Playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for three hours has confirmed all my hopes and fears about this gorgeous new action RPG
A Succinct Introduction to the World of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Like many folks who saw Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s reveal trailer last year, my first thoughts were along the lines of ‘Get that gorgeous-looking battle system into my veins, stat!’ And at long last, I’ve been able to sample an early chunk of Sandfall Interactive’s upcoming action RPG for myself, playing around the first three and a half hours of the game after its opening prologue.
The Initial Setup: Gustave’s Dilemma
At this stage in the game, the titular expedition team have left their hometown of Lumiere behind and set off on what everyone assumes will be a one-way trip to try and defeat the evil being known as The Paintress, who lives on a faraway island visible from the shores of Lumiere, and who keeps wiping out swathes of their friends by drawing eerie numbers on a large pillar. 33 is the latest number to get scrawled out on ‘The Continent’, and it’s since wiped out everyone who’s 33 years old, including expedition leader Gustave’s love interest, Sophie, and shrinking the remaining population of Lumiere even further.
The Initial Combat: A Tour-de-Force Experience
But the team’s arrival on the shores of The Continent to try and break this tragic cycle of death and eventual extinction has gone awry. A mysterious, but intensely hostile old man – a sight unheard of for these young explorers – suddenly wipes out most of their squad right off the bat, leaving Gustave and a handful of other survivors to scramble for a hasty retreat. I pick up with Gustave in an ethereal forest, where high rock walls and bioluminescent flowers guide me forward toward my first main goal: a place called The Indigo Tree, their team’s designated meet-up point if their arrival went south.
Embracing the Combat System: A Beautiful Mess
Along the way down these beautiful, albeit linear gullies, I was able to get to grips with Clair Obscur’s frankly stupendous combat system. But before I get to that, I want to talk a little bit about what happens between battles, as this is arguably what we’ve seen the least of during its various trailers so far, and which sadly left me a little cold after my playthrough. It’s not all bad news, I should say – there are hints of greatness here, which I’ll get to shortly, but early on at least I could feel my enthusiasm for the game starting to wane every time I wasn’t in a fight.
Exploration: A Glimpse of the Greater World
The world itself looks stunning, no doubt about it. When I finally broke through the thick foliage of the trees, an enormous cliff view opened up, revealing huge, jagged rocks hanging curiously in the air, all pointed toward that ominous 33-etched pillar. The ghostly canopy of the Indigo Tree also draped itself across the sky like an otherworldly Erdtree from Elden Ring. Later, I explored a coral reef area where everything behaved like it’s underwater but it was actually just regular air – plumes of seaweed rippled upwards toward the sky, and I could see fish swimming in the distance, their scales shimmering in the sunlight.
More Combat Mechanics: Free-Aim Ability and Quick-Time Events
But it’s not all good news, as the repeated journeys without combat could quickly become stale and repetitive, which is a shame because, let’s be honest, the combat system is truly special. Free-aim ability can shoot enemy weakpoints to take off big chunks of enemy health, while most skills involve quick-time events to power them up, and getting the timing right on the orange strip will earn you a Perfect hit. Maelle, one of the playable characters, is a masterclass in this regard, as her épée attacks are all centered around one stance flowing into the next, accruing more and more bonuses and effects provided you keep the chain unbroken. This creates a constant dance between different flow states – her offensive stance will boost her attacks, but leave her open to more damage, for example, while swapping into a defensive stance will bolster her defence at the cost of attack power.
Conclusion: The Promising Future of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
It’s even more delicious if you manage to perfectly counter an enemy while in Virtuose stance, too, as players are given the chance to either dodge or parry every single attack that comes their way via time-based button presses. The timing is pretty hard to nail on its default difficulty, but there’s nothing more satisfying than parrying an attack three times in a row and then watching your squad – either individually or altogether if it’s a group assault – pull off the biggest middle-finger counterattack I’ve seen in a game in a very long time. It’s truly tremendous stuff, and it’s all executed with a real eye for neat visual flourishes that make you go ‘Heck yeah!’ at the TV. Even the Persona games can’t measure up to the level of showmanship on display here, and I simply couldn’t get enough of it.
The Final Verdict
While my three-hour playthrough has confirmed some of my initial hopes and fears about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, it’s undeniable that this game is shaping up to be something truly special. I just hope that its final release on April 24th won’t get too bogged down in the tedium of navigation to let us appreciate it in all its glory.
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