On paper, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 should’ve never succeeded.
It’s the debut title from Sandfall Interactive, a new studio founded by a team of just two core members who had no previous gaming industry experience.
Disillusioned by the creative constraints of their previous AAA gigs, the Sandfall founders put their faith into essentially complete newcomers for many of its major positions such as lead writer, art director, and music composer.
Add to that the challenge of working through a global pandemic along with a significant reboot, and you get an against-all-odds story that mirrors the heroes of Expedition 33.
As of writing this review, the gambit has paid off. Clair-Obscur: Expedition 33 is firmly a GOTY contender with a film in the works to boot. The elements that were piloted by first-timers were arguably its most memorable parts.
Within the constraints of an AA budget, Sandfall has made a defiant stand against the stagnation of an industry that has become characterized by corporate meddling and creative risk aversion.
Our review for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was conducted with the PC version on Steam.
Story Premise and Gameplay Summary
If you’ve been intrigued by anything you’ve heard of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, we recommend going into the game blind.
For the rest of you, we’ll try to keep it as spoiler-free as possible.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 takes place in an alternative version of France, with aspects of our reality combined with fantastical elements from floating streetlamps and a spiraling Eiffel Tower to strange magical technologies.
You play as Gustave, voiced by Charlie Cox. By the way, despite the game’s AA budget, it has one of the most stacked casts of all time, with Andy Serkis, Jennifer English, Ben Starr, and more.
Gustave is a member of Expedition 33, the latest band of volunteers who will be embarking on a mission to defeat the Paintress a mysterious being who paints a number each year. When she does, everyone older than that number is Thanos-snapped, removed from existence.
We’ll dive deeper into the gameplay loop in the “The Highs” section below, but here’s a quick summary.
At its core, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a JRPG-style game featuring turn-based combat, party management, and open world exploration.
If that genre gives you pause, don’t worry — this is far from a traditional experience.
What sets Expedition 33 apart is that it also incorporates the mechanical skill expression of soulslike games, along with a more grounded and mature Western writing style.
It offers a low barrier to entry for newcomers while still providing a high ceiling with plenty of surprises for long-time genre veterans.
The Highs
Masterclass Worldbuilding
Expedition 33 delivers one of the most cohesive and striking worldbuilding packages in recent memory — from its music and sound design to its art direction, character design, and setting. It stands among the all-time greats in this regard. 10/10, no notes.
Its title, Clair Obscur, is the French term for chiaroscuro, an Italian art concept centered on the contrast between light and dark. Expedition 33 doesn’t just reference this idea — it embodies it in ways only the video game medium can.
From the moment the game loads and the opening track’s piano, strings, and haunting vocals begin, you’re transported to the world of Lumière.
The setting is steeped in melancholic beauty, effortlessly bouncing between moments of whimsy and horror in ways that would impress Guillermo del Toro.
These aesthetic elements serve the game’s complex themes of life, death, and the different ways humans face everything in between.
That’s all we’ll say for now! Even if you don’t play the game yourself, we highly recommend listening to the soundtrack or watching a full playthrough like a movie.
Raises the Bar for Turn-Based RPGs
By combining the traditional conventions of JRPGs with elements of soulslikes, Sandfall has found a sweet spot that will likely be a new standard for the genre.
Some games make you believe you’re a big-brain strategist, while others make you feel like a mechanical god - Expedition 33 somehow makes you feel like both simultaneously.
On one end, you get the depth and satisfaction of composing a party a la Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, crafting builds for each member, then managing their abilities and resources in battle.
This is blended with the skill expression, precision, and mortal tension from soulslike games like Sekiro as you learn (often the hard way) how to dodge and parry enemy attack patterns.
Add on top quick-time events similar to Legend of Dragoon or Shadow Hearts with variable timings for failure, success, and perfection, you get an addictive balance of macro and micro in every instance of combat.
This philosophy of adding mechanical depth to usually automated aspects is also demonstrated in the Free Aim system. At surface level, it appears to be an adaptation of Persona 5’s guns, but it adds a new layer of aiming at specific targets (that are often moving) to expose and exploit enemy weakpoints.
You can even use the Free Aim system when traversing the world to help set up sneak attacks on enemies to initiate combat. We could go on and on listing the elegant choices they’ve made!
Respects Your Time
Outside of some late game pacing issues that we’ll cover below, Expedition 33 does a commendable job of making your time worthwhile, whether you want to focus on the main quest or explore every aspect of the map.
It delivers a fantastic experience for the core story in just 30 hours (on average), with many more hours of side content.
Gameplay is segmented into efficient chunks with frequent saves, making it easy to pick up for a quick session or dive in for a full marathon.
If you wander off the beaten path, you’ll find hidden bosses, puzzles, and even some genre-shifting minigames. Behind nooks and crannies, you’ll uncover new weapons and abilities, useful resources, and lore drops.
This by no means is reinventing the wheel in JRPGs, but it’s well-executed in Expedition 33 with the optional battles providing real challenge and the fun diversions rarely overstaying their welcome.
The Lows
Warning: There will be slight spoilers regarding the structure of the game, but we will not reveal any plot points.
Late Game Pacing Issues
A traditional problem of the JRPG genre is keeping the difficulty level engaging and consistent.
Since the games are typically on the longer side in terms of hours played with side quests and the ability to grind respawnable monsters, players can often grow in power to the point of making the story content easy.
Until the end of Act 2, Expedition 33 maintains a solid level of pacing for most players, even with some of the optional content done.
However, upon entering Act 3, the map opens up in a way that makes it feel like you should explore the rest of the world before continuing the main story. At this point, you also get access to an ability to exceed the previous limit of 9999 for a single instance of damage.
As we mentioned earlier, the world of E33 is gratifying to explore, but if you do so at this point, you can easily make the final story boss fights anticlimactic in combination with the removed damage limit.
To maintain an engaging challenge level, we recommend beating the final story bosses at the beginning of Act 3 and then returning to the side content afterward. There are some TOUGH fights, so by all means, become overpowered at that point.
Story May Peak Early For Some Players
Before we continue this section, we want to commend Sandfall for delivering a satisfying ending to a boldly ambitious story. It will be talked about and debated for a long time.
That being said, Expedition 33 delivers one of the strongest prologue + Act 1 combinations of all time. It’s both a blessing and a curse.
The rest of the story unravels in ways that make sense and maintains a standard, but it rarely recaptures those early heights in later acts.
Lumina Systems Can Be Tedious
While the Picto and Lumina systems add much depth and variation to builds and playstyles, managing them becomes cumbersome over time.
Since you unlock them quite often, the list will continue to grow, and you’ll have to equip and unequip them continually across your characters if you’re trying to min/max.
There are some navigation options, but they don’t go far enough. Some QoLs, like a search bar or keyword filters, would’ve gone a long way toward smoothing out what becomes a clunky experience.
Our Score
10/10 (A Paint Stroke of Greatness)
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 firmly plants its flag alongside the inspirations that came before it.
In a bleak era where Western AAA has produced more historic blunders than advancements, Sandfall’s underdog story serves as a beacon of hope to the industry, reminding us of what is still possible with the right team and vision.
While it does have its flaws, this is a historic game that we can confidently recommend to JPRG veterans and newcomers alike.
Additional Reviewers Notes
Agilio (Main Reviewer)
Playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 while turning 33 years old IRL was a surreal experience - it was impossible not to put myself in the shoes of Gustave and the rest of the party.
Alongside the notable indie contributions of Chained Echoes and Sea of Stars, I hope the trend of Western dev studios creating JRPG-style games continues after E33’s success.
I can’t wait to see the film and the inevitable orchestra experience - it’s firmly the best gaming soundtrack of the 2020s for me.
Baguettes and hats off to Sandfall for sticking to their guns and giving inexperienced but passionate voices a chance.
Amine
It's very clear when you play this game that the team made it as a love letter to themselves and whoever played it. It’s very authentic and true to itself. It never has any doubts about what it wants to be. It tells a beautiful story and immerses you in a way only video games can AND at the same time has great gameplay evolutions to the RPG genre.
Finishing the ride will leave you deep in thought, reflecting upon your life and sharing with others who have played. While the game does have shortcomings, including the aforementioned act 3 chasm, they don’t diminish the impact of what Sandfall has created. Beautiful.
Ricky
When I first saw the trailer for Expedition 33, it had me interested immediately and I am happy to say it did not disappoint but rather exceeded expectations.
Apart from some pacing/design issues I had with the end, the game was firing on all cylinders all the time for me.
