Within the present panorama of the video games business, the place publishers are more and more trying to do extra of the identical, solely investing within the protected bets of massive ongoing franchises to offset excessive improvement prices, it’s going to take a crafty mixture of progressive gameplay with new and fascinating concepts in storytelling to maintain the single-player market rising and never simply surviving.
Enter Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 developer, Sandfall Interactive—a French studio led by ex-Ubisoft builders devoted to crafting precisely these single-player tales since their founding in 2020.
Whereas we had already seen what kind of presentation, narrative, and fight we’d be getting from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the large query since its first reveal in June 2024 was ‘How will this really feel to play?’. Fortunately, after diving into the preview construct, I can verify there’s lots to look ahead to in Expedition 33’s official launch subsequent month.
Let’s kick issues off with a bang. From what I’ve performed to this point, the large spotlight was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s story hook and setting. That shouldn’t come as a shock, given a movie adaptation has already been greenlit. In a darkish fantasy tackle Belle Époque France, Expedition 33 relies in a world the place a mysterious god-like being — the Paintress — is slowly wiping out humanity with just a few strokes of a brush.
Every year, this artist from hell paints a brand new variety of a sure age counting down from the one which got here earlier than. When she does this, anybody of that age turns right into a puff of smoke and dies immediately.
Earlier than they perish, an expedition is product of these already marked for demise to go on a suicide mission to attempt to defeat the Paintress so she will by no means accomplish that once more. After a few years of failure, the sport joins us with Expedition 33’s band of — you guessed it, 33-year-olds with 12 months left to stay.
Having us skip the prologue to the place they’ve already crossed the ocean, the Expedition 33 preview kicks off after catastrophe has already struck. With many of the wider crew both useless or lacking, you begin with lone squad member Gustave (voiced by Daredevil’s Charlie Cox). He’s ventured onto the Paintress’ monolith within the hopes of reassembling no matter squad members he got here together with, and fulfilling the mission in opposition to unimaginable odds or die attempting.
One in every of Sandfall’s targets with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was to create a high-fidelity, advanced turn-based RPG—a stunning area of interest available in the market. In that division, Expedition 33 succeeds, with immersive, pure landscapes stuffed with vivid colour palettes, euphoric sound design, and well-made cinematics.
To hone in on the audio for a second, it’s the kind of soundtrack the place even when you’re taking a break, you’ll need to depart the sport operating, flip the amount up, and bask within the audible glow of the opera-esque vocals and overtures whereas making a espresso.
Expedition 33 isn’t the primary sport to sound nearly as good because it seems to be, but it surely’s when the turn-based fight will get going that you simply understand how a lot potential there’s right here. In case you’ve performed a turn-based RPG earlier than, particularly JRPGs, the fundamental mechanics will really feel very acquainted.
Every squad member and enemy get turns, fundamental assaults, AP factors for utilizing expertise, mechanics to replenish AP factors and well being, and disposable objects to revive them. Nonetheless, its integration of real-time fight is a pleasing change from the usual turn-based fare.
When launching assaults, for instance, you’re thrown quick-time button prompts that may improve harm relying in your success. On the enemy aspect, as a result of you’ll be able to’t guard in opposition to assaults, lowering or eliminating harm comes all the way down to well-timed parries, dodges, or jumps—some supplying you with a gap for a lovely counter. Not solely are every enemy kind’s assaults totally different, however there are additionally diverse assault speeds to get used to.
Mastering the home windows to press the dodge or parry button on the proper time might get annoying, particularly when going through a number of the harder optionally available bosses on this explicit construct. Be that as it might, the fun of overcoming these struggles generates a compelling sense of trial and error within the title of self-improvement.
That is in no way the primary sport to adapt mechanics like this, but it surely seems like one of many first titles in an extended whereas that goes into this a lot element on a cinematic scale.
When mastering these mechanics inside a canvas supported by what looks as if such excessive manufacturing values, success feels all of the extra triumphant. That’s extra the case when backed by the soundtrack’s overture that sparks a sense of heroic revolt.
Whereas these starting turn-based plus real-time hybrid fight mechanics make for enjoyable fight, Sandfall has tried to go the additional mile and add RPG twists wherever it might probably. As an illustration, together with every squadmate’s distinctive skills, and a wide range of construct prospects in tweaking stats, ability timber, and kit, there are the added layers of complexity just like the Luminas system
Together with commonplace weapons gear, you’ll find stat-altering objects known as ‘Pictos’, of which every character can have as much as three geared up. Together with offering buffs, the geared up merchandise can also be granted particular skills.
These particular skills don’t should be unique to that preliminary person, nevertheless. By spending Luminas, a forex that every character has, they’ll purchase the talents of different squadmates’ Pictos for themselves. Mechanics like this provide way more selection in gameplay and construct types, making for a fuller RPG expertise.
In case you’re extra of an action-adventure participant who doesn’t like spending a great deal of time in menus to constantly tweak loadouts, this degree of depth won’t be for you. Then again, if you happen to love complicated RPG techniques—seeing the massive timesinks requires constantly paying off—you’ll fall in love with Sandfall’s debut title the extra you get into it.
Heading towards the tip of Expedition 33’s roughly three-hour preview construct, there was a pointy problem curve across the closing boss battle. Not solely did it have absurdly unimaginable home windows for dodging and parrying, however a monstrous enemy-buffing-ability that would depart virtually no room for error.
To beat it on the traditional ‘Expedition’ problem, I ended up spending not less than an hour grinding simply to get additional factors to unlock the appropriate expertise. Even then I solely simply survived by the pores and skin of my enamel. That stated, it’s a testomony to Expedition 33’s narrative that it retains you hooked even throughout these extra irritating moments.
Throughout my hours with the preview construct, it was the expedition’s gripping targets of desirous to be taught extra about this stunning but tragic world, discovering extra survivors, studying of companions’ tales, and most significantly, wanting to find why the Paintress is committing annual genocide that made me need to maintain powering via.
Whereas there are occasional gripes with fight problem, it feels minor when in comparison with the sport’s signature premise that acts because the driving power pushing you forward.
All through the three hours spent with the preview construct, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 solely acquired higher with time altogether. With each new squad member and gameplay mechanic it launched, one other compelling layer to the cinematic battles and total expertise was added.
When mixed with the already incredible mixture of snappy fight, ear-pleasing soundtrack, stunning visuals, and interesting darkish story, this entire first course of Sandfall Interactive’s debut sport is making for a singular expertise everybody ought to be keeping track of.
If the remainder of Expedition 33 is that this good, we would have a Sport of the Yr contender on our fingers. We solely hope they launch the preview construct as a completely public demo so you’ll be able to strive it for yourselves.
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