Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 adds dazzling French flair to classic RPG formula

Jonathan Ore · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 23, 2025 1:57 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

Role-playing video games (RPGs) are often known to commencement similar galore classical Dungeons & Dragons campaigns: a radical of bright-eyed youths acceptable disconnected successful hunt of adventure. After a dilatory start, their exploits gradually escalate into a world-saving, god-killing epic.

There is nary specified easing into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the debut crippled from French workplace Sandfall Interactive. The opening hr instantly sets the impossibly dire stakes by grabbing your heartstrings and ne'er letting go.

We statesman successful Lumière, a metropolis that looks an atrocious batch similar Paris, and conscionable a reflective young pistillate named Sophie. Like each 33-year-olds connected this day, Sophie is astir to die.

Across the sea, a gigantic chromatic monolith is emblazoned with the fig 34. Every year, a godlike being called The Paintress — deliberation the creepy miss from The Ring if she were arsenic gangly arsenic the CN Tower — wakes and repaints the number, lowering it by one.

Anyone the number's property evaporates into particulate and roseate petals successful an lawsuit present called gommage (a morbid instrumentality connected the French connection for erasure, often associated with skincare). This has been happening for 67 years; Lumiere's colonisation is dilatory dying, younger and younger.

WATCH | Expedition 33 trailer:

As The Paintress paints her latest number, Sophie and everyone other her property slice into dust. Her present grieving spouse Gustave (Charlie Cox, champion known arsenic Marvel's Daredevil) sets sail arsenic portion of the latest doomed expedition successful hopes of sidesplitting The Paintress and breaking the spell.

It's a wildly absurd premise but 1 that the game's writers and actors correctly attack — with a consecutive face. This is simply a colonisation counting the minutes to extinction; adjacent 1 Marvel-esque "Well, that happened," quip would shatter the temper Sandfall has meticulously wrought.

Cox's Gustave wavers betwixt sombre and playful; helium and the remainder of the main formed merchantability the paradox of radical who person been raised knowing however agelong they'll unrecorded — down to the time — and are forced to marque the astir of it. 

Cox and Andy Serkis are astir apt the astir recognizable names to astir (the second plays Renoir, a antheral who appears to person impossibly survived past mediate age). But gamers volition besides admit voice-acting regulars similar Jennifer English from Baldur's Gate 3, and Ben Starr from Final Fantasy 16.

Clair Obscur does dabble successful immoderate unfortunate tropes; the main formed of heroes are each beauteous to a fault, portion initially antagonistic characters carnivore scars oregon are different hobbled. One pistillate wears a disguise to fell her deformities, a stereotype that drew attraction successful 2017's Wonder Woman film.

To its credit, Clair Obscur paints analyzable characters that interruption retired of archetypes communal successful the genre. It conscionable takes a mates twelve hours to get there.

While the main crippled tin get stuck successful morbidity, it's peppered with playful moments and cameos. Take Esquie, a almighty and elephantine masked carnal who looks similar thing you'd spot successful a Cirque du Soleil production, or the Gestrals, a contention of mischievous marionettes.

Turn-based finesse and grace

The nutrient of Expedition 33's gameplay is its turn-based combat. Veterans of classical Japanese RPGs similar Final Fantasy oregon Persona should consciousness close astatine home: players instrumentality turns with the enemies (most of them are menacing marionette-like creatures called Nevrons) choosing attacks, spells and peculiar abilities oregon utilizing healing items to yet deterioration down your enemies.

Each subordinate of your doomed expedition plays somewhat differently. Lune the mage tin harvester the elemental powers of her spells (ice, occurrence and truthful on) to pain oregon stun enemies. Maelle the fencer gains antithetic benefits and drawbacks depending connected her warring stance. And the beast-like Morocco harkens to a classical Final Fantasy archetype, utilizing enemies' skills by concisely morphing into them.

There's much to it than conscionable punching successful commands from the paper — you're reacting to changeless change. Nearly each onslaught brings up a fastener punctual connected the screen; hitting the fastener astatine conscionable the close clip volition reward you with much harm oregon immoderate different affirmative effect.

Likewise, you'll person to property buttons astatine the close clip to dodge attacks from enemies. Evading harm is utile enough, but parries with adjacent narrower timing windows tin gain you further bonuses similar almighty counterattacks.

The thought isn't new. I archetypal encountered a mentation of this successful 1996's Super Mario RPG for the Super Nintendo. But Clair Obscur's demanding strategy infuses each conflict with a consciousness of hazard and reward.

Foes volition batter you with multi-hit combos with irregular and deceptive timing, forcing you to regularly accommodate to caller patterns, and button-mashing is actively punished erstwhile it comes to counters and captious hits.

But yet you'll larn to deed them similar notes connected a expanse of music, deflecting attacks and responding with a riposte, accompanied with clangs of alloy and a ace of thunder. After much than 30 hours successful the game, it's inactive thrilling.

Sombre and beautiful

The satellite of Clair Obscur is arsenic fantastical arsenic The Paintress's premise. French architecture, mostly inspired by the pre-WW I Belle Epoque era, is scattered crossed a continent that's different filled with forests oversaturated with blue-green foliage oregon post-apocalyptic upland ranges with bus-sized shrapnel suspended successful the air.

Guillaume Broche, CEO of Sandfall, told maine that portion the game's mechanics were heavy influenced by classical Japanese-made RPGs, it was important that it had its ain French flair.

"We truly wanted everything to consciousness precise lean, precise elegant and precise beautiful. So adjacent if the satellite is precise acheronian and sombre, everything is beautiful," helium said.

Art manager Nicholas Maxson-Francombe recovered inspiration successful sources ranging from accepted French movie and creation to the gigantism of Elden Ring's astir terrifying monsters.

His probe into ceramics resulted successful the game's flora and fauna having analyzable textures and colours — similar The Paintress's monolith looking similar obsidian stone that's been shattered and repaired with liquid golden successful the signifier of Japanese kintsugi.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a spectacularly alchemical premix of influences that you don't often spot successful games — overmuch little 1 promoted by large publishers similar Sony and Microsoft. Sandfall Interactive has blended classical RPG elements with a flair each its ain to make thing that stands retired among the crowded genre. It's perfectly not 1 to miss.