Within the present panorama of the video games trade, the place publishers are more and more trying to do extra of the identical, solely investing within the secure bets of huge ongoing franchises to offset excessive growth prices, it’s going to take a crafty mixture of progressive gameplay with new and fascinating concepts in storytelling to maintain the single-player market rising and never simply surviving.
Enter Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 developer, Sandfall Interactive—a French studio led by ex-Ubisoft builders devoted to crafting precisely these single-player tales since their founding in 2020.
Whereas we had already seen what kind of presentation, narrative, and fight we’d be getting from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the massive query since its first reveal in June 2024 was ‘How will this really feel to play?’. Fortunately, after diving into the preview construct, I can verify there’s a lot to sit up for in Expedition 33’s official launch subsequent month.
Let’s kick issues off with a bang. From what I’ve performed up to now, the massive spotlight was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s story hook and setting. That shouldn’t come as a shock, given a movie adaptation has already been greenlit. In a darkish fantasy tackle Belle Époque France, Expedition 33 relies in a world the place a mysterious god-like being — the Paintress — is slowly wiping out humanity with just a few strokes of a brush.
Every year, this artist from hell paints a brand new variety of a sure age counting down from the one which got here earlier than. When she does this, anybody of that age turns right into a puff of smoke and dies immediately.
Earlier than they perish, an expedition is product of these already marked for demise to go on a suicide mission to try to defeat the Paintress so she will by no means accomplish that once more. After a few years of failure, the sport joins us with Expedition 33’s band of — you guessed it, 33-year-olds with 12 months left to dwell.
Having us skip the prologue to the place they’ve already crossed the ocean, the Expedition 33 preview kicks off after catastrophe has already struck. With a lot of the wider crew both useless or lacking, you begin with lone squad member Gustave (voiced by Daredevil’s Charlie Cox). He’s ventured onto the Paintress’ monolith within the hopes of reassembling no matter squad members he got here together with, and fulfilling the mission towards not possible odds or die making an attempt.
Certainly one of Sandfall’s objectives with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was to create a high-fidelity, developed turn-based RPG—a stunning area of interest out there. In that division, Expedition 33 succeeds, with immersive, pure landscapes full of vivid colour palettes, euphoric sound design, and well-made cinematics.
To hone in on the audio for a second, it’s the kind of soundtrack the place even whilst you’re taking a break, you’ll need to go away the sport operating, flip the amount up, and bask within the audible glow of the opera-esque vocals and overtures whereas making a espresso.
Expedition 33 isn’t the primary sport to sound nearly as good because it seems to be, nevertheless it’s when the turn-based fight will get going that you just notice how a lot potential there’s right here. In case you’ve performed a turn-based RPG earlier than, particularly JRPGs, the essential mechanics will really feel very acquainted.
Every squad member and enemy get turns, fundamental assaults, AP factors for utilizing expertise, mechanics to replenish AP factors and well being, and disposable objects to revive them. Nevertheless, its integration of real-time fight is a pleasing change from the usual turn-based fare.
When launching assaults, for instance, you’re thrown quick-time button prompts that may improve injury relying in your success. On the enemy aspect, as a result of you may’t guard towards assaults, decreasing or eliminating injury comes right down to well-timed parries, dodges, or jumps—some providing you with a gap for a lovely counter. Not solely are every enemy kind’s assaults completely different, however there are additionally various assault speeds to get used to.
Mastering the home windows to press the dodge or parry button on the proper time might get annoying, particularly when going through a number of the more durable elective bosses on this explicit construct. Be that as it might, the fun of overcoming these struggles generates a compelling sense of trial and error within the title of self-improvement.
That is under no circumstances the primary sport to adapt mechanics like this, nevertheless it appears like one of many first titles in an extended whereas that goes into this a lot element on a cinematic scale.
When mastering these mechanics inside a canvas supported by what looks like such excessive manufacturing values, success feels all of the extra triumphant. That’s extra the case when backed by the soundtrack’s overture that sparks a sense of heroic rebel.
Whereas these starting turn-based plus real-time hybrid fight mechanics make for enjoyable fight, Sandfall has tried to go the additional mile and add RPG twists wherever it may well. For example, together with every squadmate’s distinctive talents, and a wide range of construct prospects in tweaking stats, ability bushes, and equipment, there are the added layers of complexity just like the Luminas system
Together with commonplace weapons gear, yow will discover stat-altering objects known as ‘Pictos’, of which every character can have as much as three outfitted. Together with offering buffs, the outfitted merchandise can be granted particular talents.
These particular talents don’t must be unique to that preliminary consumer, nevertheless. By spending Luminas, a forex that every character has, they’ll purchase the talents of different squadmates’ Pictos for themselves. Mechanics like this supply far more selection in gameplay and construct kinds, making for a fuller RPG expertise.
In case you’re extra of an action-adventure participant who doesn’t like spending a great deal of time in menus to repeatedly tweak loadouts, this stage of depth won’t be for you. Then again, if you happen to love advanced RPG programs—seeing the big timesinks requires repeatedly paying off—you’ll fall in love with Sandfall’s debut title the extra you get into it.
Heading towards the top of Expedition 33’s roughly three-hour preview construct, there was a pointy issue curve across the ultimate boss struggle. Not solely did it have absurdly not possible home windows for dodging and parrying, however a monstrous enemy-buffing-ability that would depart nearly no room for error.
To beat it on the traditional ‘Expedition’ issue, I ended up spending a minimum of an hour grinding simply to get further factors to unlock the appropriate expertise. Even then I solely simply survived by the pores and skin of my tooth. That mentioned, it’s a testomony to Expedition 33’s narrative that it retains you hooked even throughout these extra irritating moments.
Throughout my hours with the preview construct, it was the expedition’s gripping objectives of desirous to be taught extra about this stunning but tragic world, discovering extra survivors, studying of companions’ tales, and most significantly, wanting to find why the Paintress is committing annual genocide that made me need to maintain powering by way of.
Whereas there are occasional gripes with fight issue, it feels minor when in comparison with the sport’s signature premise that acts because the driving pressure pushing you forward.
All through the three hours spent with the preview construct, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 solely received higher with time altogether. With each new squad member and gameplay mechanic it launched, one other compelling layer to the cinematic battles and general expertise was added.
When mixed with the already improbable mixture of snappy fight, ear-pleasing soundtrack, stunning visuals, and engaging darkish story, this complete first course of Sandfall Interactive’s debut sport is making for a novel expertise everybody needs to be keeping track of.
If the remainder of Expedition 33 is that this good, we would have a Recreation of the Yr contender on our fingers. We solely hope they launch the preview construct as a totally public demo so you may attempt it for yourselves.