Review - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
"Tomorrow Comes"
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
April 24, 2025 - Kepler Interactive / Sandfall Interactive
RPG - Guillaume Broche, Francois Meurisse
PS5, Xbox Series Consoles, PC
In a world where its citizens watch a Godly presence called the Paintress slowly erase everyone in the world, an expedition sets out to kill her and stop the yearly tragedies.
Characters, World, and Presentation
The first thing I think of when it comes to Expedition 33 is just how beautiful the world looks. The world feels like an imagination come to life, with areas that feel like a canvas come to life. You’ll visit an underwater world that isn’t technically underwater, as whales and fish swim in the sky. You’ll see fallen structures like a Ferris wheel and beautiful geological terrains of all kinds. There’s an area that literally feels as if the architecture is dancing. This is all done with the power of Unreal Engine 5, and its presentation is only made better by the music (more on that in the next section). Games can have amazing graphics and art direction, but this game really is just best described as a thing of beauty. I’ve always said that the 2019 film Godzilla: King of the Monsters feels like artists’ paintings come to life in many of the single shots of the monsters, and that’s what this world looks like - a painting come to life.
The characters in the game are the type of characters you want to play in an RPG, memorable in every way. Each character has a solid arc if you invest time in talking to them during your campfire rests. Every companion has their personality, written well, and you find yourself rooting for them all. Gustave is the risk taker who looks to have a successful expedition and is committed to leaving a better world. Maelle is the youngest in the group at the age of sixteen and would rather try to finish off the Paintress than wait for her turn. Lune and Sciel round out the group, each with their purpose for joining the expedition. These two are romancable if you do the work, but quite frankly, I never felt it was done well. I made a decision to go with Sciel, and I learned a lot about her backstory, but I felt the romance part of the story was weak, considering this game is inspired by Final Fantasy. Verso is a character who knows exactly what he wants to do and has a whole story of secrets and questions around whether his motivations are morally good or bad. There are a few more like the loveable Esquie, the stern Monocco, the childlike Gestrals, and the mysterious Renoir, who fits in as the closest thing to a human villain in the story.
What really makes the characters stand out is the phenomenal performances of the voice cast. Andy Serkis and Charlie Cox perform as you expect them to, with solid performances. Ben Starr, my pick for best male performer of 2023, adds another iconic character to his portfolio and has some surprisingly well-done deep moments. The standout for me is easily Jennifer English, the favorite for my 2025 best female performer, as she delivers a gut-wrenching and perfect performance as Maelle. She can do the character justice with the teenage innocence, yet growing maturity in a world surrounded by death, perfectly. It’s one of those ensembles that will be remembered for years.
As for the overall story, as I think pretty much expected, there are many twists, more than I thought there would be. The game is split into three main acts, each with a pretty tough moment. The first act’s ending, I believe, is the closest we’ve gotten to one of those “I didn’t see that coming” moments like Aerith’s death or Samus taking off her helmet. The second act’s ending completely scrambles everything you thought the story was about and sets up Act 3 to be about choosing to explore and do all the side content you want, giving you a chance to end it when you’re ready. As for the ending of the game? I will bring this up towards the end of the review because I have never felt more mixed about the ending of a game’s story the way I have with this one in my gaming life.
Gameplay, Design, and Sound
Expedition 33 plays like an old-school Final Fantasy title when you’re exploring. There’s an overworld map and side areas with more challenging bosses and lore hunting, but it’s not some ridiculous giant open world like many of today’s RPGs tend to be. Where things start to get interesting is in the combat mechanics. The game is turn-based, but adds more than pick and wait for you to make a move. Similar to previous RPG titles like Super Mario RPG and Sea of Stars, you can dodge and add more effects to your attacks. However, unlike those titles, you can parry, and it’s more critical than advertised. I would say parrying is THE most important part of the combat. Plus, the parrying gets pretty expansive with more than just doge at the right time, as mechanics like jumping come in. When you get down the moves of your enemy, especially the bosses, and you start parrying away and hitting everything right, you’ll feel like you’re in an epic battle. I do think the amount of parrying needed is something not enough people are telling others when recommending the game, and I do think we need to let people know if you’re going to play it, know Soulslike parrying is in the game and crucial.
Outside of South of Midnight, I’ve been disappointed with the boss fights this year so far. Even Avowed, a game I really liked and loved its combat, had disappointingly weak boss encounters. Expedition 33 is the opposite of that. Several bosses in this game will make it to my favorite bosses list (yes, I’m planning one at the end of the year). The Paintress herself lives up to the hype when you finally fight her, and the boss fight before you fight her is another epic one. Dualiste, a boss in the early part of Act 2, is not only kind of fun while still being a challenge, but the music during the fight adds to the experience. The final boss fight is also pretty damn epic feeling, but I did feel that it had some pretty cheap moves at time, and it was defiubnelty the hardest one of the mandatory main bosses. However, the top one for me was against Sirene, a dancing behemoth that feels like you’re fighting inside of an opera performance. After I finished the fight, I wanted to replay it all over again.
With all that said, the number one standout of the game as a whole is what I’m going out and calling one of the top five greatest video game soundtracks of all time. I would put this soundtrack up there with the best of the best, including Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII, Ocarina of Time, Persona 5, Super Mario RPG, and Chrono Trigger. I’m talking about the best of the best. How good is this music? Well, the final boss theme is comparable to Dancing Mad of Final Fantasy VI, and if you know then you know the high praise I’m giving it saying that. The music is a mix of techno, rock, and opera. It’s a BIG soundtrack with different enemy types having battle themes, and the bosses get grand operatic spectacles that add to the battles. The craziest part about all of this is that this is composer Lorien Testard’s first major soundtrack, as he was discovered on Soundcloud. I need every game and movie company to call this man and pay him what he deserves stat. I’m not kidding, this is a special lineup of scores and songs.
Negatives
One thing I’ve noticed about myself when it comes to this game, when I see everyone else talk about it, is that I seem to have some slight criticisms towards it that others either keep to themselves or don’t see the way I do. I’ve always said there is no such thing as a perfect video game, only near perfect. I have found myself ripping my hair out at what I feel is everyone ignoring the elephant in the room, which is the game’s difficulty. Now, I want to say that this isn’t me complaining about it. Instead, I feel that not enough people are told that it sometimes borders on Soulslike challenge. Since I’m limited by time, I decided to turn down the difficulty a few hours into my playthrough to Story mode. While I did notice the challenge got easier, it still had some rough moments because of how important parrying is. So similar to Souls titles, while I recommend this game to everyone who asks me about it, I’ll warn them that if you’re not great with parrying, you might get frustrated. I wish story mode meant story mode. I also wasn’t a fan of the shields enemies can put on themselves, it felt like a needless addition to make battles longer. All of these are more warnings than stuff I didn’t like.
The main negative, if there is one for me, is subjective. I’m a story guy, it’s the main reason I play video games and why I’m mostly a single player guy. The story is key to how I feel about a game. I think this game nails the first two acts perfectly. However, there is a twist in act three that, while interesting and may open up ideas to future games, turns the main plot point upside down, and I sort of wish they didn’t do it. It’s not that I didn’t like it, more that it sets up the inevitable bittersweet and sad ending. There’s a big choice after the final boss that sets up two potential endings, and to be quite frank with you, I think they both are kinda bad. Now, I do think from a story standpoint, both endings make sense, especially the one many believe is canon. But, I think the devs and writer wanted the endings to be sad. Both endings have pros, but they also have significant cons, which is the point. I realized by the end that this game has a lot of themes: dealing with death, thinking about the future, and the main one, grief. Grief and how we move on from it is the central tenet to the ending, and I respect and can accept the message the developers give us. I wish there were a third option that was less bittersweet and had more compromise. I’m still processing how I feel about the end, so it’s one of those things that I’ll evolve my feelings on as the year goes by.
ESSENTIAL - recommend - okay - don’t recommend
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an event game that comes at a critical time for the industry. You can see the passion in every part of this game. It’s beautiful in its scenery, sad in its story, memorable in its characters, phenomenal in its music, and it all comes together to give us an experience right there with iconic RPGs like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII. It’s combat turned the idea of turn-based mechanics on its head and potentially will trigger inspirations from future turn-based indie titles. While I have mixed emotions about the ending of the game, it does deliver a payoff that teaches us about the themes of doing something larger than yourself for the future and dealing with grief. While I would caution gamers that aren’t great at parrying mechanics or are looking for a more “happier” story, despite my mixed feelings at the finale, I can’t deny what this is. When we discuss and debate the concept of video games as art, Expedition 33 is perfect as a symbol for it. No matter what ending you go with, one thing will always happen, no matter who or what you are, and we build for that future while dealing with the grief that comes with it. In the end, tomorrow indeed does come.
Be Nice to All
Such a great review of the game, thank you for the lovely write up!
I've been on the fence about the game, but given that your list of all-time best music pretty much match 1-1, I am curious to experience it as a part of this game.
Awesome review! Thank you for the extensively detailed write up. I especially love the music descriptions; I may have to find some of these later this week to check them out, since I'm not getting the game for a minute.