Damien Grief Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review

This game is incredible. Not since The Last of Us Pt 1 has the intro to a game gripped me so much and felt so emotional. The game looks and runs really well on my PC and it's so beautiful that every time I get to a new area in the game, I have to stop and look around at the breathtaking scenery. The soundtrack ties it all together and is perfect for the mood of everything happening in the game. One of my favorite soundtracks ever so far. The combat is general turn based RPG combat. It's not active/action combat like the modern Final Fantasy games. But it does add in some extra input requirements. Some of your own skills will require you to hit a button timed properly to get bonuses or do extra damage when the skill hits. But the big difference is that when enemies attack, you get a chance to dodge or parry their attacks. This is not really an optional extra thing. The game expects you to be able to pull this off. Dodging's timing is more generous than parrying, but if you pull off the parry, you get to counter attack for massive damage. Overall, this game is the full package. When I'm not playing it, I'm constantly thinking about playing it. Everything from the gameplay and exploration to the soundtrack, visuals, story, and amazing voice cast just works perfectly together. It will be on my shortlist for GOTY for sure. And if it keeps up as it has so far, it may end up as one of my favorite games of all time.