Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 is an incredible modern take on the classic JRPG formula

From the moment Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 boots up and almost without fault across its 25 to 50 hour runtime, the player will be treated to a modern masterpiece that wows with its visual and aural delight — often in spite of its macabre theme. This is a game that reminds me of the very highest point of JRPG glory, and Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 sits rightly alongside heavy hitters like Final Fantasy VII with every right to be there. 

Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 opens with the kind of far-fetched, deliberately ambiguous setting that JRPG’s are well known for. The player initially controls Gustave, a confident but understated man who for me, has a look of Jake Gyllenhaal about him — although I don’t believe the actor had anything to do with the game. Gustave is making his way to something called The Gommage, meeting friends and an old flame, Sophie, along the way.

I won’t spoil what happens next, but as it turns out The Gommage (which directly translates as scrub or wipe out) is the work of The Paintress — a distant and Godlike antagonist who paints an ever-decreasing number on an annual basis, causing anyone of that specific age to be wiped out of existence when she rubs away and replaces the number. 

This is already a grim concept, but Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 is all about presentation and it works its magic faultlessly right from these opening scenes. Using its incredible soundtrack, exceptional voice acting and fantastic engine-based cut scenes, Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 evokes real emotion and drives home the trauma of this event, leaving me staggered and completely sold on the story that would follow.

In response to The Gommage (and the general cataclysm that has befallen the citizens of Clair Obscura: Expedition 33’s world), humanity has responded by undertaking an annual expedition to tackle The Paintress directly. With 66 expeditions behind us and the Paintress onto number 33 (of her countdown from 100), Gustave and his crew set sail to her mysterious archipelago, armed to the teeth and ready to test their recently developed new technology.

Again, avoiding spoilers, there’s a reason why none of the prior expeditions have returned and things quickly go South. Gustave finds himself in despair, and again Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 plucks at the heartstrings with its incredible, cinematic presentation. I keep going back to this point because reviewing Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 is so much about how it makes you feel as much as it is what it does — but on this latter point, Sandfall Interactive have not only managed some amazing storytelling, they’ve also built a brilliant, original game as well.

As a game that has clearly been inspired by JRPG classics of the late 1990’s and early nougthies, Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 offers a turn-based battle system that pitches up to three Expedition 33 members against between one and about five enemies. These range from small, easy to kill automatons to nightmare inducing giants straight out of the grimmest horror movie. The bosses are often truly something to behold, but even the most basic enemies have unique aspects to them that make fights much more interesting than your typical run of the mill grind.

Each Expedition member has a unique resource or mechanism that makes them fight in a different way. Lune, for example, can collect “stains” which are basically elemental effects that enhance damage from other attacks and cause status effects like burning. Gustave can build up his power to unleash an Overcharge attack that can be devastating if you are also able to maximise a series of button presses (similar to a quick time event or QTE) that is also one of Clair Obscura: Expedition 33’s core mechanics.

This mechanic is perhaps what truly differentiates Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 from most other games in this genre. Almost every attack you can make will trigger a QTE, allowing the player to either hit much harder or (in Gustave’s case) to chain attack after attack with each successful hit you land. You don’t have to use this system and can actually turn it off in the settings and in some battles I agree that you might not bother, but with tougher or more interesting enemies, you will certainly want to.

One thing you can’t turn off (and probably wouldn’t want to) is a similar system used to defend yourself. Expedition members can dodge, parry and later, jump over incoming enemy attacks, and it is — at least I think — theoretically possible to get through any battle without taking damage if you are skillful enough. Dodging has a fairly broad window of success which makes it a good option for new players, whilst a parry must be executed perfectly. It’s a lovely balance that keeps Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 accessible whilst absolutely giving hardcore and pro players something to aspire to.

As with all good JRPGs, there’s also a fair sized skill tree to contend with, and whilst Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 uses a lot of weird language (for the sake of immersion, of course) it is generally understandable. The core idea here is that as the player collects Picos (which are basically new skills), they can then learn them over four battles to convert them into Lumina, which can then be equipped in a different slot on any character. 

More complex ideas are introduced as the game progresses, but this core concept is both interesting and rewarding, leading to lots of different build options and perhaps more importantly, making the player subconsciously invest into these new ideas before getting the full reward from them. 

There’s exploration in Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 too, despite a lot of the story-specific sequences being quite linear. This reminded me very much of Final Fantasy VII or VIII, where later in the game we got more and more access to new transit methods that could take us to unreachable places. Equally, I also remember in some of these games how you could stumble quite easily upon a seemingly unbeatable enemy, being forced to return later when more powerful to finish them off. 

Between all of its little tricks and ideas, Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 has a core campaign of about 25 hours if you really breezed through it, but an overall playtime of probably double that. I don’t tend to focus too much on 100% completionism these days as I simply don’t have time, but what I found about Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 was that I wanted to see as much of the story content as possible, including the small interactions and conversations that come from some of the various side activities.

In closing, let me be clear. Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 has the most original and well-executed video game story I’ve seen in years and years, bar none. If you love JRPG stories alone but don’t care for the gameplay, you should still consider picking this up and just playing it on the “Story” difficulty level. However, even if the story, the visuals and the incredible soundtrack around it weren’t as strong as they are, Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 would still offer a unique and extremely well executed battle system that could otherwise prop-up a less than perfect narrative. As it stands, Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 offers the best of both — and is without doubt the best JRPG of the last two, three or maybe even five years. 

You can find Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 on PC, Xbox or PS5.