I’ve been questioning why everybody appears so hyped on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It’s the debut recreation from Sandfall Interactive, an unbiased French studio with fewer than 30 staff, and it’s attracted large partnerships in video video games and movie over the previous 5 years. Expedition 33 has a high-profile , together with Andy Serkis, Charlie Cox, Shala Nyx and Jennifer English. It acquired an , it was picked up by Pacific Drive writer Kepler Interactive in 2023, and it was of Xbox’s first showcase of 2025. Although the sport isn’t out till April, Story Kitchen has already signed on to show it right into a .
On the very least, Expedition 33 has appeared like a straightforward recreation to fall in love with.
After enjoying simply over three hours of Expedition 33, I perceive all of it — the hype, the short love and the quiet pleasure generated by the sport’s writing, performing, world and mechanics. Expedition 33 is modern and completely beautiful.
Expedition 33 seems like a status drama set in a surreal, barely gothic 3D panorama. Tonally it’s drenched in melodrama, and visually it’s paying homage to Recreation of Thrones, however with Belle Époque stylings and mountains of diabolical magic. The realm of Lumière has been consumed by a strong being referred to as the Paintress — she paints a brand new quantity on the tower every year and all folks of that age immediately die. She’s been counting down for greater than half a century, killing the oldest residents first, and he or she’s simply painted the quantity 33. The folks of Lumière ship out annual expeditions to cease the Paintress, however to this point, they’ve all been met with loss of life. The heroes of expedition 33 have one yr to stay.
Once we meet Gustave within the preview, issues aren’t going effectively for expedition 33. His occasion has been ambushed by a mysterious white-haired man — somebody so outdated that he shouldn’t be capable of exist on this world — and Gustave is alone. Gustave has a magical robotic arm and a really French moustache, and he units off via lush forests and darkish, moist caves to trace down different survivors. He does discover some, however solely after he almost kills himself in despair. Lune, a strong-willed and scholarly mage, seems simply in time to save lots of Gustave from himself, and collectively they meet up with Maelle, Gustave’s introverted however highly effective foster sister.
Your occasion helps six playable characters within the full recreation, however the preview focuses on these three. The prestige-drama vibes stem from their interactions, and significantly their persona clashes. In a single cutscene, Lune and Gustave discover themselves sitting round a campfire on a starry evening, screaming at one another in regards to the ethics of utilitarianism. Between tirades, Gustave screams, “Fuck the mission!”
Finally their depth subsides and the dialog returns to a tentatively amicable area. On the finish of the scene, the shot pans to Lune, who smirks and says, “Fuck the mission? Actually?”
Gustave sheepishly responds, “Sorry.” And instantly, I’m deeply invested within the relationship between Lune and Gustave, but in addition Maelle and the entire associates they’ve come to save lots of. It doesn’t harm that these cutscenes are really beautiful, with lifelike pores and skin textures and dust smudges in close-up photographs, and delightful performances by all actors.
From cutscenes to fight, Expedition 33 is radiant.
Environments within the preview develop extra surreal as Gustave, Lune and Maelle journey nearer to the Paintress, who’s hidden herself throughout deep seas and expansive land lots. They journey via uncooked areas shattered by magic, boulders hovering in mid-air and ornate buildings haphazardly embedded in odd locations, damaged and inhospitable. Anthropomorphized rock enemies roam the lands and there are bits of chroma — forex, basically — to search out, and a few upgrades hidden off the linear path. We’re not speaking Avowed ranges of shinies, however a minimal sense of curiosity is unquestionably rewarded.
When exploring, you’ll be able to swap amongst occasion members with out breaking stride, and Lune emerged as my clear favourite. As a substitute of working, Lune speed-hovers just a few inches above the bottom, and embodying her is like hovering via a dream. Operating (or hovering actually quick) feels nice within the recreation, and so does the grapple system that flings you throughout gaps and up buildings. There are additionally climbable handholds and ropes of sunshine that act as elevators, and all of it really works a deal with.
The sport’s dreamlike feeling solely crystallizes in Flying Waters, a area that appears and behaves as if it’s on the backside of the ocean — bubbles, shipwrecks, whales and all — however and not using a drop of water to be discovered. You breathe, stroll, run and leap as regular right here, however there are colleges of fish swimming via the air and the waterline is seen excessive above you. It’s splendidly trippy.
I might spend the remainder of this preview simply gushing about Expedition 33’s fabulous environments, characters and enemies, or its top-notch writing, music and graphics — however let’s discuss fight.
Expedition 33 is a turn-based recreation with clear JRPG influences, however it provides a twist to the standard battle system: quick-time prompts. Your occasion members have the flexibility to make use of an merchandise, deploy a particular talent, or plain-old assault, plus they’ve a Free Goal transfer that may snipe enemy weak factors earlier than a full strike. There are elemental weapons to equip and improve, and every character runs on a definite battle mechanic. Gustave has an overcharge system that powers up his robotic arm for a particular transfer, Lune makes use of elemental stains to stack particular harm, and Maelle switches amongst three fencing stances. Balancing therapeutic, buffs, defensive strikes and assaults is a fragile dance in Expedition 33, and the preview actually began to sing as soon as I had all three members properly leveled up, kitted out and slinging varied forms of elemental harm.
In contrast to conventional turn-based play, there are real-time prompts embedded in your talent assaults, and executing these delivers bonus harm and results. The Remaining Fantasy sequence has toyed with this concept to blended success, however in Expedition 33 it’s a essential, finely tuned system, and I like the strain it creates. Fast-time components infuse the acquainted turn-based loop with a twitchy form of readability, including just a few additional dopamine hits to the traditional press-and-wait rhythm. Every QTE immediate is difficult with out being punishing, and it’s not simply offensive strikes that get the real-time remedy. Dodging, parrying and leaping are important abilities in Expedition 33, and these mechanics demand your consideration with each enemy flip.
Briefly, no, you received’t be capable of set the controller down throughout fight in Expedition 33. And, sure, I’m completely right here for it.
Perhaps it’s as a result of every character strikes a dramatic pose each time it’s their flip, however fight has a definite Persona aptitude (and it is a great point in my ebook). In the meantime, the sport’s soundtrack has echoes of Nier: Automata and Tetris: Impact, and altogether, even boss battles generally is a little bit of an emotional expertise.
Within the curiosity of preserving this preview below 3,000 phrases, I’m not going to get into the specifics of improve timber and useful resource sorts, however I’ll say that I discovered these methods to be purposeful and responsive. I used to be happy with how usually my occasion leveled up, there have been ample traits to tweak for every character, and the results of my stat manipulation had been instantly obvious in fight. Relaxation assured, Expedition 33 is an RPG.
Although that is simply based mostly on a preview, Expedition 33 appears extremely polished. Not solely does it play seamlessly on a macro stage, however it additionally will get the smallest particulars proper, together with voice-acted reminiscences, haptic suggestions that kicks in when a grapple level is in vary, an opaque textual content field that’s each readable and seamlessly built-in into each scene, and the flexibility to place a rose in Gustave’s hair, even in cutscenes. Your complete preview is spectacular.
That stated, I ponder whether Expedition 33 is too spectacular, technically talking. I performed the preview at a secure 1080p/60 on a gaming PC with an RTX 4070 Tremendous, and I didn’t encounter any points, however locking to 60 fps at 1440p was past my setup. This seems like a recreation that’s going to interrupt a variety of hearts and PC components. And it’s not simply PC — I’m curious to see how Expedition 33 will run on any console that isn’t a PlayStation 5 Professional.
However, that’s a consideration for evaluate time. The preview for Expedition 33 illuminates why Sandfall Interactive has acquired a lot pre-launch consideration and assist. Expedition 33 consists of lovely contradictions: It’s a JRPG however it comes from a Western studio. It’s a fantasy RPG constructed outdoors the restrictions of Dungeons & Dragons rulesets. I’s an indie recreation that appears, sounds and feels AAA. Most of all, Expedition 33 is refreshing.
Expedition 33 is because of hit PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Sequence X/S on April 24.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/clair-obscur-expedition-33-preview-stunning-visuals-innovative-combat-prime-melodrama-140052194.html?src=rss
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