Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review: "An old-school feeling JRPG as dynamic as Persona but with parry-filled battles as hard-won as Sekiro"

Although I've long made peace with the notion that JRPGs can be made by developers outside of Japan, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 might be the first I've played that doesn't just seek to emulate but strike out with its own unique vision built on the genre's rich foundations.

From the first arresting visual of an impossibly fractured Eiffel Tower, Montpellier-based Sandfall Interactive's debut title is quintessentially French in its Belle Epoque style in a world of perpetual yet beautiful decay. But it also imagines an alternative timeline of what Final Fantasy 16 might have been if it didn't sacrifice the series' traditions in the name of high fidelity and maturity, or rather if Xbox 360 cult classic Lost Odyssey got the chance to have a sequel. Ironically, the theme is almost the opposite to Mistwalker's exploration of immortality. Instead, the lives of the people of Lumiere are literally numbered as, each year, a mysterious god-like figure known as the Paintress paints on a distant monolith a number that instantly snuffs out everyone of that age.

By the time the story begins, this number has counted down to 33, meaning a population where the old have long ceased to exist. Against such doom, the people are largely consigned to this hopeless situation, to the extent an annual festival is held to celebrate and say goodbye to those who are about to 'gommage'. Yet this also follows with an expedition made up of members whose number will be next making their last act of defiance to reach and kill the Paintress in a bid to break this cycle of death.

A party of world-weary 32 year-olds who have all experienced unimaginable loss is then something of a change from the usually wide-eyed teenage protagonists of JRPGs, albeit with just as impeccable fashion sense.

But as telegraphed by all the failed expeditions that have come before them, this is also essentially a suicide mission. Those stakes are rammed home almost immediately after the prologue where upon arriving on the mysterious Continent, your expeditioners encounter the first of the story's many rug-pulls, and it becomes apparent you genuinely won't know if everyone will make it through this alive.

Parry, je t'aime

The high stakes of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's story also translates to its hybrid take on turn-based battles. While its command menus look every bit as dynamic as Persona 5 or Metaphor: ReFantazio, and action-based inputs might have you thinking of Paper Mario, a more accurate comparison is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (it even shares some FromSoftware elements like limited heals that only refill after resting at checkpoints, which also respawns enemies). That is to say it tests your nerves and every battle feels far from trivial.

While each party member has their own unique mechanics to get to grips with and there are more straightforward QTE prompts to boost an ability, the real challenge comes from defending yourself from enemy attacks by dodging or parrying. The latter is evidently the more rewarding option not only because you deal back a counter attack but also gain AP as a result, which will prove an advantage when it's your turn to attack by allowing you to hit back with stronger, more costly attacks.

Countering party-wide expedition attacks are even more satisfying, since all three active party members dish back combined damage. The risk, of course, is if you miss the precise timing you can end up taking quite a bit of damage, especially if you can't find the rhythm in a chain of enemy strikes.

Dodging meanwhile has a more generous window and if you misread an enemy's attack there's even a chance you can dodge again just in time. Once I humbly accepted I wasn't going to be a parry wizard, it became more tactical to dodge the long combos (these are even riskier since the counter will only trigger if you successfully parry every single hit) until I felt confident on which attack patterns I had memorized perfectly.

But what an absolute rush it is when you nail a parry. It also helps that several other less demanding counter mechanics – tied to certain move types – are later introduced so that you have other opportunities to deal damage outside of your own turn.

Similar to other RPGs, party members and enemies are also susceptible to elemental weaknesses or status effects, though ultimately they feel secondary to parrying. Apart from the occasions where enemies might absorb an element, I didn't feel it crucial to have the right attack or party composition for exploiting weaknesses, as you don't have a comprehensive bestiary to refer to, and it becomes more important to simply study the way an enemy is moving on screen.

As your expeditioners are left visibly covered in dirt, blood, and bruises the more their health is depleted, it really drives home how each hard-won battle is earned, and that these defensive mechanics aren't gimmicks you can opt out of – even lowering the difficult to story mode won't get you off scot-free. But these often lengthy battles are also rewarding in their generous XP, often enough to level up at least one of your party members, so it never descends into a mindless grindfest that other JRPGs can fall victim to. Each area feels like it has just enough battles to test you, rather than having you slog through hundreds.

To map or not to map

If battles are the most forward-thinking aspect of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, even its nods to old-school JRPG design such as bringing back a world map you can run around feels somewhat refreshing compared to the modern urge for content bloat. Given the already impressionistic abstraction in this world, where you find yourself exploring 'underwater' locales on foot and looking up to see environments floating and fractured in suspended animation, it's fair to say I never found the idea of realistic-looking characters on a diorama-sized map out of place. I almost wish this was something that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth did instead of overwhelming me with open world distractions that get in the way of the story.

That isn't to say there aren't optional extras as there are still plenty of secrets to discover in both the overworld and the dungeon areas. There's interesting collectibles such as journal entries from past expeditions where you can find out how they met their untimely end, outfits and hairstyles for your party members, as well as treasure chests that make good use of the guns you can also free-aim with in battle to unlock. But the bulk of its most challenging optional content is also wisely left for the endgame (or indeed postgame), so that the 30-hour critical path isn't bogged down with optional objectives that turn out to be not so optional.

It does then strike me a bit odd that it nonetheless includes a form of social links, a modern JRPG staple, that occurs while resting at camp in the overworld, but which is also introduced relatively late.

The quality of these conversations are by no means poor but they also feel superfluous and stilted when there are already more naturalistically performed story cutscenes at camp showing the different emotional bonds between expedition members, usually after a hard-won battle or devastating revelation. When these also involve little more than speaking to party members one by one every now and again rather than any action you made to improve these relationships, it can't help but feel a bit tacked on.

Instead, one modern feature I would have preferred is a mini-map for dungeons, as I did sometimes find my sense of direction disoriented when some routes to secrets inevitably loop you back to an area you had previously been, or especially as battles whisk you to a separate arena and, upon returning to the map, I found I wasn't always facing the same direction as before. While flashing items you haven't yet picked up or new triggered dialogue indicate you're going the right way, it's not helpful if you have to run through that area the second time.

Encore, avec émotion

These minor criticisms however fall by the wayside when in the grip of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's epic story that examines big weighty themes like loss, life, and the will to keep going despite overwhelming odds. It's further turbo-charged with a beautifully sweeping score, its enchanting themes accompanied by heartbreaking French soprano vocals destined to linger in the same way as the music of Nier Automata.

But like that cult series, this is also no one-note hammed-up melodrama trying to force your tear ducts to work overtime. On the contrary, there's a reason to feel for every member of this expedition, and it's all anchored by a fantastic script and pitch-perfect casting that includes screen veterans like Andy Serkis and acclaimed voice-over talent like Ben Starr giving nuanced performances.

My personal standout would have to be Maelle, voiced by the excellent Jennifer English (also listen out for a couple of other Baldur's Gate 3 alumni), who has chosen to join this expedition despite being only half the age of its other members but holds her own with a sardonic wit.

Even as gloomy as the premise might seem on paper, it often breaks from the trappings of dark murky fantasy for a little more chromatic diversity. In understanding the best JRPGs, it's also not afraid to get a little weird and whimsical when it comes to some more peculiar creatures found on the Continent, including a large entity that also doubles – erm, triples? – as your land, sea, and air transportation.

Given the life-and-death stakes that you face, there is a certain magic when unexpected moments of levity result in a smile from your expedition members – that's the future you're fighting for after all. On the strength of this confident and captivating debut, I'm only assured that Sandfall Interactive has a bright future ahead too.

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