4.5/5 ★ – SilverScroll's review of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

I don't really know how to start this, I'm not gonna lie, Expedition 33 might just have one of the best stories I've ever seen. The level of nuance and complexity, along with its twists and turns, is unbelievable, and that ending was the toughest choice I think I've ever had to make. I suspect more than a few won't like the direction the story took, and even more will completely misinterpret it. Nevertheless, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 just gets better and better the more you play it, and the more you discover about the twisted world you're in. Expedition 33 starts off in the broken city of lumiere, you play as Gustave, a 32 year old man who's just about to enter the final year of his life having watched his childhood sweetheart 'gommage' (dissappear into dust, basically) right before his eyes. The prologue is gripping and while there may not be much in the way of gameplay it perfectly sets the tone of what's to follow. This is a game about grief, and the many forms and shapes it can take, this does mean that it's maybe a little too depressing at points but there is quite a bit of comic relief off the path through the gestrals, so it's not just endless depression. Some of the plot twists are truly excellent, providing subtle foreshadowing to those with a keen eye while also being completely shocking, the confidence woven into this narrative is truly unbelievable from a debut studio, that first twist is up there with Aerith from ff7. Special mention to the performances here, they are all absolutely brilliant but Jennifer English particularly is outstanding. The gameplay is unbelievable, there are 6 entirely different and unique characters to choose from, plenty of resources to upgrade or respec said characters and a wide range of skills, builds and luminas you can choose. Take Maelle as an example, do you want to set her up as a burn build, decimating burning enemies with ease or do you want to build her in another way? The complexity here is endless and you'll probably have to do another playthrough just to see most of it. The moment to moment stuff is brilliant aswell, and Sandfall have created one of the best turn based combat systems ever. Some things here and there need to be tweaked, I think verso's perfection penalty when taking a hit is a bit too harsh, but other than these minor nitpicks its truly unbelievable. The characters are fucking brilliant, each have their own wants and dreams, regrets and sorrows and each handle grief in different ways. The situation they've been thrust into and their reasons for joining the expedition, it's all so great. I will say though that overall, the signposting is a little off, oftentimes I followed a path that took me to the next story beat when I wanted to explore some more and vice versa. Aswell as this, the optional content is fucked, it's left all until the end and even then it's still not accessible, I'm not saying have a marker telling you what level your supposed to be but when every fucking dungeon says danger next to it it'd be nice to know. Final point, while I can't say this has as many bangers as say ff9 the amount of effort put into this soundtrack deserves special mention, each dungeon has its own exploration and combat themes which for a jrpg is quite unique, it leads to the music feeling fresh and there are more than a few excellent ones in here, it overall captures the essence of the game perfectly. Expedition 33 is one of the best JRPGs of all time, with a deeply thought provoking, gripping narrative, dynamic excellent combat and brilliant characters and music. This is a game that oozes confidence from every aspect, and the fact this is a debut title from a team made of 30 people makes this tale even better. Well done Sandfall, you deserve every minute of praise and admiration. My game of the year frontrunner, and I can't see it being anything other than this or Death Stranding 2 Playtime: 35 hours (i think)