Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review – A gorgeous new tomorrow for RPGs, built upon yesterday

It's not often a new gaming IP catches my eye from its debut, gets more and more exciting with each reveal, and then actually lives up to the hype. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of these rare games, which is even more impressive considering this gem of an adventure was crafted by a team of about 30 people.

The turn-based RPG and debut title from French studio Sandfall Interactive completely delivers on its promise in refreshing the genre, taking inspiration from games of the past and the Belle Époque era of French history to craft a beautiful, tragic, and memorable experience that will likely go down as one of the best games of 2025.

Like a painting come to life

Expedition 33's world is vivid, gorgeous, and hauntingly beautiful, much like its storyline. The concept is dark but simple: a mysterious, giant enemy known only as the Paintress wakes once a year and paints a number on a giant monolith that can be seen across the world. And each year, everyone who is of that age dies in an eerie, heartbreaking manner in what is called the Gommage (which is apparently a French word meaning to "erase" or "rub out") as all those painted to die wither and disappear forever.

The game begins with the Gommage for 34-year-olds, illustrating how disturbing and bleak it feels as the citizens of the world gather together to celebrate the lives of those who are about to die, say goodbye to them, and then ready another Expedition to attempt to take the Paintress down, no matter how futile.

Along with the imagery of painting (Clair Obscur translates to chiaroscuro, which is an "art technique employed in the visual arts to represent light and shadow as they define three-dimensional objects"), one of the themes of the story in Expedition 33 is learning from the past, not repeating mistakes, and the mantra of "tomorrow comes."

For the several dozen expeditions that came before 33 and your playable characters—such as Gustave, Lune, and Maelle—it's all about taking what was learned prior and acting on it, as the expedition heads off towards the Paintress to try and use the teaching of the dead expeditioners before them to figure something out. A quote from Metal Gear Solid 2, "building the future and keeping the past alive are one and the same thing," immediately sprang to my mind while playing the game. It was my high school yearbook quote, actually, so this kind of theme resonates a lot with me.

The theme carries through with the combat; you'll need to study enemy moves and time their attacks to properly dodge them, learn the muscle memory of the button presses, and eventually parry instead for bigger damage to keep yourself alive and pushing forward with the group. You will quickly learn parries, although difficult to master, become necessary for many of the game's more difficult battles.

"When one falls, we continue," the expeditioners say. The people of this world have come to expect death and failure, pushing forward in fruitless attempts to conquer the Paintress and her rule of death over them. But "for those who come after," they continue. And I feel like there's a real-world lesson in that sentiment.

Turn-based evolution

Even with a voice cast boasting Hollywood talent, the real draw in Expedition 33 is the combat and everything that goes into the gameplay. Injecting Final Fantasy-style turn-based RPG combat with QTEs, dodging, parrying, and even a little bit of aiming and shooting at weak points, creates one of the more engaging playstyles I've enjoyed in quite some time.

Each battle throughout the 30-plus hour story and dozens more via sidequests and exploration is a joy, keeping you locked in through every fight with every enjoyable perfect dodge or devastating parry. The grotesque Nevron enemies require your full attention, including both pre- and post-battle.

At its toughest parts, Expedition 33 requires planning, strategy, and build-crafting for each of the game's playable characters, rewarding those who take the time to level up, unlock skills, and combine them between party members to devastate foes.

Several fights take a lot of wipes and restarts to truly master the timing of enemies and their varied attacks. The change-up in cadence of attack speeds is reminiscent of From Software boss fights in games like Elden Ring or Dark Souls, so you need to be at the ready at all times.

As a lifelong fan of turn-based games, with early Final Fantasy titles being some of my favorites, this feels like it needs to be the norm for turn-based titles moving forward. I know Sandfall didn't exactly invent the mechanic in this style of RPG, but it has been mastered here.

Character builds have the potential to be fun and flexible, allowing for unique combinations of abilities that, when utilized correctly, are incredibly satisfying to pull off when it comes to executing a game plan against a familiar enemy or boss fight that raked you over the coals prior.

Like traditional games in the genre, Expedition 33 also doesn't include much when it comes to tracking quests in the world. Sometimes, an NPC will mention something to you once, and that's all you have to go on. There's no way to track the quests, and I often found myself forgetting that I progressed one and had to talk to someone else, but it didn't detract from the overall experience too much. But that makes exploring the open world, fighting its twisted creatures, and meeting new whimsical friends that much more worth it.

All the stars

One of the biggest initial selling points for Expedition 33 was its cast. The game features the voice talents of Charlie Cox (Marvel's Daredevil), Jennifer English (Shadowheart in Baldur's Gate 3), Ben Starr (Clive in Final Fantasy XVI), and Andy Serkis (Smeagol in The Lord of the Rings, Klaw in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and much more) to flesh out the world with top-tier performances.

But in the end, I felt so engrossed by the world of Expedition 33 that I stopped hearing Matt Murdock and Smeagol and Shadowheart, and instead felt myself invested in the characters and their seemingly hopeless journey, all set to a stellar soundtrack on top of everything else the game boasts. And that includes some genuinely funny moments on top of all of the dread.

I felt compelled to explore as much as possible in my time with the game, and I will do so more now that my review is completed, but Expedition 33's world map is reminiscent of classic RPGs in the past. As the story progresses, you can explore more of it, encountering towering and powerful enemies as part of increasingly more challenging fights, along with the allure of trying to find whatever else is hidden in the visual feast of a map while traveling with your party and companions.

Unfortunately, some amount of the characters' backstory and exposition takes place within optional cutscenes while at camp, but I feel it's necessary to further flesh out the world to find out just how bleak life is for those who are born knowing exactly when they will die as the Paintress's countdown continues each year. I would suggest players make sure to exhaust all dialogue options to get everything out of these characters and their world, because the main story doesn't add enough of the worldbuilding and character moments on its own.

The ongoing mystery of the Paintress, its creations, and the game's expanding cast of characters unravels more with each battle and cutscene, as Expedition 33 builds to a crescendo and solidifies itself as one of the more memorable, unique, and exciting RPGs in recent memory.

And as for what tomorrow brings, with Sandfall Interactive at the helm, I think RPG fans are in good hands.

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