BerenErchamion Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review

I've played around 20 hours on PC so far. Here's my experience: Great Story: I haven’t felt this engaged with a story in a while. It’s genuinely captivating. Great Writing: Some of the dialogue and scenes are genuinely thought-provoking, not just filler. Innovative Gameplay Mechanics: The Parry/Dodge/Jump system takes time to master, but once it clicks, it’s very satisfying. Overall, I’m loving the main story and the scattered lore drops throughout the world. That’s honestly what I play games for — a great story that rewards you for digging deeper. Story progression and lore are designed in a way that you uncover things naturally as you go. It never explains everything up front. It can feel mysterious and confusing at first, but it’s intentional. You have to piece things together yourself. I personally enjoy that. I prefer a story that challenges me rather than one that simply tells me everything. This game is heavily inspired by JRPGs, but with a modern and polished style. If you enjoyed Nier: Automata, this feels similar, updated for 2024 standards. Voice Acting: Excellent, very immersive, with solid lip syncing. Gameplay: The learning curve is steep at first — I was defeated quickly several times — but with practice, it becomes very rewarding. Combat encourages experimenting with different Picto combinations and Lumias activations. Build Crafting: If you enjoy creating different builds, this game offers plenty of options. Exploration: Similar to G0d of War in style. It’s not fully open-world, but the areas are rich and rewarding enough to feel satisfying. Art Style: Absolutely stunning. It’s like walking through a surrealist Cannes film. It may not be to everyone's taste, but I found it beautiful and refreshing. Music: Incredible. I even searched for the soundtrack on Spotify because it left such an impression. The composer really did an outstanding job. I'm completely hooked. Every aspect of the game has resonated with me. If I had one suggestion, it would be to add an option for quick loadouts for builds (like Build 1, Build 2, etc.). It can be a little tedious to manually swap Luminas for different situations. Other than that, if this sounds like your kind of game, I believe you will truly enjoy it.