Summary
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33has been hailed as a new paragon of the turn-based RPG genre. This icon combines influences from French history with surreal, dreamlike fantasy and a tense,action-packed combat system full of parriesand dodges. The result is a truly impressive adventure that stands above many of its competitors.
WhileExpedition 33is an impressive turn-based RPG, it’s also a unique one. There are a lot of mechanics and factors setting it apart from the rest of the genre and establishing that, despite its status as a debut title from developer Sandfall Interactive, it’s an undeniable success. Here are some of the things that the game does best.
7The Soundtrack
Slaying Nevrons In Style
One of the most impressive qualities ofClair Obscur: Expedition 33is its soundtrack. Composed by Lorien Testard, the music is powerful and varied, and heightens the emotional impact of every scene. Like any good video game soundtrack,Clair Obscur’s is richly varied, including intense, pulse-pounding battle themes and quiet, emotional tunes to haunt the party as they reflect on their grim circumstances.
Strong soundtracks are a hallmark of the turn-based RPG genre. Beloved tracks from games likePersona 5and theFinal Fantasyseries are remembered with love by the players who encountered them in-game. The soundtrack ofClair Obscuris sure to be remembered with similar fondness years down the line.
6Setting & World Design
Pretty As A Picture
One of the most striking things aboutClair Obscuris its setting. The warped streets of Lumiere, where the game begins, serve as a perfect introduction to the rest of the game, with their twisted architecture and shattered, floating rubble. The Continent, where most of the adventure takes place, is full of no less surreal locales. Players will visit an ocean on land, endless towers that stretch to the heavens, and villages bristling with brush-headed statues.
These strange and eerie locations are brought to beautiful life byClair Obscur’s advanced graphics. Each mystical and dreamlike realm is rendered so faithfully and gorgeously that players can feel like they’re actually walking through it. There have been manyRPGs with creative and striking environments, butClair Obscur’s surreal landscape stands alone.
5Build Variety
Constructing The Ideal Expedition
A major selling point of most RPGs is the chance to build up characters throughout the game, unlocking and mastering powerful skills to make each character a true powerhouse in combat.Clair Obscuris great at this, offering players several ways to upgrade and enhance their party. In true RPG tradition, fans can unlock new skills and upgrade stats each time a character levels up. These new skills offer unbelievable combo potential, letting fans turn their party into a well-oiled machine that churns out unbelievably high damage every turn.
This is aided bythe game’s in-depth Pictos system. Players can equip Pictos to each party member to give them potent new abilities that can supplement and enhance their skills. Each character also has access to a roster of weapons that can completely overhaul how they play and interact with their own mechanics, giving players virtually limitless options for each member of their team.
4Overworld Navigation
See The World
Of the many inspirationsClair Obscurtook from classic JRPGs, one of themost prominent is its overworld map. Players will find themselves wandering between missions in a scaled-down sandbox-style version of the Continent, often on the back of their bizarre but lovable sidekick, Esquie. Sandfall Interactive took many of the best parts of overworld navigation from classic RPGs, incorporating countless secrets and bonus areas for inquisitive players to find.
Esquie also unlocks new traversal abilities over the course of the game, letting him swim and bust through physical obstacles in the protagonist’s path. By the time players unlock the ability to fly in the late game, they’ll have become extremely familiar with the map. However,Clair Obscurwill surprise them all over again with the wealth of new locations to explore and discover from the air.
3The Reserve Team
Those Who Come After
Like many other turn-based RPGs,Clair Obscurmakes players build an active teamfrom their roster of characters, sidelining whoever’s left. This RPG tradition makes sense for balance reasons, and most games tend to have a mechanic for involving benched characters, often by swapping them in mid-fight.Clair Obscurhas a much more distinct take on keeping the whole party involved, though.
When the entire active party falls in battle, players have the option to send whoever’s left in to fight in their stead. This gives players a last, desperate chance to take down a dangerous foe. It also keeps the stakes high, since players will almost always have fewer characters on the bench than they do in their active group. It’s always been strange for reserve JRPG adventurers to watch their active counterparts fall in battle without interfering, and this mechanic makes the division a little more believable.
2Character & Story
A Tale of Woe
The storytelling inClair Obscuris one of its strongest elements. The game’s heart-wrenching prologue sets the stage for a deeply bittersweet tale of sacrifice and grief, and the lovable protagonists carry it throughout. Each member of the team is a fully-fleshed-out character, with their own motivations, personalities, and trauma, and the game explores these thoughtfully throughout the story.
Dialogue between characters feels naturalistic and real, and their relationships make things all the more gripping for the player when things get serious. Players can enjoy charming, engaging, and meaningful scenes, without getting caught in needless lore dumps and exposition, even as the story gets complicated and shocking truths about the characters are revealed.
1Exciting, Unique Combat
It’s All In The Timing
One of the most prominent selling points forClair Obscuris itsdeep and engaging combat system. Unlike most JRPGs, which focus solely on the tactics of choosing the best moves and reacting appropriately to enemy attacks,Clair Obscurgives players a chance to engage in combat on a much more active level.
Almost every enemy attack can be dodged or parried, potentially negating damage entirely if the player’s reflexes are good enough. The complex and intricate attack strings that foes can unleash turn combat into less of a turn-based tactical affair and more of a reflex-based action game, as engaging as anything from FromSoftware. With the intense damage output each character is capable of producing, there’s nothing more satisfying than parrying a string of tricky attacks and pulling off a combo that causes the opponent’s health bar to evaporate.
