enemy without taking damage.
Enemies hit extremely unpredictably, sometimes you will have to study the attacks of enemies first, and only then go through them on the 2nd or 3rd try. The opponent can pull back his weapon and slowly strike, or he can carry out a quick combo of a couple of attacks at once, it is advisable to parry all attacks or dodge them, but it will be difficult the first time. Fortunately, if you lose a fight, you won’t be thrown back half a location, the checkpoint will helpfully be next to your enemy, giving you a chance to quickly return and take revenge on your opponent. Here, the combat can be compared to a turn-based Dark Souls, where dodging/parrying at the wrong time ruins your fight.
But fortunately, only on High difficulty will you need to do character building, on medium and low difficulty, the game will not punish you so much, although on these difficulties you will meet enemies, battles with whom can drag on. My personal record is an hour and a half of battle with the boss Chieftain Golgra from the Zhestral people, because her attacks need to be perfectly parried – otherwise the battle will drag on for a good 3 hours.
Your heroes can stop at the camp, where you can improve your weapons, upgrade and redistribute your skills, as well as attribute points, and talk to your party members. Find out their thoughts, hear their conversations, or even watch interesting scenes. The camp will provide you with a couple of additional quests to upgrade your relationship level, but also a Gramophone – in which, having found records, you can listen to certain compositions of the game. Fortunately, you can find records, not without difficulty, but all of them are not secrets hidden behind 7 seals.
The map is a kind of world map with separate locations, the entrance to which occurs through a portal. Having entered a location, you are free to explore it. In the locations, you will find both local currency used for trading with the Jestrals, and various resources. Increasing the number of potions in the battle, resources for improving weapons and other items can be found in the locations. Locations can be either one-room or vast multi-level labyrinths with many secrets and holes where something can be hidden.
And there are checkpoints scattered across the locations, which will restore the healing jar and provide the teleport function from flag to flag. Exploring locations will require attentiveness and even backtracking at times. After all, you can only get to some parts of the locations after receiving a certain ability. And yes, regarding trade, there are merchants scattered around the world who will give you resources, and can sell costumes for heroes, and the most interesting items for opening will require… throwing hands. Yes, yes. You will need to defeat the merchant in battle to open the most valuable item. And this can be either an interesting costume or hairstyle for the hero, or a weapon or a rare tattoo.
Finally, I want to talk about the plot of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – in a broad, vague way that won’t include spoilers to endgame.
From the very beginning, the game shows us the intensity of emotions and passions. It shows us different attitudes to death and the end of life, to the last days. Someone is afraid, someone boldly accepts their end, someone is decadent, and someone … well, everyone decides for themselves how to spend their last days before Gommage.
Gommage in the game is the day when the Paintress draws a new number, and everyone who has reached that age disappears from the world, scattering flowers. The game immediately shows us the city filled with flowers, people who will soon leave this world, and different attitudes towards them. We are the participants of Expedition 33, who will sail to the continent, in the hope that if not to stop the artist, then at least give the next expedition a chance to get closer to her.
The expedition members realize that they are unlikely to return home, but they sail away in the hope of giving life to other generations. The Paintress began her countdown from the 100th, and in our time, she drew the number 33 … As we move through the world, we will find records of other expeditions, and they will also show how they reacted to their doom, how they tried to fulfill their mission. The game skillfully plays on emotions and feelings. So skillfully and beautifully that from the first minutes I began to empathize with the heroes. Seeing how someone is cowardly and afraid, someone boldly goes to the last minutes of life, and someone melancholically meets them, I myself thought, how will I come to my last days? What would my attitude be?
The game gives you little hints about its ending from the very beginning, and if you are an attentive player, you can guess what will happen at the end. There is this feeling of sand slipping through your fingers- grains of sand filling the hourglass of life. The entire gameplay is built around this key idea, up to a certain point.
The game changes its mood so boldly and harshly that I succumbed to its movements. Beautiful melancholy was replaced by a desperate and bloody cemetery, where you wanted only one thing – to die, and then hope trembled. The game penetrates so deeply into those topics that we usually do not want to touch on that it brings a sense of novelty not only with its gameplay, but also with its atmosphere. Such a wonderful journey through a distorted France, through its nooks and crannies and memorable places.
Every emotion of the characters, their conversations, their topics for discussion… Everything in the game is worthy of praise. From the first minutes I fell in love with this game, and I advise you to discover it for yourself. After all, the ending of the story will make you think, take a deep look inside yourself.
In the first days, the game has already reached a million copies sold, and the online on Steam is approaching 120 thousand. Mods are already being created, developers are releasing music on Vinyl records, voice-over studios are already collecting money for high-quality voice acting in different languages… and you know, I am happy to hear all this news. They show that in our time, something else than a gacha, or a generic survival right off the conveyor, can draw attention to itself.
And it also beats all AAA games in price. $50 for such a game is a serious steal. Not 70-80-90, but an honest $50, which pays off in the first hours of the game. I fell in love with this game, it will remain in my heart for a very long time. And I sincerely advise you to pay attention to this masterpiece, yes, not without flaws and shortcomings, but who of us is perfect?
