Expedition 33 may be a turn-based RPG, but it refuses to behave like one

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Turn-based strategy meets axenic stimulation.

There was a week wherever Horace tried to spot if helium was a beret bear. He doesn't similar to speech astir it.

Clair Obscur gripped maine wrong the archetypal minutes of its melodramatic prologue. A turn-based RPG with a Belle Époque, steampunky aesthetic and a bleak satellite of monsters and magic? I cognize they accidental not to enactment a chapeau connected a hat, but erstwhile that hat's a beret… magnifique. The communicative opens with the radical of Lumière celebrating its yearly get-together wherever the Paintress, a sobbing elephantine beyond the city’s shores, etches a fig into a cliff, and hundreds of onlookers instantly evaporate into petals and smoke.

A screenshot from the prologue of Clair Obscur Expedition 33, showing Gustav and Sophie watching the Paintress during the Gommage.

The morbid acold unfastened leads to our protagonists, Gustav and Maelle, joining Expedition 33: a task unit sailing to the location of the Paintress to extremity her yearly ritual. The heroic travel rapidly becomes a sinister decease march, 1 that scratches galore of my peculiar itches. Horror, affectional gutpunches, bold, thought-provoking reveals. Its communicative is encapsulated by the affirmation its characters repetition to themselves erstwhile they falter: “For those who travel after.” It’s arsenic overmuch a reminder of the aboriginal they combat for arsenic a bleak reassurance their ends volition mean something.

The morbid acold unfastened leads to our protagonists, Gustav and Maelle, joining Expedition 33: a task unit sailing to the location of the Paintress to extremity her yearly ritual. The heroic travel rapidly becomes a sinister decease march, 1 that scratches galore of my peculiar itches. Horror, affectional gutpunches, bold, thought-provoking reveals. Its communicative is encapsulated by the affirmation its characters repetition to themselves erstwhile they falter: “For those who travel after.” It’s arsenic overmuch a hopeful reminder of the aboriginal they’re warring for arsenic a bleak reassurance that their inevitable ends volition mean something.

Expedition 33, showing a vista of the Paintress' land from the extremity of the Lumiere dock.

Clair Obscur teeters betwixt grim and optimistic, and, yes, sometimes, adjacent ridiculous, but it is ever unexpected. It defies convention, and its refusal to beryllium much of the aforesaid bleeds into much than conscionable storytelling.

It was evident from the archetypal clip I squared up to an enemy. Epic euphony blares and the conflict strategy explodes onto screen, gushing with flair and character. So acold truthful familiar. Likewise, each the RPG mainstays are here: Attack, magic, peculiar abilities. But the cardinal quality is that you support against strikes successful existent time. Enemies lunge with wind-up attacks, and you person to clip dodges to weave away.

That’s the harmless option, anyway.

The different way whispered saccharine nothings into my ear, tempting maine with a succulent hazard vs reward parry system. I didn't expect a conflict strategy that looks to beryllium calved from a blend of Final Fantasy and Persona would person specified a steadfast dollop of Sekiro-like parries. You lone person to work my Total Chaos impressions to cognize that a parry flicks each dopamine power successful my brain.

Expedition 33, showing Verso countering an attack.

When the satisfying clang of my archetypal deflection hit, and I learned flawless parry strings pb to brutal counters, perfecting it consumed me. Learning onslaught animations and deflection timings crossed respective hellacious fights was the stint wherever this crippled became unforgettable. It drew maine successful with an obsessive request for perfection akin to a Souls game, and it rewarded my studying.

Every cleanable artifact gave maine other AP that powered my peculiar abilities, allowing maine to unleash deadly moves that finished the combat successful seconds. And erstwhile I carved retired that playstyle, evolving it became my mission. I created customized Pictos loadouts, and the collectable trinkets’ unsocial perks fto maine customise quality builds I could strategise around. By the end, AP was a saccharine nectar I feasted upon. My Pictos turned each drawstring of parries into a oversea of AP, which I’d funnel into Maelle truthful she could unleash Goku-level ace moves betwixt quaint taunts successful her British accent.

A screenshot from Clair Obscur Expedition 33, showing Malle executing her peculiar Stendhal ability.

Clair Obscur created a Frankensteined concoction of interwoven systems and RPG influences that had maine written each implicit it. Its turn-based fights were strategical and allowed maine to summation an vantage done tactical planning, but those plans relied connected my honed Soulsborne skills successful exploiting brag patterns and executing pinpoint deflections. It’s 1 of my favourite turn-based conflict systems to date, due to the fact that Clair Obscur isn’t contented being each different RPG. Whether it's the communicative oregon the fights, it tears pages retired of the rulebook and rearranges them into thing new, and I can’t hold for Sandfall Interactive to commencement ripping them retired each implicit again.

Ollie: I tin number connected 1 manus the fig of games whose stories person gripped maine similar Clair Obscur has. The archetypal 30 minutes is already well-established arsenic 1 of the strongest openings to immoderate game, and the merciless twists and fantastic characters lone seemed to deed harder arsenic I progressed. There's loving craftsmanship everyplace you look.

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