Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review – A Surreal, Unforgettable RPG Experience

A Modern RPG That Took Me by Surprise

I didn’t expect much from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Sandfall Interactive’s debut title since the studio was established in 2020. A turn-based RPG with an interesting world, slick UI design, flashy animations, and dynamic camera work definitely caught my attention when I first saw it during the Xbox digital showcase in 2024. What I didn’t expect was that, after rolling credits on the main story with over 40 hours spent, I’d consider it not only my current Game of the Year for 2025, but also one of my favorite games of all time.

This game surprised me in more ways than one, as this was a unique experience that oozes passion and creativity. It’s a video game that was inspired by the ones before it, with a story built around a world that is grim yet vibrant, wrapped around a set of characters that can win you over or make you despise them for their role in the overall narrative. 

For Luimiere: Characters and Storytelling That Stand Out

In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the game opens with Gustav, an inventor who joins Expedition 33—a group tasked with stopping the death cycle triggered by the Paintress, a god-like figure whose monolith displays a number that drops each year. Anyone equal to or older than that number is erased from existence. Gustav and his companions embark on a near-impossible journey filled with grim turns and clever twists that kept me invested from the very beginning. It’s a story about grief, and Sandfall Interactive’s approach to this deeply personal emotion elevated the game to new heights. 

I knew I was in for something special when I experienced the game’s prologue, as the game’s first hour perfectly sets the tone of the game. The stakes are well placed in front of the player as its prologue is designed perfectly to give the player all the information needed, striking a perfect balance of teaching the player key systems while doing enough world building to not feel all that overwhelmed, and still find room to strike a strong impression.

Gustav is likable from the get-go, and as other characters join the party, you are met with a colorful cast of characters that bounce well with each other from either the deepest scenes to the most comedic moments. Learning more about each character has been a treat. From Monoco’s appreciation of brandishing enemy feet to Maelle’s struggles with loss, it wasn’t hard to appreciate the game’s downtime where the party gets to settle in a campfire to unwind, allowing the player to freely explore each character on a personal level, learning new things about the world, and witness entertaining conversations between each character in your party. Some even provide valuable insight that puts more context into the narrative.

This also translates to the game’s antagonists and side characters. The game’s villains give you solid reasons to hate them but also give you the tools to understand their situation as their motives aren’t one-dimensional. Side characters you meet in the journey also make a solid impression, as this kind of character building for minor characters adds value to the world you are taking in as I felt the urge to talk to each character I meet. I’m rewarded with either some entertaining dialogue or a possible reward for being too curious.

As much as the game has its serious and dark moments, it doesn’t shy away from a lighter and fun side as they have quirky enemies like a doll mime or creatures called Gestrals that love to fight, even those that act as vendors in the game. They even have these silly or fun costumes and hairstyles for the main cast as well as quirky mini-games out in the world waiting for those that explore beyond the beaten path.

What Makes Its World So Memorable

The world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is surreal—like stepping into someone’s creative mind. Characters exist in a contorted reality filled with floating rocks, strange color palettes, and environmental designs so otherworldly they border on dreamlike. Some areas feel like lucid dreams: a gleaming forest with bizarre landscapes, or an underwater realm where gravity exists and breathing isn’t an issue. It’s a vivid blend of the bright and the somber, with obscure structures and strange hues creating spaces rich in environmental storytelling. For those drawn to visual detail, it’s easy to get swept up in what these locations are trying to convey. The world consistently hints at a history of others who walked this path before—one marked by tragedy and mystery. Scattered bodies, old journals from past expeditions, and the remnants of battles paint a picture of a world torn apart by something almost beyond comprehension.

If players take the time to slow down and absorb the path ahead, they'll likely pick up on clues about what happened, making the world not just visually stunning, but also rewarding for those who love to investigate. It's a hauntingly beautiful world, which makes it all the more surprising (and unfortunate) that the game didn’t launch with a proper photo mode.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 also features an overworld map—a rarity in modern RPGs. Players traverse an oversized version of the world, encountering roaming enemies and uncovering hidden locations along the way. The map gradually expands as new travel methods are unlocked, and according to player and reviewer reports, there's enough side content to push playtime to 60 hours or more easily.

As of this writing, I hit the credits at my 45th hour with the game, with tons of side content left to complete. I didn’t rush it, but I did explore the side content leisurely, going off course if I saw something worth checking. The world map is packed with endgame encounters and high-end locations, giving players who max out their characters at the tail-end of the game challenges that feel similar to the world bosses like Emerald Weapon in the original Final Fantasy VII. 

Deep turn-based Combat That Keeps You on Your Toes

While the world itself is a visual and thematic treat, it’s the combat system that sealed the deal that I’m hooked. The turn-based combat that happens between all the exploration and storytelling was a pleasant surprise, as Sandfall Interactive’s spin on the classic turn-based system makes the whole game reactive and engaging. Turn-based combat was always about two sides taking turns, but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 expands on that concept by putting most of the party’s defenses in the player’s hands. 

When it’s not your turn, the player can react against an incoming attack by either dodging at the right moment to negate damage or parrying all incoming attack strings to trigger a counterattack to reward the player’s proper timing. It’s a satisfying concept as enemies are not just filled with weaknesses and life pools but with a series of unique attack strings that players can learn and adapt to, similar to someone playing a Soulslike game where learning attack patterns gives you a better chance at success. 

I’ve had so many clutch moments that swing a battle to my favor thanks to me taking the risk of parrying over dodge (dodge is easier to perform), and it’s all thanks to the game’s proper use of audio cues and deliberate effects and funky camera movement to give the player all the information they need to properly get that dodge or parry off at the right time. Without them, your party rarely survives an assault, so the pressure and difficulty are there to stay on your toes, despite it not being your turn. Later on, the game expands on this concept by adding attacks that need you to jump over to avoid, and different parry attacks called Gradiant Attacks. By the tail-end of the game, I was going against attack patterns that have delayed swings, multiple fast attacks, and combinations that test my reaction times.

This approach to defense made each encounter unique, and the boss battles in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are some of the most intense battles I’ve experienced in an RPG in years. Each key battle feels bigger than life itself as Gustav’s party fights the biggest monstrosities and craziest creations from the Paintress.

Offense does have a spin, too – each skill in the game has QTE prompts that, when timed correctly, can trigger a boost in damage or trigger other effects. Another layer comes with the free aim system, which lets players target specific parts of an enemy. This adds a strategic edge, as certain weak points or key objects can be destroyed to make fights more manageable. For example, one enemy carries a floating mine like a balloon—shooting it with free aim triggers an explosion that damages all nearby foes.

Not all characters are created equal

To deepen the combat, each character comes with a unique system that players must learn to maximize their effectiveness in battle. Lune, who is considered the mage in the party, uses the Stains system, where every attack applies an elemental stain—and using the right stain for a specific skill can trigger special effects, such as bonus damage or as crazy as an extra turn. Maelle has her Stance system, Gustav relies on Overcharge, and so on. There are no generic party members here—each one brings something unique to the table and can be built to fill different roles, whether it’s support, critical damage, or applying debuffs to weaken enemies.

I adored the complexity of the game’s character progression as each weapon and item I come across always entices me to experiment as I see various playstyles you can do with each character, and thankfully, the game is generous enough to give you enough freedom to experiment as I never felt like I was committed to one build or one team composition.

The combat is currently one of my favorite iterations of the turn-based formula. On paper or even on videos, it’s miles compared to actually experiencing it first-hand, as these concepts are not entirely new, as we’ve seen earlier iterations of this concept in Legend of Dragoon, to even recent RPGs such as Sea of Stars. 

What really stands out is how the combat system is presented and how consistently engaging it feels. Whether on offense or defense, every encounter is so satisfying that it never feels like a chore. I know a game’s combat is working for me when I actively seek out fights without any urge to avoid them—and that’s exactly what happened here. Even in the endgame, while grinding to level up my party for the toughest challenges, I was still enjoying every battle. There’s a real thrill in seeing your builds come together. The tension of barely surviving due to a few mistakes, or the pride of steamrolling enemies thanks to a well-optimized strategy. It’s a system that keeps things fun from beginning to end.

A Game That Will Stick With Me for Years

This whole experience is perfectly packed with an impressive soundtrack that has a bleak theme for most of its tracks, as it feels like it tries to inject that theme in most of its intense moments, to the most emotional and gut-wrenching without going overboard. Expedition 33’s soundtrack is so special that I couldn’t help but pause and listen to it, something rare for me, as the music in this game elevates every emotion the game wants you to feel. It also felt expansive as it never felt like I was hearing the same thing, and I appreciate it having various combat tracks for different bosses and encounters. 

The flaws of this game are small and few, another impressive feat for the talents at Sandfall Interactive, as performance on the PS5 has been nothing but flawless. I’m hearing similar reports on PC and Xbox as well, with barely any noticeable bugs or glitches to show the lack of polish. The game works smoothly in either Graphical or Performance mode, with Performance mostly steady at 60 fps, even in the game’s most demanding segments. The most notable flaw I can think of is the lip-syncing being off on many occasions, but that’s minor in the grand scheme of things.

Despite Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 impressing me from all angles, the story somehow stays ahead of the pack as it keeps going in unexpected directions that even my wife, who barely plays games like this, found herself invested that I couldn’t progress through the story without her present. This story has brought the game home for me as it starts strong with its impressive prologue, then manages to maintain a strong momentum with each revelation that culminates in this final act that sets up for this amazing boss battle that still resonates days after. By the end of it, emotions were running high, and I was shocked once everything about this world and the story it’s trying to tell clicked in my head, leaving me shocked and happy that I was able to experience a video game like it.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 doesn’t just deliver a fantastic RPG experience—it leaves a lasting emotional imprint that’s hard to forget. From its gripping narrative to its deep combat system, it’s a title that has the potential to become a modern classic in the RPG genre. It’s been so long since a game delivered a steady, exhilaratingly smooth ride without crashing hard at the finish line. If people allow it, this could be a kid’s Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger – a game remembered decades from now as the one that sparked their love for RPGs, captivating a generation, and inspiring future titles that will come after.

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Verdict: 5 / 5 (Exceptional)

PROS

• Incredibly Strong Writing and Character Work

• Fantastic turn-based combat that is reactive and satisfying and evolves over time

• Inviting a grim world that doesn’t shy away from being light-hearted and comical when needed

• Strong start that keeps its momentum through multiple hard  twists and turns that pay off in the finale

CONS

• Occassional lip sync during cutscenes

What I’ve Played 

• Completed the main story

• Over level 50 on all characters

• Still exploring the overworld, killing higher bosses

• Exploring New Game+

*This review is based on a PS5 review copy provided to the reviewer

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