Clair Obscur Expedition 33 First Look

Clair Obscur Expedition 33 from Sandfall Interactive is one of the most highly anticipated titles on my radar for 2025. The game features a turn-based combat system and what seems to be an absolutely gorgeous world. I quite literally jumped at the opportunity to get my hands on a preview build, and it’s safe to say that what we have here is going to be a certified banger, albeit with some caveats. Some of these are, unfortunately, quite obvious and need addressing.

So, without any further meandering, let’s get into why you should keep an eye on Clair Obscur Expedition 33.

In Clair Obscur Expedition 33, players will take on the role of a member of Expedition 33 as they set forth to battle against the Paintress. The opening cinematic showcases some backstory and sets the scene for what’s to come. The Paintress is a mysterious figure that paints a new number every year, and when she does this, everyone of that age will vanish. The people of Lumiere are, therefore, in a race against time to save themselves from extinction and embark on expeditions to fight against the Paintress.

Upon landing on an island, the members of expedition 33 are met by an old man who immediately wreaks havoc against your forces. Within seconds, your team is decimated, along with other expedition crews that sailed out with you. It’s absolutely terrifying to see this, and the game instils a sense of fear quite quickly. Just what exactly is going on, and why is the enemy so fearsome?

Somehow, after watching your team get savagely annihilated, you awaken near a river and enter the game’s world of “The Continent”. The first thing you’ll notice is just how beautiful the environment is in Clair Obscur Expedition 33. You’ll soon encounter an NPC who will teach you how to battle, and this is where the game truly shines.

Battles in Clair Obscur Expedition 33 are turn-based with a twist. Players will be able to use firearms to take aim at enemies and fire shots at their weak points for increased damage. On top of this, you can also combine attacks with your allies for even more damage. One of the more active elements of battling involves the ability to parry or block enemy attacks. If you get your timing right, you can also launch a powerful counterattack against your foe, and it’s all so ridiculously flashy to see in action.

It’s also so satisfying when you block an attack or perfectly parry it, and the visual effects really accentuate this further. A controversial feature that has made its way into Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is the inclusion of QTEs (Quick Time Events) to battles. While some people may hate QTEs, others love them, so it really comes down to your personal preference if you’ll enjoy these or not. This also brings me to a big problem with battles that I struggled with. I’ll get to this in a bit.

As I progressed through the preview build, I would encounter another party member, and her attacks were quite different to Gustave, our protagonist. Lune’s attacks involve the use of Stains, which are essentially elemental magic skills. There are five types of stains, and using the right one is necessary to defeat foes in an effective manner. You can also combo stains for additional damage based on the enemy’s weaknesses.

In addition to this, each character can equip “Pictos”, which are accessories that can improve your stats and give you a passive advantage that can be learned called Lumina. Building your characters up with Pictos and Lumina will be essential for improving them as you progress through the game. This is all fairly standard fare so far for any self-respecting RPG.

Where Clair Obscur Expedition 33 falters lies with the fact that battles seem ridiculously difficult as you progress further. This may be limited to the preview build, but some enemies hit extremely hard, and just trying to survive becomes a mission in perfectly timing your dodges and parries or else you’ll be destroyed.

If you aren’t a fan of rhythm games or games that need you to time button presses perfectly, you are going to suffer here. I struggled and persevered, but other gamers out there may not be as patient as I am. The real-time battle aspects interwoven into the turn-based system complicates things heavily when an enemy attack is something you need to always monitor and try to predict.

The game world of Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. You’ll want to soak up as much detail as you can as you progress through the game world, and it’s a shame that the preview build did not showcase a photo mode. The final release build of the game desperately needs one, especially when the environments are so visually appealing. One thing that does need to be noted, though, is the fact that the preview build suffered from a couple of bugs.

Performance took a hit whenever something flashy happened on screen in battles and the game has an obscene amount of motion blur, or a filter that makes it look blurry throughout, which is incredibly disorientating. In my run of the preview build, I also encountered an issue where a tutorial pop-up dimmed the screen, and even after closing it, the entire game remained dimmed.

Clair Obscur Expedition 33’s soundtrack is absolutely fantastic, with the main theme being so beautiful you’ll want to just sit and listen to it in its entirety. The voice acting is performed by seasoned veteran,s too. I highly recommend checking out Sandfall Interactive’s YouTube channel mini-documentary regarding the main theme. You can see it below:

Clair Obscur Expedition 33 Trailer

Overall, Clair Obscur Expedition 33 does a lot of things right. The battle system immediately brings Persona to mind with an eclectic mixture of Final Fantasy and rhythm games too that may or may not be a success depending on the final release build. The game’s world is a spectacle to behold and if the blurriness can be toned down a bit, it will be even better. Definitely keep an eye on this game. It’s shaping up to be something worth checking out on release day if you’re a fan of role-playing turn-based games with a strong combat backbone.

Read more awesome reviews >>here<<.

The code was provided by the distributor.