There’s no doubt about it, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the best looking games that’s expected to release next year. Built in Unreal Engine 5, it’s got the technical backing and prowess that this offers, but this would be nothing without the arresting art direction and the world that Sandfall Interactive is creating for their RPG.
There’s a deep and mournful sadness to the world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a resignation to the inevitability of the fate of its people to simply disappear into nothingness one year at a time. That’s all thanks to the Paintress, who wakes up once a year, paints a number on a monolith and curses all the people of that age to turn into ashes and simply fade away. There’s echoes of Logan’s Run, but it’s steeped in an even greater tragedy as that number drops down and down and down.
What purpose the Paintress has in doing this, it’s far from clear right now, but just as she paints a number each time, an expedition is sent out each time to battle through a mysterious continent and try to stop her… or at least beat a path for those who will follow in their footsteps.
The visual style of this game is inspired by Belle Époque France, a period of 40-odd years that saw art leap from Impressionism through post-Impressionist movements, to Art Nouveau and beyond. I get the feeling that (while it precedes this specific time period by a couple years), Jules Vergne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas might have also provided some inspiration, not least because the gameplay demonstration saw our Expeditioners trying to reunite underwater and encountering… well, lots of strange stuff.
Despite very clearly being underwater, Expedition 33 don’t need to don diving suits and air tanks in order to survive, nor are they beholden to the buoyant physics of moving around at the bottom of the sea. As Gustave and Lune explore this strange environment, trying to find trace of their other companions, they will happen upon previous expeditions – in this demo it was Expedition 68, who you’ll then have the opportunity to learn more about and the trials that they faced.
That’s obviously rather ominous, and feeds into the hopeless-feeling endeavour, but so is where Gustave and Lune manage to find Maelle: a strange mansion where she’s being kept at the pleasure of a deeply unsettling being, the Curator. Thankfully they seem to be some kind of ally, helping to focus Maelle’s abilities and pushing her to train in combat.
Clair Obscur leans on tried and true forms for turn-based RPG combat, but throws in a few unique twists and combines ideas in an invigorating fashion. This is a turn-based affair, with the order of characters displayed clearly on the left side of the screen, while the menu of options fans out from your character in a manner that feels reminiscent of the Persona series. However, once you choose which attack to unleash, you’re greeted with an active QTE component that fans of Mario’s set of RPGs will be familiar with, timing a button press to ramp up the power of your attack or bolstering an ability, and when enemy attacks are incoming, dodging or potentially countering them right back – a high risk option as you need to block all incoming attacks in order to counter.
This is all rendered in Clair Obscur’s lavish style, with a particularly dynamic camera following sweeping animations, slow-mo and swirling effects to give each attack, ability and counter an artistic flair that looks simply awesome.
That would potentially be compelling enough, but Clair Obscur adds a few additional ideas into the mix as well. Ranged attacks can be free-aimed, letting you try to pinpoint an enemy weakness – or in the case of a boss battle, targeting the flowers that it spawns in a light puzzle mechanic – and each character has their own particular tweaks to factor. Lune’s role as a mage allows her to build up Stains that can then be spend to add damage to attacks later in the battle, while Maelle has different stances.
This was just a fairly brief glimpse at what Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 offers, the time available not able to show off the game’s more open zones, for example. However, it’s safe to say that this is a game than any turn-based RPG fan should be keeping an eye on. It looks stunning, the cause is utterly futile and hopeless, and the battle mechanics pick and choose ideas to weave together an engaging looking brand of combat. We can’t wait to see more.
