26) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (2025)

Roughly five years ago, when it seemed as though the entire world had been shifted on its head by real world events, it was apparent that there were going to be big, far reaching effects. To this day, we're still seeing the ripples, and we likely will for years to come. One of the things I was most interested in was how such a large scale event would impact different forms of media, with video games being my primary curiosity. While I'm certain I can point to numerous examples of games that have been released in the interim that were affected, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 stands as one of the most prominent projects that was spawned as a result, and its themes and motifs are a haunting example of how art imitates life.

The project started in 2019, not long before the COVID-19 pandemic, as a passion project Guillaume Broche, who worked at Ubisoft at the time. He aimed to pay homage to the classics of the JRPG genre, most notably Final Fantasy and Persona. He reached out to a few friends to craft a demo, and in April of 2020, he went to Reddit looking for voice actors. This is where he met Svedberg-Yen, who would be brought on as the game's lead writer. Similarly, composer Lorien Testard was discovered through a post on a French indie game forum where he linked to his Soundcloud. Broche left Ubisoft to form Sandfall Interactive so that he could focus on the project full time. As the first game released by the newly formed studio, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sets a high bar not only for the studio, but for the industry as a whole.

The game is set in a dark fantasy version of France, which sees the city of Lumière being completely isolated after an event known as The Fracturing. Each year, a being known as The Paintress, a giantess on a far away island, will stand up and change the number on the monolith behind her. The number started at 100, and has gone down by one every year. Known as the Gommage, when this takes place, anyone whose age matches the new number fades away. We begin as the number changes from 34 to 33, meaning that the oldest living person in Lumière is only 32. Each year, a group leaves the island to embark on a mission to stop the paintress. Knowing all before them have failed, each expedition attempts to go as far as they can, leaving behind anything they can to give the next year's expedition a better chance.

It's a fascinating premise that the game takes full advantage of to showcase just how devastating and alien this world has become. Throughout the story, we learn how this has shaped the way people view family, as having a child later in life is seen as selfish since you're damning them to be orphaned. We see that some people try to live in a very pragmatic way, resigned to how the world is. We also get a look into how such an event can be seen as positive, as knowing exactly when you'll die means you can make the most of the time you have. It also speaks to the hope and optimism that people still cling to, with characters repeating the mantras of "When one falls, we continue," "For those that come after," and "Tomorrow comes."

Your time in the game will be primarily spent in two ways, exploring each zone or area, each of which have plenty of hidden areas to discover through exploration and light platforming, and of course, combat. Exploration is always a treat, as the environments are gorgeous and varied. Normally, I'd bemoan the lack of a map for each area, but not only does this fit the central theme of the game, each area is distinct enough that you'll quickly memorize them. Combat is an absolutely brilliant affair. The inspirations from Persona are evident in the UI and the amazingly cinematic camera system. Likewise, I couldn't help but be reminded of Final Fantasy VI, as each of the six party members you acquire have an altogether different playstyle that makes them feel unique. Whether it be juggling between stances, planning out which elements to use, or simply mastering the timing in combat, you'll discover which characters' playstyle suits you, and each of them can be further modified with different skill trees.

Combat feels so good and satisfying. It combines the turn based system with a precise timing element, allowing you to deal more damage with attacks, as well as dodge or parry incoming blows. It should come as no surprise that Guilluame Broche has an old Youtube account where he posted videos showing his mastery of Devil May Cry 5, including no-hit runs. This absolutely seeped into this game's combat, as mastering each enemies' timing is incredibly rewarding. Another fun layer to combat stems from how you only have three characters participating at a time. This usually bothers me, but Clair Obscur takes things to the logical conclusion. If your team falls in combat, it's not an instant loss. Instead, the other characters will jump in as a sort of second chance. This rewards you for mastering each character and greatly alters your approach to team building. As counter intuitive as it may seem, it makes sense to put the character you're best with in your reserve, as a sort of trump card.

Moving on to the audio, the game excels in every regard. From the incredible music that now lives rent free in my mind, to the stellar voice work, Clair Obscur shows a tremendous harmony between beautiful visuals, tight gameplay, and impeccable audio design. Every single character is voiced to perfection, with big names such as Charlie Cox and Andy Serkis delivering expectedly great performances. I also feel that I have to give special recognition to Jennifer English, who voices possibly the most important character in the game. While her previous work on Baldur's Gate 3 as god's favorite princess, Shadowheart, was great, her work here as Maelle is truly astounding.

I feel as though I could gush about this game for hours upon hours, and I'd hardly be breaking any new ground as Clair Obscur quickly became a front runner in discussions for game of the year. Despite numerous big releases this year, it's hard to imagine that it won't absolutely sweep come awards season. I think it speaks volumes when a studio's premiere outing catches the attention of larger studios, with Square not ruling out a return to turn based combat for future Final Fantasy games. The industry has been forced to look at the game's success, and I'll be interested to see what lessons are learned.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a phenomenal game. Every single facet has been lovingly crafted and tuned to perfection. It presents an amazing, unique world that is a delight to explore, so much so that even though I clocked in around 30 hours, it left an undeniable impression on me. I can't wait to see what Sandfall does next, and I can only hope that they continue to innovate how games are made.