Clair Obscur Expedition 33 from Sandfall Interactive is likely one of the most extremely anticipated titles on my radar for 2025. The sport encompasses a turn-based fight system and what appears to be a fully attractive world. I fairly actually jumped on the alternative to get my fingers on a preview construct, and it’s secure to say that what now we have right here goes to be an authorized banger, albeit with some caveats. A few of these are, sadly, fairly apparent and wish addressing.
So, with none additional meandering, let’s get into why you must keep watch over Clair Obscur Expedition 33.
In Clair Obscur Expedition 33, gamers will tackle the position of a member of Expedition 33 as they set forth to battle in opposition to the Paintress. The opening cinematic showcases some backstory and units the scene for what’s to return. The Paintress is a mysterious determine that paints a brand new quantity yearly, and when she does this, everybody of that age will vanish. The folks of Lumiere are, due to this fact, in a race in opposition to time to avoid wasting themselves from extinction and embark on expeditions to struggle in opposition to the Paintress.
Upon touchdown on an island, the members of expedition 33 are met by an previous man who instantly wreaks havoc in opposition to your forces. Inside seconds, your workforce is decimated, together with different expedition crews that sailed out with you. It’s completely terrifying to see this, and the sport instils a way of worry fairly rapidly. Simply what precisely is occurring, and why is the enemy so fearsome?
Someway, after watching your workforce get savagely annihilated, you awaken close to a river and enter the sport’s world of “The Continent”. The very first thing you’ll discover is simply how lovely the setting is in Clair Obscur Expedition 33. You’ll quickly encounter an NPC who will train you the way to battle, and that is the place the sport really shines.
Battles in Clair Obscur Expedition 33 are turn-based with a twist. Gamers will have the ability to use firearms to take purpose at enemies and fireplace photographs at their weak factors for elevated injury. On high of this, you may as well mix assaults together with your allies for much more injury. One of many extra lively parts of battling includes the flexibility to parry or block enemy assaults. When you get your timing proper, you may as well launch a strong counterattack in opposition to your foe, and it’s all so ridiculously flashy to see in motion.
It’s additionally so satisfying while you block an assault or completely parry it, and the visible results actually intensify this additional. A controversial function that has made its manner into Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is the inclusion of QTEs (Fast Time Occasions) to battles. Whereas some folks might hate QTEs, others love them, so it actually comes all the way down to your private choice in case you’ll take pleasure in these or not. This additionally brings me to an enormous downside with battles that I struggled with. I’ll get to this in a bit.
As I progressed by way of the preview construct, I’d encounter one other celebration member, and her assaults had been fairly totally different to Gustave, our protagonist. Lune’s assaults contain the usage of Stains, that are basically elemental magic expertise. There are 5 varieties of stains, and utilizing the best one is important to defeat foes in an efficient method. You can even combo stains for added injury primarily based on the enemy’s weaknesses.
Along with this, every character can equip “Pictos”, that are equipment that may enhance your stats and provide you with a passive benefit that may be realized known as Lumina. Constructing your characters up with Pictos and Lumina will probably be important for bettering them as you progress by way of the sport. That is all pretty customary fare to date for any self-respecting RPG.
The place Clair Obscur Expedition 33 falters lies with the truth that battles appear ridiculously tough as you progress additional. This can be restricted to the preview construct, however some enemies hit extraordinarily exhausting, and simply making an attempt to outlive turns into a mission in completely timing your dodges and parries or else you’ll be destroyed.
When you aren’t a fan of rhythm video games or video games that want you to time button presses completely, you will endure right here. I struggled and persevered, however different players on the market is probably not as affected person as I’m. The actual-time battle points interwoven into the turn-based system complicates issues closely when an enemy assault is one thing you must at all times monitor and attempt to predict.
The sport world of Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is jaw-droppingly attractive. You’ll need to absorb as a lot element as you’ll be able to as you progress by way of the sport world, and it’s a disgrace that the preview construct didn’t showcase a photograph mode. The ultimate launch construct of the sport desperately wants one, particularly when the environments are so visually interesting. One factor that does have to be famous, although, is the truth that the preview construct suffered from a few bugs.
Efficiency took successful at any time when one thing flashy occurred on display in battles and the sport has an obscene quantity of movement blur, or a filter that makes it look blurry all through, which is extremely disorientating. In my run of the preview construct, I additionally encountered a problem the place a tutorial pop-up dimmed the display, and even after closing it, all the sport remained dimmed.
Clair Obscur Expedition 33’s soundtrack is completely incredible, with the primary theme being so lovely you’ll need to simply sit and take heed to it in its entirety. The voice performing is carried out by seasoned veteran,s too. I extremely advocate testing Sandfall Interactive’s YouTube channel mini-documentary relating to the primary theme. You possibly can see it under:
Clair Obscur Expedition 33 Trailer
General, Clair Obscur Expedition 33 does numerous issues proper. The battle system instantly brings Persona to thoughts with an eclectic combination of Closing Fantasy and rhythm video games too which will or is probably not successful relying on the ultimate launch construct. The sport’s world is a spectacle to behold and if the blurriness could be toned down a bit, it will likely be even higher. Positively keep watch over this sport. It’s shaping as much as be one thing price testing on launch day in case you’re a fan of role-playing turn-based video games with a robust fight spine.
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