“A game that I wanted so hard to be bullsh*t casual gamer hype but ended up being truly one of the best games I have played in a long while..."
PC | PS5 | XBOX SERIES
HOW I PLAYED: I played Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 via Xbox GamePass for PC on my R7 7800X3D , RTX 3080 gaming PC. I was playing on modified HIGH settings and I used DLSS Swapper to inject the latest DLSS transformer model. This allowed me to play at a consistent 120fps with DLSS set to balanced.
STORY — 19/20
INTRO 5
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 masterfully drops you into the world of Lumière with a tear-jerking prologue that introduces the main protagonist, Gustav. Right from the jump, you can tell Expedition 33 oozes style. The music elevates the story and characters to insane heights.
In the prologue, you get a taste of basic controls and RPG mechanics through playful battles. You also explore the town of Lumière, learning about the world and its characters. You discover the “Gommage” and its heartbreaking effect on Lumière’s people: when the Paintress counts down from 34 to 33, everyone 33 or older gets Thanos-snapped out of existence.
As soon as the prologue ended, I could picture all the crying gamer girl thumbnails for their “Let’s Plays” of this game, haha.
CUTSCENES 4
Exp 33 has three types of cutscenes:
- Pre-rendered cinematics that run at 30 FPS
- In-game rendered cutscenes
- Back-and-forth dialogue cutscenes
My only gripe is the back-and-forth dialogue cutscenes don’t seem to follow the cinematic 180 rule. You can speed up cutscenes if you’re a fast reader (like me… humble brag). But when I did, I legit got motion sick.
Just a small gripe, but it stood out.
WORLD BUILDING 5
I loved the world building in Exp 33. Story and lore come through cinematics, NPC chats, and Expedition logs scattered across the game world.
The game doesn’t spoon-feed you like a kid. There’s a ton of mystery, with story bits doled out slowly. I was well into the second act, still thinking, “Wow! What’s going on? Who’s behind ____?”
Too many modern games dumb down their stories for the masses, force-feeding info so there’s no mystery or surprises. Exp 33 respects your brain, and I’m here for it.
The game doesn’t spoon-feed you like a kid. There’s a ton of mystery, with story bits doled out slowly. I was well into the second act, still thinking, “Wow! What’s going on? Who’s behind ____?”
Too many modern games dumb down their stories for the masses, force-feeding info so there’s no mystery or surprises. Exp 33 respects your brain, and I’m here for it.
OVERALL STORY 5
The overall story of Exp 33 is stunningly fresh but at the same time very familiar! I could see a lot of inspirations from games like Nier Replicant and 90's Final Fantasy titles. I also got hints of The Never Ending Story and even Dark Souls!
I won't spoil anything for you but I gotta comment on how the decisions Sandfall Interactive made with the story were BOLD! I was left feeling stunned and I hadn't been surprised like that in a games story for a long time!
There are a ton of great topics and thematic tones the game touches on, loss... grief... revenge...sacrifice...love
And what I really appreciated is that it was done in a way that wasn't preachy and didn't have some tie to modern day politics. It all made sense and was relevant to the world inside the game and that just felt so refreshing to me.
I find stories like these have more impact because of how universal they are. They are feelings everyone can have no matter their background.
It's a shame that this style of storytelling feels like a lost art in the modern age..
I won't spoil anything for you but I gotta comment on how the decisions Sandfall Interactive made with the story were BOLD! I was left feeling stunned and I hadn't been surprised like that in a games story for a long time!
There are a ton of great topics and thematic tones the game touches on, loss... grief... revenge...sacrifice...love
And what I really appreciated is that it was done in a way that wasn't preachy and didn't have some tie to modern day politics. It all made sense and was relevant to the world inside the game and that just felt so refreshing to me.
I find stories like these have more impact because of how universal they are. They are feelings everyone can have no matter their background.
It's a shame that this style of storytelling feels like a lost art in the modern age..
GRAPHICS — 15/15
CHARACTER MODELS 5
All the characters look stunning and lifelike. This game’s art direction is S-tier, and every character screams it. Gameplay models can sometimes look like detailed G.I. Joe or Barbie dolls, but that just made me chuckle.
During cinematics and cutscenes all the characters are just dripping with swag or RIZZ if you will...
ENVIRONMENTS 5
The contrast between beauty, tranquility, and dark, gruesome despair is an amazing feat. Expedition 33 has it all! The final boss arena even reminded me of a certain FromSoftware gem from 2015… (Bloodborne, cough cough).
SPECIAL FX 5
The SFX in Exp 33 are jaw-dropping. I loved how everything flowed in the combat system. Elemental and magic FX are straight-up badass. The slow-motion FX make you feel like a beast when you nail perfect parries for a counterattack.
This feels like a proper 2025 graphical showpiece
This feels like a proper 2025 graphical showpiece
AUDIO — 14/15
AMBIENCE 5
The ambience and tone are so on-point, they deserve a textbook. At the right moments, I was immersed in sorrow and loss, then later swelling with joy. The OST carries this game, and I love how perfectly French it feels.
The title track, “Lumière,” hasn’t left my brain since playing. It hits hard and nails the game’s vibe. It’s a reminder of what a killer OST should be, and how weak most games’ music is by comparison. Total eye-opener.
The title track, “Lumière,” hasn’t left my brain since playing. It hits hard and nails the game’s vibe. It’s a reminder of what a killer OST should be, and how weak most games’ music is by comparison. Total eye-opener.
BOSS MUSIC 4
The major boss battles all have their own track which is operatic and really drives the mood for the fights. But the open field and regular "mini bosses" or field enemies just share the same "battle music". WHICH ISN'T A TERRIBLE THING! It again... really reminds me of 90's JRPG's and I really felt at home.
SOUND DESIGN 5
The voice acting is impeccable. Charlie Cox, Jennifer English, Kirsty Rider, Shala Nyx, Ben Starr and they even got Andy FUCKING Serkis to voice act in this game. They all do such a masterful job at delivering their dialogue as I think none of them are native french speakers. None of the dialogue came off as corny or cringe and I found myself getting really immersed in the story thanks to these superb performances.
All of the sound fx and are CRUSHING and hold weight! I loved how powerful the different attacks felt.
My only small gripe is I felt one characters voice felt ... off to me! But that could be a personal preference. (psssst It was Esque)
All of the sound fx and are CRUSHING and hold weight! I loved how powerful the different attacks felt.
My only small gripe is I felt one characters voice felt ... off to me! But that could be a personal preference. (psssst It was Esque)
PERFORMANCE — 9/10
FRAME RATE 4
I had 0 issues with frame rate, even on my aging RTX 3080. I found the visual fidelity turning everything to EPIC and even disabling DLSS, I did not notice the visual difference, even though it cut my framerate down to 60fps with some dips to the mid 50s. So after I modified my settings and used DLSS Swapper to use DLSS 4, I was able to get my game running 120fps+ for a super smooth gameplay experience.
I also saw via Digital Foundry that on consoles, Exp 33 has 2 settings, "Performance" and "Quality," but no 3rd option like "Balanced" or a 40fps mode. But it’s fantastic to see that a UE5 game is running at mostly 60fps with some minor dips on a BASE PS5 in Performance mode.
So KUDOS to Sandfall Interactive!
I also saw via Digital Foundry that on consoles, Exp 33 has 2 settings, "Performance" and "Quality," but no 3rd option like "Balanced" or a 40fps mode. But it’s fantastic to see that a UE5 game is running at mostly 60fps with some minor dips on a BASE PS5 in Performance mode.
So KUDOS to Sandfall Interactive!
STABILITY 5
In my entire playthrough on PC, I didn’t run into a single glitch. My game did crash once at the final boss fight, but that could be because I am forcing DLSS 4 into my game.
SMALL NITPICK!
This game is not completely free of minor UE jank. I did find that my character, while running, would get stuck on random geometry from time to time. So if there is set dressing on flat ground, your character will clip it and get stuck.
SMALL NITPICK!
This game is not completely free of minor UE jank. I did find that my character, while running, would get stuck on random geometry from time to time. So if there is set dressing on flat ground, your character will clip it and get stuck.
GAMEPLAY — 35/40
CONTROLS 5
I loved the controls for Exp 33, everything felt natural and fluent. I will say that everyone should go into the game settings and change running to TOGGLE instead of hold. My middle finger did get tired from holding R2 for long periods of time.
MECHANICS 4
Exp 33 is PACKED with awesome mechanics. I love how they were able to bring back turn-based combat with a semi-modern twist. It felt familiar to me, having played Metaphor earlier this year, but I really enjoyed how engaging the mechanics felt with the mix of QTEs and Parries and perfect dodges. It made static turn-based combat feel like real-time open field combat.
There are a ton of ways to power up your party with regular level-up stats, and you also find items called "Pictos," which are different buffs and abilities you can equip to your character. And you can find some INSANE combinations of Pictos that make your character basically god level.
PERSONAL GRIPE!
Although I do really enjoy the parry mechanic in Exp 33, it starts to get a little old as you encounter many bosses and enemies that basically require you to perfect parry insane combination attacks. And any single failure will result in an insta-death.
I think it’s great in the beginning where if you parry 1-3 attacks in a row, you are rewarded with a counter attack that does massive damage. When the combos start getting to 5+ attacks, a single counter attack seems hardly like a good enough reward for getting that many perfect parries in a row.
NOTE TO THE DEVS
I would love it if maybe up to 3 perfect parries rewards you with a counter attack, and for longer combos, any perfect parry above 3 attacks does something like:
- Breaks all shields
- Instantly breaks enemy
- Does MASSIVE damage beyond a regular counter, or you get a double counter
So if you have a boss or enemy that has a 6 attack combo
- after the 3rd parry = counter attack as normal
- 4th and 5th - breaks shields
- 6th - does a devastating blow and does massive damage.
And I think after 3 perfect dodges you should be able to R2 like you can when you jump.
There are a ton of ways to power up your party with regular level-up stats, and you also find items called "Pictos," which are different buffs and abilities you can equip to your character. And you can find some INSANE combinations of Pictos that make your character basically god level.
PERSONAL GRIPE!
Although I do really enjoy the parry mechanic in Exp 33, it starts to get a little old as you encounter many bosses and enemies that basically require you to perfect parry insane combination attacks. And any single failure will result in an insta-death.
I think it’s great in the beginning where if you parry 1-3 attacks in a row, you are rewarded with a counter attack that does massive damage. When the combos start getting to 5+ attacks, a single counter attack seems hardly like a good enough reward for getting that many perfect parries in a row.
NOTE TO THE DEVS
I would love it if maybe up to 3 perfect parries rewards you with a counter attack, and for longer combos, any perfect parry above 3 attacks does something like:
- Breaks all shields
- Instantly breaks enemy
- Does MASSIVE damage beyond a regular counter, or you get a double counter
So if you have a boss or enemy that has a 6 attack combo
- after the 3rd parry = counter attack as normal
- 4th and 5th - breaks shields
- 6th - does a devastating blow and does massive damage.
And I think after 3 perfect dodges you should be able to R2 like you can when you jump.
PACING 4
I am genuinely shocked in Exp 33 how there isn’t a bunch of BS padding like there would be in other games. This game is 3 chapters. THAT’S IT! And I LOVE THAT. There aren’t any dog shit fetch quests that are forced on you, or filler quests that you KNOW are there to pad up runtime. You move from story beat to story beat, and it all feels natural. AND there is a TON of optional side quests that are for emotional relief and for just overall level grinding and item collecting.
My only small gripe is you do hit a difficulty wall in the game, and then you are basically forced to grind field enemies to level up your team. But that’s normal for RPGs and totally tradition to go out and find the most broken build you can possibly create…
Which I absolutely did.
My only small gripe is you do hit a difficulty wall in the game, and then you are basically forced to grind field enemies to level up your team. But that’s normal for RPGs and totally tradition to go out and find the most broken build you can possibly create…
Which I absolutely did.
UI/UE 5
A small nitpick I have is I HATE that the start menu doesn’t have system options. You have to press Select to see the system options and to quit game, etc. I wish they just incorporated that into the start menu and have either a secondary button to press to get to system, or you can toggle menus with R1, L1, etc.
BOSS QUALITY 4
There are a lot of mini bosses, which are just beefed-up field enemies, but there are some main story bosses, which were all incredible.
I was PUMPED when I encountered a mix between Velstadt and Pontif Sulivan. And the boss arenas were all super well crafted and amazing visually.
My main issue, though, was some of the larger epic bosses have huge camera pans and movement that makes it hard to see their attacks coming. You could say "AKTUALLY THATS THE POINT," but I find that annoying and an artificial difficulty.
I was PUMPED when I encountered a mix between Velstadt and Pontif Sulivan. And the boss arenas were all super well crafted and amazing visually.
My main issue, though, was some of the larger epic bosses have huge camera pans and movement that makes it hard to see their attacks coming. You could say "AKTUALLY THATS THE POINT," but I find that annoying and an artificial difficulty.
ENEMY VARIETY 4
A lot of the field enemies do look same-samey, but that could be a consistent design language. But there is enough variation and reskins that changes them up enough when you move from area to area. And each of the enemies have different abilities, but you start to pick up on patterns.
GAMEPLAY VARIETY 4
So there is obviously the main missions that drive the story and giant field monsters that you can battle with for items and exp. But there are also a ton of little mini games in Exp 33 that were hilariously surprising.
Like out of nowhere, there was a full-on version of "Only Up" in the game to challenge your platforming skills. Being a kid who grew up in the 1900s (cries in old), I am very fluent with the art of platforming… so I totally crushed these challenges.
You can also hang out at camp and build relationships with your team. There are ROMANCE options if you are into that. And you can also find collectables throughout the game world that range from different songs to play at camp and different outfits and different bits of lore.
You can even find different haircuts for your players to switch up their looks.
Unfortunately, there is NO fishing and no way to collect cats…
so there goes that GOTY award, I guess…
Like out of nowhere, there was a full-on version of "Only Up" in the game to challenge your platforming skills. Being a kid who grew up in the 1900s (cries in old), I am very fluent with the art of platforming… so I totally crushed these challenges.
You can also hang out at camp and build relationships with your team. There are ROMANCE options if you are into that. And you can also find collectables throughout the game world that range from different songs to play at camp and different outfits and different bits of lore.
You can even find different haircuts for your players to switch up their looks.
Unfortunately, there is NO fishing and no way to collect cats…
so there goes that GOTY award, I guess…
REPLAYABILITY 4
I am happy to see that NG+ is available day 1. It makes me laugh to see that there are games that release without a NG+ option and take 6 months to release one.
You can replay Exp 33 and choose different dialogue options or focus on leveling different characters. I personally restarted my playthrough after 8 hours because I had missed a weapon that I could only get by choosing a specific character to do a specific challenge. And I am personally glad I did because I was able to make the most broken build ever with this weapon and completely demolished the entire game, where I was previously struggling.
You can replay Exp 33 and choose different dialogue options or focus on leveling different characters. I personally restarted my playthrough after 8 hours because I had missed a weapon that I could only get by choosing a specific character to do a specific challenge. And I am personally glad I did because I was able to make the most broken build ever with this weapon and completely demolished the entire game, where I was previously struggling.
BONUS — 2/3
Exp 33 has some great colorblind options and the ability to autocomplete all QTEs, making combat a lot easier for those who struggle hitting different button sequences. I wish they had an option like Final Fantasy 16 where you could equip special items that do things like "perfect parry" or "perfect dodge" every time for people who want that for accessibility, since those things are tied to MANY main story battles.
OVERALL — 93/100
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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a game that I wanted so hard to be bullshit casual gamer hype but ended up being truly one of the best games I have played in a long while. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality Sandfall Interactive was able to produce using the dreaded Unreal Engine. Expedition 33 is a true testament to how broken the current gaming development scene is, and I think this will truly shake up the industry as a team of 30 or so people were able to produce such an incredible title.
Game Studios BEWARE!
Expedition 33 exists, and it is absolutely a MUST-PLAY game
Game Studios BEWARE!
Expedition 33 exists, and it is absolutely a MUST-PLAY game
PROS
✅ Great characters
✅ Amazing Art Design & Atmosphere
✅ Fluent & Engaging Combat
✅ Incredible OST
✅ Creative Story with tried and true themes
✅ Creative Story with tried and true themes
CONS
❌ Too many bosses that rely on perfect parries
❌ Talking cutscenes don't follow the 180 cinematic rule
❌ Can get grindy at points
TLDR: 93/100 (INCREDIBLE) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a stunning RPG masterpiece with a tear-jerking story, jaw-dropping visuals, and a killer OST that carries its French-flavored world of Lumière. Its turn-based combat with QTEs and parries feels fresh, backed by slick controls and diverse mini-games like platforming, though parry-heavy bosses and minor UE jank slightly mar the experience. With bold narrative choices, no filler quests, and NG+ replayability, Sandfall Interactive’s small team delivers a must-play that outshines bloated AAA titles, despite a grindy difficulty spike and clunky UI menus.
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