Let’s get one thing straight. None of the words I string together will be enough to adequately describe the breadth and depth of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It is visually arresting, the combat is engaging, the characters are fleshed out, and the story will have you hooked. I can confidently say that you will come out of this experience absolutely enthralled. 

But what is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33? It’s the debut game of Sandfall Interactive. They’re a team of developers from France who come from more well-known publishers but decided to band together to deliver a game that truly speaks to their sensibilities. 

That sensibility is a love and reverence for JRPGs. And you’ll immediately see that influence if you care to check a few of the marketing they have already put out for the game. 

Gustave, The Paintress, and Lumiere

Speaking of the game, you’re thrust into a world at the mercy of The Paintress. Year after year, she paints a number on the Monolith. The number indicates the age that will succumb to The Gommage. Think Thanos-type of being dusted away. And boy, it does not feel good. 

You play as Gustave who is voiced by Daredevil himself, Charlie Cox. Gustave is a respected engineer in Lumiere and one of the key members of Expedition 33. Lumiere appears to be a piece of land that broke off away from the main content where The Paintress is. 

Right before you embark on the Expedition, you immediately see Gustave suffer a loss. As do the rest of Lumiere as The Paintress erases 34, dusting away people of that age. 

Expedition 33, as with the expeditions that preceded it, are mostly composed of people who only have a year to live. They embark on the journey to prevent The Gommage by slaying The Paintress. 

It’s a harrowing task but one that must be taken to give hope, as Gustave says, “for those who come after.” 

Visually arresting

Despite the gloomy and melancholic premise, the world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn’t drab and devoid of color. Quite the opposite, really. 

The environments are vibrant, captivating, and imaginative. You go from what appears to be a typical ‘fantasy game’ forest to an area that appears to be submerged in water with creatures floating around and proceed to a village whose populace seem to want to do nothing but fight.

In between these areas is an even more breathtaking overworld. Yes, it’s a similar kind of overworld prominent in 90s period JRPGs where you roam around until you get to the next area of interest. 

This is a great evolution of the overworld present in games like Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX

In the overworld, the perspective shifts from your typical third-person view to one that’s more isometric. Encounters, however, aren’t random. You’ll see enemies lying in wait which you could either fight or avoid.

The characters also look very distinct. The art style is unique. Human but not quite photorealistic. Animated but not cartoony. 

Outside of some lip-syncing issues, you’ll likely find yourself enamored with how the game looks. 

Active Turn-based combat 

I’ve already gone in quite some detail on combat in my preview. To reiterate and summarize, the base of the combat is turn-based. But the game adds a few wrinkles to keep you engaged. There’s a parry, dodge, and jump mechanic as response to the enemies’ attacks. 

When launching your own turns, you can perform a base attack, use items, free aim, or use a skill. Free aim and skills consume action points or AP. Performing a base attack, parrying, and more lets you gain AP. 

Learning each enemy type’s attack pattern to dodge or parry can be tough. But once you do, it’s extremely satisfying. The window to dodge is generous but parrying can be unforgiving. Impeccable timing is absolutely required.

Each character also has their own mechanic. Gustave is your sword and pistol weilder. Your typical damage-dealing protagonist. His mechanic is Overcharge where some of his skills and attacks build-up which then let’s him unleash a powerful attack. 

The next two characters you’ll control are Lune and Maelle. Lune is your mage with the Stains mechanic while Maelle is a fencer with the Stances mechanic. 

You have the usual skill tree.

Planned carefully, you can string together moves that can help set up your party members to do more damage, thus ending the encounter much more hastily.

Each skill also has QTE which plays more like a rhythm game. Time your button presses, and you will increase damage or the effect of that particular skill. 

Pictos and Lumina

Then you have Pictos and Lumina. Pictos are essentially equippable items you can acquire through exploration. These items contain buffs or combat effects. If equipped after four fights, the Pictos are then ‘learned.’ 

Once they are learned, other characters can then have the same buffs by spending Lumina. Every Pictos has a corresponding fixed Lumina number. This lets you know which ones you can equip to a character. Each character also has a corresponding Lumina number that can be increased as you play the game.

And that’s not even all of it. Hours into the game and you’ll be introduced to more mechanics but not before you’ve already become familiar with its base concepts. 

When not in full health after combat, characters will look like this in the game.

Overall, the combat is extremely layered without being overcomplicated. It will test how well you prepare and strategize as well as how good your reflexes are.

Fleshed-out characters 

Cosmetic changes appear even in cutscenes. This one looks a little silly, but it fits the moment.

A common pitfall of many JRPGs are one-dimentional characters that act more like caricatures than actual characters. That is not the case with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

In the early part of the game, you barely know anything about any of the characters. You’re also just as lost and confused as they are after a major incident. 

The way they react to the situation already tells you who they are as people. You see how they respond to a desperate situation, arguing over what to do but still coming across as people who still genuinely care about each other and their cause. 

This is one of the more impactful early scenes that display this game’s strength in writing, voice acting, and cutscene animation.

This extends to the rest of the characters you meet along the way. What’s brilliant is it’s not all gloom and doom. Despite knowing the dangers they face and the unpredictability of their situation, they still find time for some playful banter that feels warm and not out of place. 

Gustave, the team, and the rest of the characters are people who have known and experienced love, loss, joy, pain, grief, and more. You see it by how they act and interact. Which makes every emotional turn of the game even more impactful. 

Gripping story 

From the get go, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 already has an unusual premise. But it keeps the intrigue going as you go through the main campaign. 

Lune, one of your main party members, says it best during the latter part of Act I: “The more we learn, the more questions I have.” 

That’s the general feeling of the game’s story. You’re just eager to find out what happens next. And what happens next is… well, that’s for you to know on your first playthrough. 

It’s a beautifully haunting tale set in a visually rich but broken world. 

Should you play Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?

Until further notice, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is my Game of the Year for 2025. So, yes. It is a must-play. 

The game will lure you in with its stunning visuals, grab you with its inciting incident, keep you focused during combat, endear you to its characters, and deliver gut-wrenching and awe-inspiring moments that will make you yearn for more. 

Thankfully, it’s a 30–50-hour campaign with late game content that could double if you’re the completionist type. 

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is out on April 24. It’s available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows PC. It will also be available Day One on Game Pass.