Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 PC Review
Summary: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a phenomenal game in almost every aspect. It is engaging, exciting, dramatic, emotional, thought-provoking, and incredibly memorable.
4.5
An unforgettable Expedition
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the most interesting games to come out in the last decade. It oozes passion, feels incredibly familiar to its counterparts in the genre, but still does a fantastic job of standing out among the others in so many different, engaging ways. Despite only recently launching, the game is a staple of the RPG genre, and while it’s not perfect, it’s pretty dang close.
Like the rest of the game, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is incredibly interesting and engaging yet odd in all the right ways. The game takes place in a pseudo-apocalyptic setting where most humans have been thinned out by a mysterious ladylike entity called The Paintress. Once a year, the Paintress stands and paints a number upon her monolith, and every one of that age turns to smoke and fades away. This process is known as the Grommage, and every year, more and more people die, the average age of the population reduces, and the meaning of life becomes more distorted from our usual world.
To counter this, the people of Lumiere created the Expeditioners, a militaristic group of volunteers who go on an expedition into The Continent every year and have been for decades to face the Paintress in hopes of putting a stop to the Grommage once and for all. The game starts with Gustave, aged 32, who, after losing his loved one to the Grommage, joins his fellow expeditioners on Expedition 33 for his final mission, and as expected, things don’t go as planned from the start.
Clair Obscur’s story is incredibly engaging and mysterious in all the right ways. Players will be faced with many questions and mysteries like who is the Paintress? What happened to the Continent? Who are the Gestrals?, the origins of certain characters, and much more. All these mysteries succeed in making Clair Obscur entertaining and interesting right from the start, and the many emotional moments that happen during the expedition make for an incredibly memorable narrative experience. Moreover, the narrative is beautifully intricate and does an immaculate job of highlighting its elements. The atmospheric apocalyptic and bizarre world, the mysterious creatures known as the Gestrals, the lore and background of past expeditions, and much more. The cutscenes are also a major highlight as all the characters are great, and the dialogue is impeccable thanks to expressive movements and facial expressions.
The voice acting both in French and English is impeccable. You can tell the amount of work and passion the voice actors put into their roles, leading to a highly immersive viewing experience. Then there’s the soundtrack, which is by far one of the best, if not the best, soundtracks in any game this year. It’s beautifully haunting, melodic, catchy, and exciting all at once and has songs that will be etched in your mind for a very long time, if not forever.
Other than that, the game is also incredibly proud of its French origins, as it includes several French elements. They include French outfits with Baguettes, French music, and even French enemies, which is both humorous and appealing.
In terms of visuals, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 stands out specifically with its art direction, character and monster designs, and attractive models. The backgrounds evoke an ethereal feeling, and the flora, fauna, architecture, and other object models are unique and attractive in a peculiar way. Overall, the production in Clair Obscur has passion and soul unlike any in the medium, industry, or gameplay genre and has created a standard for what turn-based RPGs and games, in general, should strive for. Gameplay-wise, Clair Obscur is incredibly engaging as it blends turn-based action with real-time elements. These include, but are not limited to, dodging, perfect dodges, parrying, shooting projectiles, several stances, jumping, and counter-attacks. These are examples of elements that make the game challenging, engaging, and unique.
The game also has JRPG-like gameplay elements, including in-depth menus, Pictos, which enhances attacks, unlocking skills in a skill tree, finding and upgrading weapons, using items during battles, and more. Fighting enemies, learning their patterns and weaknesses, and executing devastating attacks and beautiful parries feels incredibly satisfying and sometimes makes you feel immensely powerful when you pull them off. The gameplay is incredibly smooth, fast, and responsive, making it more engaging and addictive.
However, having to learn many gameplay elements early on can get overwhelming fast. While the game tries to explain it all, it doesn’t do a great job early on of explaining the most intricate parts, such as the Picto and Lumina systems. It’s unclear at the start which Picto has been unlocked or fully learned and how to apply Lumina. However, as players progress further in the game, it becomes clearer, but it doesn’t change how confusing it was earlier.
Final Thoughts?
Performance-wise, the game runs smoothly on an RTX 3060 TI. While I did encounter frame drops at the start of the game, a subsequent update reduced these significantly. I also didn’t encounter any glitches or crashes throughout the experience. Overall, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a phenomenal game in almost every aspect. It is engaging, exciting, dramatic, emotional, thought-provoking, and incredibly memorable. The gameplay provides hours of fun and challenge, and the world, and overall experience is something players will surely not soon forget.
About the Author
Abdul Saad A seasoned entertainment journalist and critic, and has been writing for five years on multiple gaming sites. When he isn't writing or playing the latest JRPG, he can be found coding games of his own or tinkering with something electrical.
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