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laereviewsrandomly · 2 months ago

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Lae Reviews: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

What a game, huh? I had been following this game for a while before its release, having found it a year ago when its reveal trailer dropped for all to see, and my expectations have never been met so perfectly. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based role-playing game developed by Sandfall Interactive and released in April 2025. The game follows a group of Expeditioners on their journey to defeat the Paintress so that the limitations upon their lives are lifted.

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

In this section, I will provide my short, spoiler-free review. My numerical rating of the game (out of ten) will also be provided here. I have never been so utterly captivated by a game until I pressed play on Clair Obscur. Which is strange to say when it comes from former developers at Ubisoft. However, any expectations I had for this game, and they were high, were shattered when I allowed myself to sit down and play it through properly. I dedicated an entire day to my first session of it and, God, it was worth it. The gameplay is delightful, even for those who do not find themselves drawn to turn-based games often. It is surprisingly fast-paced in encounters, and I found myself on the edge of my seat often, attempting to lock the hell in so that I would have a perfect round of defence before my go.

An incredibly accurate representation of what I would be doing in encounters

Immensely enjoyable gameplay, mixed with one of the best game soundtracks I've had the pleasure of experiencing, creates a gaming experience that honestly I can only describe as ascending to the heavens. The music in this game is heavenly. There is no other way to put it, honestly. It is an all-consuming soundtrack that buries itself into the core of your being, no matter if you are in an intense fight, or a gut-wrenching scene (of which there are many).

The story, which I won't speak on very much in this segment, is a fantastic exploration of grief and what love can do to a person. I will fully admit I shed tears over several moments, and I would do it all again. If you are looking for a story to make you question everything about love, you have certainly found it.

Ratings:

Music: 10/10 Gameplay: 9/10 Story: 10/10 Satisfaction: 10/10 Replayable?: Absolutely.

Overall score: 9.75/10

SPOILER REVIEW AHEAD

From this point on, spoilers are everywhere! You have been warned...

GAMEPLAY

Now, I'm not the biggest turn-based game player on the planet. I've played Baldur's Gate 3 and enjoyed it, but that is about as far as my experience with the genre goes. So, I can't make comments in the same way as veterans of the genre, but I can provide a casual player's perspective.

Skills, Pictos and Luminas

My favourite part about the skills in Clair Obscur is how varied they are, while also being uniquely tailored to each character. The characters all have very different ways of fighting, very different playstyles, that can all provide a sort of synergy with one another. Skills are not outrageously expensive, and you can strategise when spending your skill points so that you can get to some insanely powerful skills that make the late game incredibly fun to play. When I'm being honest with myself, I'll admit one of my favourite parts of this game is watching the damage numbers get massive at the very start of a round. It's like my own personal brand of heroine, and the skills make it easier to get there. Once I unlocked Maelle's Stendahl ability, I realised that there was really no going back for me. It truly is her best ability, doing insane damage and making it feel so very satisfying. I believe it is that satisfaction that makes the skill system work so well for me, the skills are simple to understand once you understand a character's core gameplay and then the dopamine rush you get from hitting an annoying boss with a million points of damage with a skill you worked towards from Act 1 all the way into Act 3 really just is a feeling unlike any other.

Me looking at a mini-boos like a delicious meal in Act 3 onwards. I won't lie, when they first brought up Pictos and Luminas in the game, I got confused. However, I am slow to understand parts of games, no matter the game, so I can't necessarily fault the game for that. Pictos and Luminas are those extra passive boosts that you can get aside from your skills to improve your damage, defence and overall gameplay. You can equip up to three Pictos at one time, per character, and you train them through three different stages in battle. They can also be levelled up, which increases the stat boosts they provide. Luminas are then extra Pictos that you can add to your character through Colours of Lumina points, found all around the game maps. Colours of Lumina allow you to slowly add more Pictos to your characters and make them insanely strong - and I mean insanely. After I had finished the main story on my first run of the game, I went around and did some side-questing in my pursuit of achievements. I had around 90-100 Colours of Lumina at that point, and I found a mini-boss just in the open world. In all honesty, I flew into it accidentally, and I hadn't intended to fight the boss - I was quite annoyed at myself over it. Then I realised, I had Maelle first turn; she was in Virtuose Stance, with 8 AP (Attack Points) ready to rumble. So, I did what any sane, frustrated player would do. I used Stendahl, and let me tell you...With Pictos and Luminas backing that one attack, and two perfect skill checks passed, that boss was seeing the light of heaven before Maelle even finished the move. Insane power. For some, it takes the joy out of it - for me, I was laughing hysterically.

Parrying and Dodging

If anyone tries to claim that they hold the record for being the angriest at a video game, they have never seen me trying to parry the attacks of Simon (part 2: evil boogaloo) in the Abyss. I didn't go into this game expecting a rage mechanic, but by God, I found one. I, one hundred percent, know it is a skill issue on my part, but when you miss a parry in a combo of hits in this game, it feels like God has forsaken you and banished you to the shadow realm at times.

All my rage aside, parrying and dodging are two amazing mechanics that keep the gameplay flowing in encounters. In between your turns, enemies have the chance to attack, and you can either parry the attack or choose to dodge it. Though a simple gameplay addition, it adds an intensity to the game I really did not see coming. Having to remember the combinations of moves that an enemy does in a certain combo, if they force you to jump or if the attack is a gradient (a special attack that deals extra damage), has you staring so intently at the screen that the enemy might get stage fright and run away. I learned, through trial and significant error, that the most important part of an enemy's attack is their sound cue, not their movement. An enjoyably infuriating part of the parry/dodge system is that the enemies love to fake their attacks - they love to do it a lot. It used to drive me mad, I would freak out to the point that I am ninety percent sure that my roommates might be concerned for me. However, once the sound cues became clear to me, it simply became a game of forcing my brain to ignore the endless edging of the enemy animations and instead focus on the sounds they made. I felt like a Jedi in training. The satisfaction of getting through a successful series of parries and hearing the start of your counterattack can only be comparable to eating the best damn dessert of your life. 10/10 would bite my desk in anguish for it again any day.

Stats

The stats in Clair Obscur are incredibly simple: health, strength, defence, critical hit chance and number of turns. Level them up as your character levels up, with three stat points per level. A simple system that does not need anything special, really. It is a normal RPG element. However, I do find that investment in certain stats proved (at least for me) to be surprisingly more effective than doing a standard three points to strength every level. The agility stat has to be the most important in the game; that's all I'll say.

Levels

Clair Obscur has the player explore various maps on the Continent to progress towards the Paintress. Each area is beautiful to the eye and does not feel like it overstays its welcome. You fight various new and interesting enemies that fit the environment they are in, alongside some mini-bosses hidden around the place. The levels all have unique soundtracks as well, allowing for a fresh view to be accompanied by a new, life-changing score. My only issue I ever had with the levels is how confusing some of them are. I find myself getting lost at times and wishing for a map of some kind to gently guide me more onto my path again. I got turned around on many occasions, which could honestly just be a skill issue, but I bring it up regardless. While it was not outright infuriating, mostly because I was too infatuated with the beautiful level design, it was definitely noticeable and I often found myself saying the words "where am I?"

Open World

In the game, once you get through Spring Meadows, you have a vast open world map to explore called the Continent.

You slowly unlock new ways to traverse it thanks to your, hopefully good, friend Esquie, who helps you run, swim and fly around the place.

God, I love that guy.

The open world allows you to enter non-story areas, fight mini-bosses and do challenges. It is a nice expansion on the main story and allows you to really live in the world and immerse yourself in its wonderful oddities. Challenges, such as the Gestral Beaches (certainly a challenge!), allow for you to unlock various new cosmetics and items for your Expeditioners to look and fight their best, which is always a helpful pit stop in between main story quests. Mini-bosses are scattered around in various little challenge areas, as well as on the Continent itself, allowing for extra fighting for those brave enough. Each mini-boss is unique in its fighting style and feels like it was made with love for the genre. Satisfying to beat, even if difficult.

I have insane beef with the Lampmaster mini-boss.

Camp

Once you reach a certain point in the game, leaving to find Maelle in the Flying Waters, the game prompts you to camp for the first time.

Camp allows you to upgrade weapons, invest your Colours of Lumina, and check out your awesome record collection, write in your journal and check on your Expeditioners. One of my favourite things to do in Clair Obscur was checking on the characters. I loved having the individual conversations and growing the relationships between Verso and the others, slowly unlocking new hidden stories about each character while coming to understand their thoughts and feelings about the progressing story. All the while gaining their individual Gradient Attacks (special attacks that do extra damage) that feel like you really earned them through getting to know the character individually. Depth is everywhere in this game, you never have to look far to find a story that is worth the effort of experiencing.

STORY

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has one of the best game stories I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. I could just end it there, to be honest. That's all you need to know; it's incredible. A heart-wrenching tale of what love does to people. Of course, I'm a nerd though so I will be going into detail. However, if you have read this far and not played the game, go play it first! The story should be experienced blind to have the best experience!

Act 1: Gustave

The first act is, unsurprisingly, a lot of set up. You learn about the world, the plight its people face and how they plan to stop it. The prologue, which I'm including in the Act 1 section even though it's a separate chapter (no one can control me), has to be the first game to ever make me cry in the first thirty minutes. Truly, they used Charlie Cox being devastated against me. I hate it when Daredevil is sad. Seeing the Gommage first hand, instead of it just being spoken about, was a fantastic way to open the story. It set the stakes, and it set them high. Having Gustave lose the love of his life instantly gives us a clear motivation for our opening protagonist and has us empathising with his grief and determination from minute one. When Sophie turned into flower petals, I was ready to go to war for that sad little man.

Continuing ever on, you meet your fellow Expeditioners and get to know them before departing for the continent. Then, the game decides the suffering is too minimal for the beginning of a story and has Renoir obliterate everyone. I did not see this coming, and so I was slack-jawed as I watched the people I briefly became acquainted with die like it was D-Day. Gustave was incredibly relatable in that sequence; my guy was just as shocked as I was.

Andy Serkis, always at the scene of a crime. Paragraph TW: Suicidal ideation

Traversing through the Spring Meadows, getting used to the combat system along the way, you find yourself in a moment with Gustave as he experiences his worst moment (worst as in, tragic). He finds a pile of his comrades' corpses in a cave, and a large part of him begins to give him - it's clear in his eyes. He sits there for a moment, contemplating, before he lifts his gun to his skull with a clear intent of giving up as the journey begins. Experiencing a low like this so early in the game was expected, but it didn't make me want to hug the man any less. Gone was the hopeful inventor we saw at the beginning of our expedition; all that remained was the guilt-ridden survivor who could do nothing but stand there as his friends fell one by one to an enemy they could not hope to defeat. The build-up of emotional devastation that Gustave had felt in the literal beginning hour or so of the game gave so much weight to this scene, and I found myself on the verge of tears once more. In that moment, he had lost everyone.

When one falls, we continue.

I feel the introduction of Lune at this moment was a perfect choice. The one character that motivated the rest to move forward, especially Gustave, coming in and reminding Gustave that it is not over until the bitter end. They had a mission, and Lune helped Gustave remember that. Death was expected, and so they had to push through.

You persevere onwards with your duo of Expeditioners until you find Maelle again. In the strange, reality-defying, manor, you catch a glimpse of something not being quite right with Maelle for the first time. From this reunion, I knew something was up with that girl. Her strange relationship with the continent and its creatures was so interesting to watch unfold as this act progressed, her nightmares adding to this. Each time the screen turned black and white, I watched with rapt attention as pieces of the mystery surrounding her revealed themselves slowly. I had my theories, but none were quite right in the end, and I appreciate that. I hate it when I can guess exactly what a story is going to do. I prefer to guess and only get some things correct over predicting the future. Escaping Flying Waters, you go on in search of Gestrals. Gestrals are one of my favourite parts of this game. When I first got to the Gestral Village, I spent about twenty minutes going around and looking at all the different Gestrals. Funny, silly little paintbrush people that add a lightness to the story that I needed. I giggled when they talked to me about their love of fighting and beating each other up, and I loved how when you fight some of them, they are distinctly unique fighters (big up my goat, Dominique Giant Feet).

I could not find a GIF of Dominique Giant Feet, so have Monoco doing a little jig instead.

Fighting through the Gestral Tournament allows you to add my favourite empath, Sciel, to your party. Sciel is the lifeblood of your Expedition, in my humble opinion. She acts as the glue holding everyone together while still being surprisingly calm. Not to mention, she is strong as hell in battle. I am a big fan of the sequence in the village; it acts as a nice breather for the story. You go through, experiencing all this pain from the moment you arrive on the continent, and it's nice to just meet some silly guys and bro around. Get into a cheeky fight with a few of them and then find one of your friends. An optimistic section, it made me very happy. After unlocking Sciel, you go on to find one of my favourite characters in the game - Esquie. God, this guy is such a goofy goober. I love him. I would give my life for him. While he is mainly there to help you traverse the continent in new ways to progress the story, I love that you can just go have a silly conversation with him at your camp. Incredibly sad story beat? He knows he will hug you. Just feeling down for all the tragedy in this game? He'll provide you with a silly dialogue that turns those Whoo feelings into Whee feelings. He's not a big part of the story, but he is my world.

After meeting Esquie, the game decides you have had too much joy and promptly fixes that. Gustave's death punched me in the jaw and shot me three times. I did not see it coming at all. I felt as Maelle did in that moment, devastated and angry. It is always effective when the villain kills a fan favourite, I just didn't expect it to be our protagonist. I will admit I had to sit there in shock for about ten minutes after it happened. A soul-destroying moment after so many hopeful encounters. A reminder of mortality in a world built to punish its people for sins they did not commit. Certainly a way to end an act, that's for sure.

Act 2: Verso

I don't think we could have met Verso under worse circumstances. He shows up, saves Maelle from Renoir and is suddenly the new character that replaces Gustave. I suppose that gave me a little bias against him in the beginning. I mean, he thought he could waltz in and replace my goat after all! Not okay. However, through this act, he proves himself to the group and me, as he helps them progress further towards the Paintress. Verso is one of those characters that you go in with a distrust of his reasoning. You find yourself wondering why he didn't step in sooner and save Gustave; you might even blame him for Gustave's demise. I know I did, a little. But you grow to love this poor little broken man who just wants a happy life with his family, being normal.

Not long after meeting Verso, we are introduced to Monoco. Monoco is a Gestral who can speak English (the only one who can, seemingly). He's a little bit of an oaf, but I found that incredibly endearing about him. Monoco was, for me, an apology directly from Sandfall for killing Gustave. My favourite addition to the Expeditioners and his feet collection truly acted as a lifesaver in some fights for me (no, I'm not explaining the feet collection, you have to go play the game for that one). Adding a being that has only ever lived on the Continent was such a wonderful choice in my opinion, all he wanted to do was impress the humans and live his life with Noco.

Once Monoco is safely in your Expedition, you journey onwards to Old Lumiere as instructed by Verso. The characters become more comfortable with one another, and at camp, you can improve Verso's relationship level with the different characters to unlock new abilities and get them to open up to him. I think adding a relationship-level system with the arrival of Verso is brilliant. It means you can slowly get to know the characters even better alongside him; with Gustave, you were at a disadvantage, the characters had known each other all their lives, but with Verso, you're given a chance to understand them from step one.

Through Old Lumiere, you come to a familiar Manor. There, you have a moment with Maelle, furthering the mystery surrounding her, only for it to be interrupted by Verso. In this sequence, Verso is revealed to be related to Renoir. While this didn't surprise me, I rather enjoyed how the other characters reacted to him. After the boss fight with Renoir, the characters are colder to Verso for a bit, apart from Monoco and Esquie. I liked that a lot. Verso being stonewalled a bit, both made sense and added to my distrust of him. At that point, I had grown to like him more, but I sure as hell did not trust him to do the right thing. The manor scenes were a great way to show how Verso is not necessarily here to just help the Expedition.

Progressing onwards, you defeat Axons to create a way to breach the barrier around the Paintress. However, when you get to her, you find yourself unable to harm her. No skill harms her, and there is nothing to counterattack - she doesn't even acknowledge you.

It becomes obvious that the giant Paintress is not the real thing, and the Expedition must enter the Monolith. The Monolith level has to be my favourite in the game. A walk through all the main story levels again, reminding yourself of how far you have come to get here, with each one having a glimpse into the memories of the Paintress. It is here where you start to feel little questions bubbling up in your mind, wondering if you're doing the right thing. I loved seeing each memory and properly starting to piece together the identity of the Paintress. When you finally reach her, her identity is made clear when she sees Verso.

The Paintress being Verso's mother made me question fighting her at all. She seemed so confused and lost, but also grieving. It is here that you understand the tragedy that befell the Dessendre family. The fire spoken of in brief dialogue and the regret that follows Verso has its first small payoff here. In the second phase of the Paintress fight, I found myself hesitant to attack her because of all the built up emotional surrounding the fight. In the end, I did finish the fight. The Paintress is defeated and Verso and his family regain the mortality they lost.

The group returns to Lumiere, hailed as heroes, as Verso slips away to read the letter his sister gave him. At this moment, it is revealed that the Paintress was never the true adversary of the plot, and Verso knew that. In an incredible twist, we learn that Verso had neglected to tell anyone of the real threat that they face as everyone in Lumiere Gommages. The end of Act 2 was somehow more devastating than Act 1 for me. It was a soul-crushing moment that had me step away from the game for a full day as I came to terms with how all the efforts of my Expeditioners were in vain, and Verso knew. The Act Epilogue is disorienting, especially after what just happened. After Maelle Gommages, her true memories are revealed to her. It is revealed that the world the player had been fighting for was, in fact, an artificial reality created by the real Verso. We learn that Maelle is Alicia, Verso's sister, and she had been badly injured in the fire that killed the real Verso. We learn of Alicia's guilt over Verso's death, and how their mother lost herself in grief, choosing to stay in Verso's canvas. At this point, we come to a simple qualm I have with the story: they briefly talk about a war between Painters and Writers in the real world, and I found myself wanting to know more about it. It's not really expanded on, and I do understand why, but it doesn't stop my curiosity, which frustrated me a little bit.

We find out that Alicia went into the canvas to help with the fighting between her mother and father. Her father had gone into the canvas to convince her mother to leave it and come back to reality, and they were in a stalemate. Alicia sought to help with the turmoil, only to lose herself in the canvas and live a false life as Maelle. I found this reveal interesting, and I believe it was satisfying to experience the mystery of Maelle coming together.

Act 3: Maelle

This act is rather short compared to the others, but I'm alright with that. Maelle returns to the canvas with her memories intact and brings back Verso. They speak of everything that happened and of Verso's choice to hide Maelle's identity from her.

This act is purely for pulling everything together, to tie off some loose ends and to provide a closing statement on the game. Maelle revives your Expeditioners, and it then montages her collecting Chroma (power) to then take on her father after a retreat at the beginning of the act. I do appreciate that they did not make us go through and grind Chroma collection, I cannot say the same for other games (cough, Ubisoft, cough), but I do feel that it did make the act feel somewhat like it was speedrunning through. The final battle in Lumiere is pretty awesome. The music is at its best, Maelle's Chroma soldiers are holding off enemies all around you as you get closer to Renoir to stop him from destroying the canvas.

The final confrontation with Renoir is interesting; you don't just oust him from the canvas and call it a day. Instead, it ends with Maelle convincing him to let her stay in the canvas in a gut-wrenching moment as you realise the canvas is consuming her much like her mother. Verso, however, does not want this to happen. Maelle and Verso have a confrontation where you are forced to choose a side between them.

Me when I am forced to choose between Pookie One and Pookie Two.

Whoever you side with defines your ending. There are only two endings in the game. I can safely say the ending I chose was not the right one. I sided with Maelle, and I got a modern tragedy as I watched Verso beg Maelle to end it. I don't think I will ever truly recover from the ending I got, which is why I will be getting through a New Game+ to see the other one (I'm using it as an excuse to play the game again). God, this game knew exactly how to kill me. Coming out of this game, I feel like a different person from the one going in. Grief and love have never felt so close together for me, and it was truly an exploration of how much my heart can take. Turns out, my heart can't take much.

Me after finishing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for the first time.

MUSIC

LISTEN TO IT. EXPERIENCE ASCENSION.

Threats aside, this is probably my favourite game soundtrack ever. I don't usually listen to soundtracks outside of where they come from, it's just not really my thing, but I found myself drawn to this one so badly that it has the top position on my Spotify On Repeat playlist.

I genuinely cannot fully express how embedded this music is in my being. I took moments of pause in various encounters just to break it down to the sound of a French woman pouring her heart and soul into each song. It all being composed by just one person is literally insane to me. How does one create so many bangers without failure? I know I'll never reach such heights.

CONCLUSION

This game will be stuck in my brain for the rest of my days. My expectations for video games have been lowering as of late, with games such as Assassin's Creed Shadows numbing me to the point that I just played games to get through the motions. I had lost my love of single-player stories until I was graced with Clair Obscur and reminded that some stories are told for the experience, not the profit. If you decide to play only one story-driven game this year, in the sea of multiplayers and battlepasses, play the little French game and learn what it is like to experience a true labour of love. Now, I hope you enjoyed this ramble of a review. I did it for those who come after.

P.S.: This is my first review! I tried my best! :)

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