Sunrise Parabellum Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review

My journey through Expedition 33, For those who come after… I had been waiting for this game ever since its very first reveal. In fact, it instantly caught my attention with its striking identity and artistic direction. And now.. oh my, it finally happened ! After more than 90 hours in expert difficulty having explored every corner of this beautiful but brutal world, defeated the toughest bosses, completed all quests, and hunted down every collectible, I think I can finally say that I’ve seen all it has to offer. And man... what a ride it was. This game is absolutely packed with passion because you can really feel the love the devs poured into it. Moreover, you can easily notice that risks were taken as it dares dares to be its own thing (which is rare these days), in stead of being that classic safe game project recycling old formulas. Of Ink, Steel and Emotion : The style and art direction is one of the strongest points of Expedition 33 +++ The visuals are absolutely stunning ! The world is so beautiful and intimidating that gave me Elden Ring vibes in how small you feel inside it. Environments are coherent and full of atmosphere, with every location telling its own story. The enemies are also perfectly integrated into their surroundings, both in design and behavior (the animation work on them is also amazing). But what really stood out to me were the characters, who aren't just vehicles for the plot.. They feel alive, with distinctive emotions, personalities, sensitivities, and ways of thinking. The facial expressions are deeply and unapologetically human which really helps ground the emotional tone of the game. The intro is especially powerful and emotional : I was hooked from the start ;-; The music that shapes the world The OST is an absolute banger !! Its atmospheric and emotional aspect gave me serious NieR vibes. The music is diverse and perfectly tied to each biome and/or fight. Every track feel meaningful and some were so good I literally stopped playing just to listen and soak it in. On a personal note, music matters a ton to me in games, and here it elevates everything. Even more than that, it is a core part of the game experience and helps to cement memories of each location and encounter. I also really enjoyed the little touch of being able to play music at the camp and just relax for a while.. it is a small detail, but it reminded me of moments in the Hotel Krat from Lies of P, where taking time to breathe is part of the journey. Also, The voice acting is excellent as well (I played in French and the talent is undeniable). A tale that shines through a fractured world The story and how it is told are another aspect of Expedition 33 that impressed me a lot... From the first moments in the game, the emotional and tragic intro hits hard and instantly hooks you into this mysterious world. The writing is very deep, full of layers and subtle brushstrokes of humanity. The characters feel like real people : they argue, they doubt, they grieve, they evolve and definitely not just clichés going through the motions. The game never tries to please everyone or follow trends but it dares to explore mature themes like loss, the fight against the unknown, and the desperate search for answers. start to finish. When it comes to the world of Expedition 33, it is mysterious and begs to be explored. The village, the verniculum language mix of the Gestrals... it all gives the world such life and depth. The world map is beautiful, huge, and full of secrets. The thing I really appreciated also was the lack of handholding (no quest journal) which forces you to stay engaged. For every question the game answers, it opens up even more mysteries, which kept me constantly engaged. The pacing is excellent in most parts. It is balancing calm exploration with tense moments, and always pushing the story forward without dragging. The dynamic between characters is so well written. The writing and presentation are top-tier from and the story stays strong all the way to the conclusion which is a rare thing nowadays. A dance of blades and Pictos The combat system is a sweet joy : realtime turn-based with dynamic camera work and great responsiveness (heavily inspired from the Persona games). The picto system is genius and there is so much room to customize with hella tons of passives, spells, weapons and cosmetics. Fights are fun and feel very skill-based but rewarding. The endless tower and boss fights were a blast !!! I loved how memorable (and sometimes unforgettable) the bosses are, some were epic and others were brutal but at the end, they were so satisfying to beat. An imperfect masterpiece We all know that even the most beautiful paintings of the world have a few cracks, and Expedition 33 is no exception. *Technical smudges : As much as I loved Expedition 33, I can’t ignore its rough edges and let me tll you : there are quite a few. Technically, the game is not as polished as it deserves to be.. The lip syncing is off, the shadow flickering and pop-ins are common, and some areas are just way too dark. UE5 optimization is pretty poor and the game should run better for the visuals it offers. There’s also traversal stutter, ugly oversharpened post-processing (hair + hair shadows especially look terrible) that I hated so much, and DLSS ghosting on small particles (DLAA looks even blurrier for some reason). Mods can help, but they can’t fully fix these problems. On top of that the default FPS limiter introduces frame pacing issues (cf. Digital Foundry video). *Bugs in the canvas : I encountered few bugs but nothing game breaking : Verso and Monocco’s dialogue lines sometimes get cut short (first exchanges in the camp), and I noticed the music occasionally cuts off in rare cases.. these moments break immersion just a little bit but I won't complain much about there and I think they can easily be patched. *Design choices that didn't land There were some choices that didn’t land for me. - About that, the Verso tutorial comes way too late (it'd be better if it happened while in the camp when he arrives the first time) + the tutorial on gradient counters is misleading (it suggests you should counter when the bar turns grey, but in reality you need to time it when the attack actually lands, unlike jump attacks). - When it comes to the parry system.. while excellent, it can let you overpower content too early if you master it quickly, throwing off the intended difficulty. - Bonding sequences felt shallow and skippable. - Without a bestiary, it’s hard to track Monocco’s spells and Nevron details. I had to use the wiki until I memorized stuff. - Having to replay pictos 4 times mid/late game is tedious. - One of the worst moments for me was the Gestral Beach section. The volleyball and the awkward platforming mini game felt completely disconnected from the rest of the game. It came off as frustrating, rage bait design that clashed with the tone and pacing. It really didn’t belong here. - I also disliked the backtracking required just to break painted rocks in earlier zones. - No option to place custom markers on the map really hurts late-game exploration, especially in Act 3+ when remembering which bosses or zones you should come back to is crucial. - Narratively, I found that after finishing Act 2, the flow started to break a little. Doing secondary content and exploring took away some of the emotional momentum, and by the time I reached the final boss I was way op, which made the climax feel a bit flat. The lack of scaling or rebalancing there was disappointing (but this was fixed thanks to the addition of Challenge Modifiers in the patch 1.3.0) For Future Expeditions Here’s what the game really needs, IMO: ✅ Photo mode ✅ Boss fight replays (Chromatic bosses especially!) ✅ Bestiary (maybe unlocked in NG+?) ✅ Ability to place custom markers on the map ✅ Option to restart a fight or reload last save from pause menu ✅ More in depth explanation of gradient counters in the expedition guide ✅ Separate build pages for each character (weapons, luminas, pictos, spells) For those who come after : a game to remember ! In the end, i''ll say that Expedition 33 is a rare gem. This is a game with heart, vision and the courage to take risks. Yes, it has rough edges and also yes it could use more polish, but the emotional impact, the atmosphere and its originiality far outweigh its flaws. After more than 90 hours, I still found myself thinking about its world, characters and story. For me, it’s already a strong contender for Game of the Year, and can easily ear that title with flying colors in spite of the remaining issues. For any player looking for something bold, fresh and moving, this is a journey worth taking.