If you are at all interested in video games, you’ve probably heard of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (E33). It’s the one game gamers around the world have been talking about – the sensation that came out of left field, at least for many people, including me. I heard about E33 the week before it launched, but its trailer was so convincing that I purchased the game on release – and boy, am I glad I did.
First things first: what is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33? It’s a turn-based (yes, it’s 2025 – so what?) RPG and the first game by Sandfall Interactive, an independent France-based studio founded in 2020 by Guillaume Broche, a former Ubisoft developer. He started thinking about E33 while he was still working at Ubisoft, but left the company once E33 became a project worthy of his full attention.
The studio’s approach to talent acquisition was unconventional but inspired – a post on Reddit caught the eye of Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, who would go on to become the lead writer for E33. The lead composer, Lorien Testard, was discovered on Soundcloud – and he had never worked on a video game before. A small team eventually came together, sharing the same passion and inspirations. With the support and funding from publisher Kepler Interactive, they complemented their passionate group with experienced and well-known voice actors. Many team members wore multiple hats during the development of E33, and it’s clear from the final product that they poured all their love for video games into this project.
Despite being one of the most talked-about games around its release, I want to keep this review spoiler free. A huge chunk of the enjoyment comes from experiencing the story as it unfolds, without any prior knowledge.
That being said, let us start by discussing the main premise of E33. The game opens in the city of Lumière, where we take control of Gustave and meet up with a former love of his, Sophie, to accompany her on her “Gommage” – which, given the context I would translate to “Erasure”. Alongside many other inhabitants of Lumière, Sophie evaporates into thin air, leaving behind a sea of flower petals.
This is a yearly occurrence. You see, across the sea stands a giant monolith. Each year, the “Paintress” rises and paints a number onto it, lowering the previous number by one. Exactly one year later, everyone of that age ceases to exist. Effectively, this ritual acts as a countdown, and the people of Lumière live with an expiration date.
And so, the people of Lumiére have embarked on so-called “Expeditions”, aimed at reaching the monolith and taking down the Paintress – so far, without success. Now it’s up to us – Expedition 33 – to do what no one before us could.
That’s all you’ll get from me. Play this one blind. You won’t regret it – but you will regret spoiling yourself.
Let’s talk about presentation and visuals. This is ridiculous. Ridiculously good. The characters’ facial animations are incredible, vividly displaying emotion – you can read fear, incredulity, joy, terror or smugness from the characters’ expressions. But there is one immersion-breaking detail: the lip synching isn’t great. It’s actually pretty bad. It doesn’t ruin the experience, but given how high the quality is across the board, it’s puzzling that this one aspect falls short.
Another minor issue: the screen can get too bright at times, especially in already bright environments after closing the menu. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s noticeable and a bit annoying.
But it’s not only the characters’ animations. The game’s visual style is inspired by La Belle Époque and the Art Deco movement but pushes into fantastical territory, resulting in a fresh, interesting and unique aesthetic. The environments invite exploration, and each one feels distinct, filled with history and details suggesting previous Expeditions passed through. Journals from earlier travelers are highlights that add flavor and context to the world.
Depending on your preferences, you may find the main and side areas to be too linear, though that didn’t bother me. There are hidden passages and optional encounters, but the path forward is usually clear. The game uses lighting expertly to guide the player, and I rarely needed a guide to find collectibles or navigate the areas.
There are also no lengthy sidequests to distract from the main objective – at least not before the endgame – though there are still a few diversions. One friendly Nevron of each type can be helped, typically through quick tasks that don’t require leaving the Nevron’s vicinity. There are also five minigames at Gestral Beaches, ranging from a parkour-course, to explosive volleyball, to an Only Up!-style climbing challenge. These small challenges do a good job at changing up the pace from time to time.
Speaking of Only Up! – while there’s not much platforming in E33 outside minigames or for reaching hidden items, the movement does feel reminiscent of Only Up!. This is – a priori – not a very positive remark, as it might seem quite clunky, with imprecise hitboxes. But by embracing this style in the minigames, E33 reframes what might have felt like a flaw into a deliberate design choice.
Combat is the other major gameplay pillar. Yes, it’s turn-based, but for those of you already rolling their eyes, don’t check out just yet. E33 uses a Conditional Turn Based system, as seen in games like Final Fantasy X. Knowing the turn order allows you to strategize several moves ahead. But that’s only part of it. Combat is much more than simply choosing an action from the available ones. Each character has a number of ability points they can spend on either free aim shooting (used to target enemy weak points), regular attacks, or special abilities. Free-aim attacks can be followed up with another move, and most attacks or abilities can be empowered by well-timed button presses, resembling QTEs in other games.
But while these QTEs are implemented to make the offense a bit more interactive, what sets the combat apart is defense, which solves many issues players could have with turn-based combat.
In most turn-based games, you take a hit, then wait for your turn – a back and forth exchange of actions between you and your enemies. E33 introduces a “damage avoidance” mechanic. That’s right. Every enemy attack can be either dodged or parried with the correct timing, and doing so correctly effectively negates all damage. Dodges have a more lenient window, while parries are tighter but trigger powerful counterattacks if you nail all hits in a sequence. There are more defensive parry mechanics, introduced as you progress, but they function in a similar way.
In contrast to other games with similar mechanics – Sea of Stars comes to mind as a recent example – this is not an optional system. You have to engage with it. You won’t survive battles if you ignore the defensive options, as even the weakest enemies can take you down quickly if you just face-tank their attacks. Players struggling with parries can still rely on dodging, while skilled players are rewarded with stylish counters. This mechanic effectively transforms combat into a skill-based system, and by mastering it, you can beat any given encounter taking zero damage, or take on enemies that far outmatch your current power.
I remember fighting a powerful enemy that could one-shot any of my characters. Its health pool was massive, and with my low damage output I couldn’t overpower it. But by learning its attack patterns, I managed to defend perfectly for over twenty minutes straight, and won the battle. The satisfaction was unmatched.
There’s still a lot of great systems that I could discuss: the Pictos system, combining elements from Final Fantasy VII’s Materia system and Final Fantasy IX’s Ability system, enables an incredible build diversity that I hadn’t seen before in any comparable RPG – and which allow for truly broken builds, something the developers were aware of and lean heavily into. Vendors, members of a “species” that lives for battle, can be challenged to 1v1 duels to unlock their special inventory. Each character has unlockable costumes that, while not essential, add a fun element that allows players to personalize their party. I could also talk about the great endgame, filled with varied challenges, trials, optional dungeons, and superbosses. The list goes on.
But instead, I want to turn the attention to elevated E33 from an amazing game, to an unbelievable one. It’s not the story. It’s not the music. It’s not the gameplay. It’s how all these beautifully and purposefully crafted components interact with each other, and how they make you feel. How they make you care.
And this – for me – starts with the music. Despite never having worked on a game soundtrack before, Lorien’s compositions, but also the musician’s execution, are extraordinary. Every single musical piece is composed with intent, enhancing the emotional tone of every scene. So many times, I just put down the controller to soak in the music. It’s that good.
But the soundtrack alone isn’t it. It is how it serves and complements the story, the performances, the writing. E33 made me feel like no other piece of media ever has. I laughed – sometimes out loud (an interaction between Esquie and François, for those who have played the game, comes to mind). I also cried. A lot. Out of sadness, joy, tenderness. Because I saw myself in the characters’ shoes. Because it reminded me of my own grief.
The characters are real. They’re complex. Hypocritical, kind, selfish, vulnerable. They feel human, and the stellar voice-acting makes you live through their emotions. Dialogue feels natural – no tired clichés. The humor lands, and the sincerity cuts deep.
I want to exemplify with one relatively random scene in camp: Verso summons a piano and starts playing to cheer up a thought-immersed Maelle. She joins him, humming gently. In the background, a giant marshmallow-creature twirls around in circles. Absurd, right? Well, this absurd moment had me in tears. In tears both because of the beauty and peacefulness of the moment, but also because it reminded me of the criticality of the situation. A fleeting moment, away from all the terror, all the despair. It was a moment of calm in a storm. And it meant something.
The story itself is interesting as a whole, but it’s not only that. The game drop-feeds crucial information at a great pace, keeping you engaged and hooked. It reveals its story piece by piece, without ever showing too much at once, without taking away the suspense and sense of wonder. And damn, E33 has more than one surprise in store! Twists and turns, both presented in its beautiful cutscenes, but also through previous Expedition journals. This is probably the first game where I truly wanted to read any journal entry I found.
Then there’s the ending. I was faced with an impossible choice. I chose with my heart. I chose what I thought was right. And it broke me, teared my heart out. And I’ve gone back to rewatch the cutscene, multiple times. It still hits just as hard.
This game was written by adults, for adults. By people who’ve known pain, loss, grief. And it just fucking shows. This is an emotional journey from start to finish.
At the moment of publishing, it has been two weeks since I finished E33. And I just can’t stop thinking about it. While most games are forgotten the day after I finish them – deleted, done – E33 still sits on my PS5. I can’t bring myself to delete it. I can’t move on to another story. It’s always in the back of my mind.
And I’ll go a step further. I truly believe this game can help people. Help them heal. Help them process grief. Not by escaping it, but by moving through it. It may sound cliché, but I believe that with all my heart.
