Clair Obscur Expedition 33 Reviews – Outstanding, exciting turn-based RPG

When I first looked clear clear nabure: expedition 33I knew it could be special. That said, I didn’t expect an ambitious swing from my first time developer Sandfall Interactive. This is both a love letter to old RPGs and a potential vision for the genre’s future.

The stage was set with the release of Expedition 33, an outstanding RPG cast that includes Andy Serkis, Charlie Cox, industry meme machine Ben Starr and Jennifer English from Gate 3 of Bardour.

Combined with Chiaroscuro-style visuals that lend the game its name, a powerful and unforgettable soundtrack, it’s instantly fascinating to see monolithic women scrub some of them from existence each year.

Controlling a small team that is part of the Expedition 33, they set sail from Lumiere (the gorgeous mirror of Belle Epoque Paris, and immediately likened to the Bioshock Infinite) to defeat the ghoul, known only as Paintress. Over the decades, dozens of teams have tried and failed, but the hope is that tech advancements will ultimately help them seal the deal. All expeditions that die to death are easy, knowing they burn the next trail. For those who come later. So that there’s nothing left to try.

The expedition is usually made up of people who are due to die the following year, but Expedition 33 has another enthusiastic attendant. Jennifer English’s Mael is a lonely, lonely 16-year-old girl who wants to head to the fight against the rest of her family. It is the touching and painful beginning of a story about dealing with sadness and the weaknesses of life. The truth is said, it is not even the first tragedy.

He is introduced to this close family early on. Mael shows Charlie Cox’s Gustaves Rope for equally heartbreaking reasons as he travels from the quaint rooftop garden to the streets of Lumiere. It is the annual gommage, the day the pain-resist drew a new number on the monolith, rubbing someone of that age from being.

Given that this has now been happening for the 67th consecutive year, locals are shockingly at peace with this ultimatum. Gommage is currently double as a festival. Not a voyage in Bonn, not a funeral, it is the final farewell, the end of the constant road they have always seen.

Once Expedition 33 competes in the adventure, you can see that Gommage of the year is the last time, and your target looks like it’s more than ever before. It is scattered with a variety of biomes, treasures, trinkets and enemies that can be killed to earn free weapon upgrades. Some of that zones are single-screen areas similar to the pre-rendered backgrounds of PS1-era RPGs, but most are at a longer level with enemies and even strange platform challenges.

But the actual hook is a reactive take on Clair Obscur’s turn-based combat. Learn the attack patterns of your targets and use the ever-expanding Dodge and Parry system to take on anything. There are few attacks with excessive attacks, but subtle clues can help you find the rhythm of your enemy’s weapon. Test your water with a generous Dodge and then try fighting back through a more accurate parry next time. Throws several other complicated factors, such as jumps, triggers, and special counters. There are recipes for radical take on genres that appear to have been too late and old in the HD era.

What’s so much fun is exploring the bigger levels. It is environmentally diverse, but most are shallow, as if Sandfall had failed to solve the other challenges he presents outside of combat. They are not straight corridors to sprint, but ultimately they are boiled down into a maze of cookie cutters with item candies at the edge of each corridor, splitting up an ugly platform.

With no mini maps and a truly memorable set of pieces, events, or remarkable landmarks, unfortunately lacking, you can double the same pass and accidentally repeat the enemy when resting at checkpoints you think are new. These winding paths are often intentionally distracting. Another dead end that sprints without learning more about the world around you. Mythical creatures for chat (and fight) sometimes add a fleeting little fleeting flavour, but they can only do that much.

Narratively, you can understand that there is no fleshed out navigation tools. After all, it’s a fresh expedition. However, once the team leaves it, each checkpoint flag is numbered, so it’s easy to imagine a minimap being etched as it progresses.

Wandering around the zone, the characters have a light joke, but rarely comment on their surroundings. They are quickly insensitive to mass graves and signs of epic battles, and rarely express their thoughts, opinions or theories about what is going on. Instead, once the stories all fit in place, you’ll receive a vague chat with the Spectre, worthy of a reminder.

As the mysterious hints of the larger story were finally (and appreciatively) analysed, I felt that the intended emotional impact could have been more intensely blown if the dolls were more thoughtfully released through each level. Despite the documented inspiration from Lost Odyssey, sadly there is no complement to the thread of the story, like “1000 Years of Dreams” in Shigematsu’s “1000 Years of Dreams.”

Thankfully, the great battles in Sandfall Interactive mean that you’re always thinking about turning over into the next battle. This is a confident and stylish turn-based system inspired by the long and rich heritage of Persona 5, Honkai Star Rail, Lost Odyssey and Final Fantasy. Each playable character has its own important mechanics, including sword stances, colored mana, balanced accusations, combo systems, and even those who collect new skills from defeated enemies.

AP points determine how each character’s turn plays, and all skills cost a different amount. You can use either a skill or a basic attack to finish the turn, but you can mix some skills with placed AP shots to hit enemy weaknesses, cancel attacks, break through shields, and lay the foundation for your next attack. Eventually, they form a powerful team sequence that responds to enemy’s offensive and defensive manipulation.

Combined with fair passive abilities and countless weapon effects, the synergy and scope of the experiment feels almost infinite. And if all three party members die, they call the last two. This dramatic final stand was pushed onto the finish line in some of the toughest battles of the game.

This is a robust system that allows for a spectacular level of strategy. Take your time to tackle complex systems first. That way you can see the sparks flying. It’s a shame that the monotonous customization screen has grown and it’s messy and difficult to decipher. If you can’t see each of the effects equipped in battle, it will also be difficult to use the lot efficiently until you finally settle into rhythm.

Fortunately, properly timed dodge, parry and passive optimizations allow you to achieve that through a 30-hour adventure with default difficulty. And if you’re there just for the story, there’s an easy mode to speed things up.

Given my main UI and level design concerns, this is a candid and surprising first progression from Sandfall Interactive. From its tactical and stylish combat to the outstanding vocal performances and soundtracks in works related to Umatsu’s Lost Odyssey and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, it stays with me.

It is a heartbreaking story that depicts moving pictures of love, loss, and the complex chemistry of family, exploring the painful moral dilemma of the meaning of bringing children into an uncertain world. It is also a significant contribution to the genre that was suddenly expelled due to the aforementioned evolution in the face of tradition, and is a new modern classic that will surely inspire other developers for the next few years.