‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’ review: Final Fantasy vibes and emotional maturity

Lately, AAA games have left me feeling a little uninspired. There’s a sameness to it all — big budgets, bigger expectations, and not a lot of heart. So when an AA game comes out of nowhere, clearly made out of a love for the game, it’s a real breath of fresh air.

That game is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the debut title from French studio Sandfall Interactive. A Western JRPG that proudly wears its Final Fantasy and Persona influences on its sleeve; it first turned heads at the Xbox Games Showcase back in June 2024. Since then, it’s quietly built momentum thanks to its gorgeous visuals and a combat system that fuses turn-based mechanics with real-time elements.

After spending 24 hours with the game on PS5, I can confidently say that the hype is real, and the game delivers.

The greatest expedition ever

Make all the jokes you want about the name, but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn’t trying to be subtle. The title actually makes sense once you get into it. Set in a surreal, living painting of a world, you play as Gustave (played by Daredevil: Born Again’s Charlie Cox), a citizen of the fractured city of Lumière and a member of a group known as Expedition 33.

In this universe, every year, a mysterious, god-like being called The Paintress paints a number onto her monolith. That number is the age of the people who will be erased from existence that year. They call it the gommage (French for “erased”). However, the catch is the number descends each year — and when the game starts, it’s 33.

That’s where Expedition 33 comes in. It’s made up of volunteers who are all 32 years old, giving them exactly one year left before their number comes up. Every year, a new Expedition sets out in a last-ditch effort to stop The Paintress and break the cycle. And yeah, it’s been happening for a while (for about a century now, in fact).

As you’d expect, the latest Expedition doesn’t exactly go smoothly. Things go sideways almost immediately, thanks to the arrival of Renoir, a cryptic older figure who basically steamrolls the group. Gustave survives and ends up joining forces with the few remaining members: Lune, the mage and inquisitive scholar; Sciel, a calm and friendly fighter; and Maelle, Gustave’s adopted sister/daughter and a 16-year-old who just wants to see the world while she still can.

You’ll meet a whole cast of odd, memorable characters on your journey, but I won’t spoil those moments here. Just know the writing hits. It balances weird, poetic world-building with grounded, emotional storytelling. Sure, it leans into the melodrama now and then, but it earns it.

They’re written with care — serious people with real motivations, not just vehicles for snappy dialogue. Gustave is just trying to find Maelle and make it home. Lune is focused on finishing the mission, no matter what. Sciel, who’s already lost her husband, seems oddly at peace with the idea of death and mostly just goes with the flow.

They don’t always agree, but when conflict comes up, they actually talk things through like adults. No sarcastic barbs, no forced jokes — just people under extreme pressure, trying to deal with it the best they can. I appreciated that the writers trusted you to pick things up without over-explaining.

I’ll admit, a few story beats near the end didn’t quite sit right with me. Not dealbreakers, but enough to make me pause and go, “hmm, really?” Still, I went along for the ride. For a game heavy on narrative, that’s one of the few complaints I can point to. As for the world itself, the game makes a point of never spelling anything out.

Everyone talks about Gesterals like it’s common knowledge (news to me), and apparently, every kid in Lumière was raised on the legendary exploits of Esquie — whatever that is. It’s all intentional, there’s a bigger picture here, but let’s be clear: if you feel like the game hasn’t explained a single damn thing, you’re not wrong.

Fight for tomorrow

High fantasy has never really done it for me. Whether it’s a lack of imagination or just too much bad writing, the genre usually doesn’t click. Expedition 33 managed to change that. The world is so well-realized that I found myself fully immersed once the story settled in.

Expedition 33 is a turn-based action game with some light RTS mechanics. You take turns attacking enemies, but quick-time events can increase your damage during your moves. Timing also matters on defense—you’ll need to dodge and parry attacks to stay alive.

The dodge and parry system ended up being one of my main frustrations. Enemy attack timings often felt like they were tuned specifically to be annoying. Late-game bosses, in particular, use fake-outs and stuttered attack patterns, making reacting in time unnecessarily difficult. The design reminded me of Elden Ring, where bosses seem capable of reacting to your inputs and adjusting their combos mid-animation. The fact that I accidentally played half the game in Quality mode at 30FPS didn’t help. It made those already tight windows feel even worse.

Performance on PS5 was mostly solid, aside from a few technical hiccups. Sound design was inconsistent — cutscene transitions were occasionally off, and during battles, the music would sometimes cut out entirely, like the audio file ran out and wasn’t set to loop. It’s not a dealbreaker, but noticeable enough to mention.

Combat in Expedition 33 will feel familiar to anyone who’s played a classic JRPG. On their turn, each party member can use items, perform a basic attack, or trigger special abilities that consume Attack Points (AP). Every character also has a large skill tree, allowing you to shape their playstyle to fit your preferences.

Gustave plays like a paladin — he can hit hard but also brings passive buffs to support the team. His signature ability, Overcharge, builds energy in his mechanical arm with each attack. Once it hits 10 charges, he can unleash a powerful electric strike for serious damage.

Lune fills the mage role. She has access to healing spells but leans heavily into elemental damage. Her special system, Stain, lets her stack magical effects, which she can later convert into boosted attacks or stronger healing.

Maelle acts as the rogue archetype. She uses different stances to increase her damage output, though each stance also raises the amount of damage she takes in return. She’s high risk, high reward.

Sciel rounds out the group as a warrior. Her mechanic, Foretell, is built around Sun and Moon cards. She applies these effects in battle, then consumes them to enter a Twilight phase, which temporarily boosts her damage, sometimes doubling or even tripling it.

You can only bring three characters into battle at a time, so party composition does matter — but it doesn’t take long to figure out who pulls their weight and who can sit out. The enemy design is one of the game’s real highlights. The Paintress’s creations, known as Nevrons, shift in form depending on the environment, and the art direction here is genuinely impressive.

In one early area, Flying Waters — a visually striking inverted seafloor with an ocean suspended above you — the Nevrons resemble crab-like sea creatures with antique diving helmets. They don’t exactly switch up their attack patterns much, but they look cool as hell and fit the surreal tone of the game perfectly.

The worst of the bunch are flying enemies. You can’t hit them with standard attacks or most skills. Instead, you have to use a mechanic called Free Aim, which lets you manually target and shoot enemies. It’s also the only way to hit weak points or apply marks, which makes targets more vulnerable to follow-up damage. Every shot costs AP, so it’s not something you can spam without consequences.

The issue is when the game leans too hard into this. Some areas are stacked entirely with flying enemies, and since they can’t be touched by normal attacks or skills, your options become frustratingly limited.

The last major layer of Expedition 33’s combat system comes in the form of Pictos and Luminas. Pictos are passive upgrades you can equip — each character gets three slots. These range from basic boosts like acting first in combat or increasing healing effectiveness to more strategic ones like earning extra AP for pulling off a perfect dodge.

Then there’s Luminas, which is where things start to get interesting. After winning four battles with a Picto equipped, you unlock the option to permanently add it to a character using Lumina points. So, if you’re using the “Dodger” Picto, which gives +1 AP on a perfect dodge, you can burn a Lumina point to keep that bonus forever, even while equipping a different Picto in its slot.

Lumina points themselves can be upgraded at camps using items you collect throughout the world. It’s a solid system that rewards experimentation without locking you into one build. The more you play around with it, the stronger your team gets and the more flexibility you have in fights.

Weapons are upgradeable, too, but honestly, this felt like the least interesting part of character progression. As you find or level up weapons, they’ll come with passive bonuses and elemental effects — some useful, some situational. It’s worth swapping them out depending on who you’re fighting, but compared to the depth of Pictos, Luminas, and the skill trees, the weapon system doesn’t leave much of an impression.

Exploring the continent

The world outside of Lumière is a freaky little place that feels both alien and familiar. Floating islands hang in the sky, surrounded by swirling clouds and strange glowing light. Forests and fields mix with ancient ruins and overgrown tech, creating a space that feels lived-in but mysterious. One area is filled with calm meadows and flowers, while another is littered with massive broken machines and glowing coral-like structures.

It’s a strange mix, but it works. The environments feel like they’re telling a story even when nothing is happening. One moment you’re standing in a peaceful glade carpeted in violet wildflowers, and the next you’re navigating a biomechanical graveyard littered with the remnants of titanic constructs and crystalline growths. It’s a visual fever dream, but with just enough grounded naturalism to make you believe you could actually step into it

Exploration will undoubtedly draw many comparisons to Final Fantasy X, and it’s pretty spot-on. The areas look big and open at first glance, but they’re mostly linear, with a few branching paths here and there. Sometimes, you’ll find a side character tucked away or stumble into a group of unsettling mime-like enemies that feel like they wandered in from someone’s nightmare. But don’t expect wide-open zones or massive side quests early on.

Between these areas, you travel across a tilt-shifted overworld map. It’s a nice visual change, and it’s not just for show — the overworld has enemy encounters and scattered NPCs you can interact with. Most of them are Gestrals, odd little creatures modeled after those wooden drawing mannequins. They’re a bit dim but extremely friendly, and they live for combat. You can trade with them and sometimes challenge them to fight for bonus loot.

The overworld stays pretty restricted until Act 3, where it finally opens up and offers a bunch of optional dungeons and extra areas to explore. Until then, it’s more about moving from point A to B, meeting a few oddballs, and occasionally punching them for treasure.

While exploring the continent, you’ll occasionally be able to set up camp. This is where you can rest, upgrade Luminas, and enhance your weapons with the help of the Curator — a skeletal, hollow-like figure who rescues Maelle early on and eventually takes up residence in your camp after leaving The Manor. He’s vaguely unsettling to look at, but he makes my weapons hit harder.

Camp is also where you can check in with your party members. Don’t expect Baldur’s Gate 3-level character interaction here. Dialogue is limited, and most of the deeper camp-related content doesn’t even unlock until well into Act 2. Can’t say much more without spoiling it, but just know that even when it opens up, the camp system is more of a light touch. Still, it’s a nice moment of calm between the heavier parts of the game, giving you a chance to connect with the group more groundedly.

Jeu magnifique, magnifique

Despite the sound issues, Expedition 33’s music rules. The orchestral strings, the moody piano motifs—it all just works. The soundtrack elevates every moment, whether it’s a quiet walk through a dreamlike landscape or a boss fight that’s making you question your reflexes and life choices.

Visually, the game is just as strong. Beyond the high fantasy setting, it leans heavily into Belle Époque-era France, the supposed golden age of the nation from 1874 and 1914. So yes, if it wasn’t obvious already, this game is unapologetically French. Lumière, the main city, is essentially just Paris with a new name. (“Lumière” literally means “light,” and Paris is the City of Lights — subtle, it is not.)

Even in Performance mode on PS5, the game looks great. The world design is gorgeous, full of painterly detail, with environments that feel like they were made to be PC wallpapers. The paint-themed aesthetic extends to the characters and enemy design, which often draws directly from art history. Don’t be surprised when a YouTube video essay titled “An Art Historian Plays Clair Obscur” drops a year from now.

Suffice to say, the game hits like crack in all the right ways.

Is Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 worth it?

Expedition 33 isn’t perfect — combat can be frustrating, especially with the parry system and flying enemies, and some of the deeper mechanics don’t fully open up until later in the game. But what Sandfall Interactive has built here is something genuinely unique.

The story is slow-burning but rewarding, with grounded, well-written characters who don’t deflect with quips. The world is strange, stylish, and unapologetically French, backed by a gorgeous soundtrack and painterly visuals that make even the quiet moments feel intentional.

It’s not perfect, but it’s bold, weird, and full of heart. If you’re into character-driven RPGs with a distinct vibe and don’t mind a few rough edges, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is absolutely worth your time.

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