Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Reviews
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a journey that blasts the senses from beginning to end. The melancholic and bleak moments are balanced by the characters' perseverance, which makes their triumphs shine much brighter. There's a profound sense of style and substance that only expands as more of the world is uncovered. What results is a true work of art that ties its brilliant components together into a complete package, which is awe inspiring to come from a freshman developer.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an ambitious take on an old genre that is just as gratifying to look at as it is to engage in. A new franchise is born.
Simply put, Sandfall Interactive’s debut game is a masterclass in presentation, storytelling, and gameplay. It’s a game you need to play to experience.
Veterans will love the callbacks and tributes Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 pays to its inspirations, and get a sublime experience out of it. Even if you're new to the genre, its narrative and unique world will draw you in, with its turn-based and combat mechanics spellbinding you like a world class French arthouse flick would to film critics. Très magnifique, une expérience merveilleuse, as they say.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a competent new JRPG with which genre fans will likely be pleased. However, it does very little to iterate on the foundation laid by those that came before it. Instead, it’s content to offer its flavor of what has worked before.
As you can hopefully tell, I absolutely adore Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It’s the first game in some time that I’ve found myself utterly lost in, so much so that I genuinely did not want to put the controller down. Any minor gripes there might be to have (some areas can get a little confusing to navigate at times, though none are so big that it remains a problem for long) are easily outnumbered by the sheer brilliance of the full product from start to finish. Combat, presentation, exploration, story; it’s all so damn good that I cannot recommend highly enough that you go play this game. We’ve still got a long way to go this year, and a few big hitters to come, but man, it’ll take something special to give Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a run for its money.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a special role-playing game that is full of love and passion. It's beautiful, the soundtrack is a splendor, the battles always challenge you without being unfair or losing the fun and the story offers an unusually adult approach. With great acting performances, hard-hitting twists and all kinds of endgame content, you'll have fun for a long time. If you've ever planned to play an RPG, play this one.
Review in German | Read full review
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is destined to become a classic, with a deep and well-written storyline, a spectacular soundtrack and top-notch graphics, along with a well-tuned combat system. One of the best JRPGs around.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Expedition 33 is a game that spoke to my soul. I quickly fell in love with this awe-inspiring yet melancholic world and the survivors left in it, and even though it tore my heart to shreds multiple times, I’d happily do it all over again.
"An adventure that stands proudly among the giants of the RPG genre." Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an adventure that stands proudly among the giants of the RPG genre, despite being an independent project. It combines unique strategic combat, a moving narrative emotion, and stunning art direction inspired by Symbolist art of La Belle Époque. The game succeeds in creating an experience rich in meaning and deep mechanics without sacrificing the quality of the presentation or the narrative focus. Some technical flaws are present, but they do not overshadow the overall visual power.
Review in Arabic | Read full review