Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review

In the town of Lumière there are citizens that live in fear of a number painted on a distant monolith that decreases every year. The number shows how long you will live, and as the number counts down the younger you will be when you die, but you won’t die the traditional way, there is no way to game the system you simply blow away in the form of flower petals. The citizens select adventurous souls who are willing to risk it all to go on expeditions to try to conquer The Paintress, the being who changes the number. The hope is that by defeating The Paintress those who come after will be able to live to a ripe old age. However, they are now on Expedition 33, which is closer to the 67th expedition since they name their group after the number currently being displayed. In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 you will take control of Gustave and Maelle, as well as others, as you try to traverse the lands that stand in your way.

This game takes hold of you early and will yank you emotionally all over the spectrum. You will have to fight down hordes of enemies that will get in your way. You’ll at any time have 3 active combatants ready to help. You will also need to become the master of parrying and/or dodging. If you can master either or both you might survive long enough to get to The Paintress. Each character brings a different flair to combat, and it is up to you to find the correct combination to succeed.

This is one of the best games I’ve played in a very long time. I had heard that this was a good game, but I was not prepared to be this amazed. The music was haunting and worked with the world that you find yourself in. The storyline had so many twists that kept me guessing, did I guess some of the twists? Maybe, but overall I was wrong. There are also the NPCs that you’ll come across. I don’t think there is a gamer out there who doesn’t have a soft spot for Esquie after playing the game. Although I will not spoil things for anyone who wants to play the game, I will tell you that there are multiple endings.

I ended up putting over 45 hours into this game, and although there were a couple of spots where it dragged a bit, overall I was satisfied by the amount of time I put into the game. I wish there was more to the game. I will admit that I was not able to conquer all the areas in the game, so there were still things left to do, but I did reach a point where I felt that I was ready to take on the end game content and I took that opportunity.