It’s been a long time since a game completely took over my life. I think the last time I was consumed by a game like this was when I first finished Bioshock Infinite, which then led me to play through the entire trilogy (I hadn’t played the first and second entries yet). Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (COE33 from this point on) managed to give me that same feeling again.
From the very first second the game began, I was completely immersed in its universe. I think that's due to two things: 1) you’re presented with an amazing scene right at the start, and 2) the game looks absolutely gorgeous. Straight away, you’re treated to a beautiful shot of Lumière, showing that the developers mean business.
Next, you go through some basic tutorials, which were executed perfectly—especially for a newcomer to the genre like myself. It took me a little while to understand what was being asked of me (dodging is your saviour, but you’re rewarded for parrying). After that, you're dropped into Lumière again, and it completely took my breath away—the visual presentation is simply stunning. I think this is the first time I’ve truly experienced the full potential of Unreal Engine 5 in a proper game. I've seen impressive trailers before, but no game until now has fully showcased the strength of this engine—at least in terms of visuals.
As I was saying, you’re dropped into Lumière to meet an old friend. This is where the narrative really begins to kick in, as you start discussing what’s about to happen. I’ll try to avoid spoilers as much as possible, so don’t worry—I won’t mention anything that hasn't already been revealed by the developers. Essentially, what’s happening is that there’s a creature called the Paintress, who every year paints a new number onto a monolith-like structure. The number goes down by one each year, and when it does, everyone of that age undergoes gommage—they vanish into nothingness. Each year after the event, an expedition embarks on a journey towards the Paintress and the monolith to find out what’s causing it and how to stop it.
All of this is explained within a matter of minutes. You spend time with your old friend, learning how people are feeling about the Gommage. They feel sad, uncertain, confused—but, to my surprise, some even feel happy and relieved. This aspect of the story is what I appreciated most: the writers weren’t afraid to be honest. They present you with what you think is reality, but masterfully hide what’s truly going on. They show you two sides of a beautiful story and leave it to you to decide what’s right and what’s wrong. And honestly, I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer—which I suspect is exactly the point.
The last thing I want to mention is the music. The music, man! This game gets it absolutely right with every scene and every tune. I loved the transitions between scenes and how the soundtrack evolves the feeling behind them. One moment you’re listening to classical violin while roaming through a gorgeous forest, and the next you’re thrown into a boss battle with heavy metal/grunge blasting as you fight a five-limbed monster with no head! COE33 doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to its soundtrack. I’ll definitely be adding it to my music library once it’s released, because I know I’ll want to listen to it again and again.
There’s so much more to say about COE33—way more. I’m intentionally choosing not to say much about the combat. Not because it’s flawed (in fact, I loved it, even if it made me want to pull my hair out every now and again), but because this was my first proper turn-based RPG. I need to play more games in the genre before I can form a proper opinion. On its own, though, I can confidently say the combat here is fantastic. Could it be done better? I’m not sure—because like I said, I need more experience with similar games to fairly judge that.
COE33 is a game I’m going to be thinking about for a very long time. It’s a story about life, death, and grief—topics that, in my opinion, many people don’t spend much time thinking about, because they can be quite scary. I love that COE33 doesn’t shy away from these subjects, and presents them with such elegance and understanding.
I urge anyone reading this to play Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fan of turn-based RPGs or not—if you’re interested in deep, narrative-driven single-player games, you will love this gem.
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