5/5 ★ – Kathychan1's review of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Claire Obscure is a beautiful tragedy about loss, escapism, and the perpetuating cycle of grief. An enormous masterpiece of storytelling, art direction, and gameplay that will stay with you long after the credits roll. Gameplay Similar to its inspirations like Final Fantasy, Claire Obscure adopts the structure of classic JRPGs with its overworld with seperate playable levels, a party system, and turn-based combat. But it doesn’t merely copy those mechanics—it innovates upon them. For example in combat Mastering real-time elements like dodging or parrying enemy attacks is just as crucial as building synergistic party setups to overcome challenging encounters. The game features an overworld with richly explorable levels and enough side content to keep you engaged. Especially charming is the Gestral Beach section, where you complete silly and fun challenges, from parkour courses to a round of Gestral Volleyball, and are rewarded with a swimsuit costume for one of your party members. Art The art of Claire Obscure is not only technically impressive, thanks to Unreal Engine 5 and its stunning particle effects and lighting, but also artistically unique. Every level is a visual delight, from blood-red forests to floating underwater dreamscapes. Enemy and NPC designs shine with individuality; they're far from generic blobs or goblins, they design reflect the world and people around them. What stood out to me was the texture work .The wooden, almost marionette-like feel of the Gestrals, or the cracked, stone-like skin of the Curator, lends the characters sense of real physicality. The art direction in the cutscenes is another aspect that deserves praise. The animation really brings the characters to life, Gustave’s awkward body language Renoir’s slow, tired movements add a lot to their personality and role in the story. Another gerat visual choice is the switch to black and white during certain scenes between Maëlle and another character (who won't be spoiled here). Which true significance gets revealed later in the story. The entire setting, inspired by 1800s Paris, further adds to the unique artistic charm. Surreal, cinematic images like a melted Eiffel Tower, serve as a mirror for the game’s themes of a decaying world and the inevitability of loss. Music From the first few notes, the soundtrack instantly reminded me of NieR: Automata, one of my all-time favorites. Claire Obscure captures a similarly melancholic, haunting soundscape filled with beautiful yet unintelligible (for me as not french speaking person) lyrics. But it never feels like an imitation. The music claims its own identity, with lyrics rich in thematic meaning (after you looked them up) and a great variety from fun, epic battle tracks to thoughtful ballads. Story It’s not just that the story is where Claire Obscure shines most brightly—it’s that every other aspect of the game almost completely serves it, elevates it, and works in harmony with it. That’s clear from the very beginning, as Gustave, the main character, looks out over a city trapped in time, the Eiffel Tower melting in the background. The whole city is bracing for the inevitable: losing someone they love—again. The game wastes no time in establishing its themes and central conflict, diving straight into the question of how we deal with grief. As the game progresses, it slowly reveals layer after layer of it’s canvas, one built on cycles of loss and the desperate attempts to break them. The characters are deeply sympathetic, not just in their suffering but in their determination to keep going, no matter how slim their chances. What binds them together is this shared struggle, but each one copes with this grief differently, and those differences ripple out into the world itself, shaping its conflicts and decay. That said, Claire Obscure isn’t without moments of levity. There’s warmth and camaraderie between party members, and light-hearted encounters with fantasy creatures, like the combat-obsessed Gestrals, that bring some much-needed contrast to the heavier themes. Without spoiling anything, I’ll just say this: by the end of the game, when everything is out in the open, the time for hiding and lying has passed. The player is faced with a terrible choice. No matter what you decide, it’s one that will stay with you, and the consequences for both the characters and the world will linger long after the credits roll.