In the huge kingdom of RPGs, it’s rare for a game from a new studio to rise so high and instantly feel like the most obvious Game of the Year contender. Yet, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the debut title from French developer Sandfall Interactive (created by people who formerly worked at Ubisoft), has managed to do that. It was created by a team of ONLY 32 people. It’s an experience that speaks not just to the talent of its creators, but to their ability to mix interesting narrative with creative and imaginative world-building.
While this game borrows a lot from Assassin’s Creed or Prince of Persia in certain themes, it still feels like something new. In the genre of JRPGs, games like Final Fantasy, NieR: Automata, or Persona let Clair Obscur shine as a legend among them. It’s full of metaphors, fear of mortality, and a world on the brink of tragic extinction.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: the story
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the most haunting and unique projects in modern gaming. It tells a story of a mysterious, post-apocalyptic-looking world. Every year, the mysterious Paintress inscribes a number on a sacred monolith. That number represents the age of death for all citizens of the world. Those who are that age are erased from existence, completely and permanently, with no remains, no echoes, not even grief.
The world remembers them and uses this grief. This phenomenon is known as the Gommage. It is a name that will give you chills. It’s used to describe how the Paintress is erasing people, scraping away life as a form of art.
You play as a member of the 33rd expedition, a last-ditch effort to stop the Paintress and stop this unnatural cycle. The expedition is made up of Gustave (voiced by Charlie Cox/Alexandre Gillet), Lune (voiced by Kristy Rider/Céline Melloul), Maelle (voiced by Jennifer English/Adeline Chetail), and others.
Initially, you get to play as only one character, but with each new location, a new person joins the team. The narrative doesn’t spoon-feed you answers. It layers its world and characters with mystery, tragedy, and emotional moments that will break even the strongest gamers. Much of the story is experienced through your team. Each character has survived something unthinkable, not only loss, but a life with the absence of those who should exist but don’t anymore.
There’s an emotional tactic to how the game handles grief, not as an event, but as a state of being. Even in the real world, it’s always difficult to be prepared for death. You never know who will be gone. You don’t know how it will change you. Death is something you can never be truly prepared for. Even if you know someone will die, you will never get enough time to be with them. You will never say enough words to them about how much they mean to you. You just can’t, and that’s what’s scary.
Although this is just a video game, it touches upon the most important themes that are present in our everyday lives. That’s not something you can just forget. Embrace it. Use it. Fight for every minute of your life, and use it to spend time with everyone whom you care about.
The writing doesn’t just embrace the sadness. It fights by showing an acceptance of the grief, keeping your memories, and explores whether the act of resisting fate is meaningful. There are grand narrative arcs here. They are mostly about showing how epic this quest is, how it may change the world stakes, and others.
But the most important moments are often the quietest. The small and silent conversations around the campfire, the stories told in hushed tones between battles, the fear in the voices of our team, or their body language. It all shows that this is a world that hurts everyone in it, that breathes, and that dares us to ask ourselves the difficult questions without insisting on easy answers.
Gameplay in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
While the narrative is one of the most important parts of Clair Obscur, the gameplay also delivers a lot of satisfaction. Clair Obscur isn’t a regular turn-based game that offers traditional mechanics. Instead, it mixes tactical strategy with moment-to-moment decision-making.
Battles are turn-based in structure but use real-time action prompts, demanding not only planning ahead but also active engagement. You don’t just select an attack, you aim it, you have to perform a quick time event to add more damage, and you have to think about what to do next. You don’t merely defend yourself. You have to time dodge with precision, learn the patterns of your enemies, and think outside the box. This hybrid system never feels boring or easy. It’s intuitive, elegant, and above all else, rewarding.
Each party member feels different from the others. Not just in stats or skill trees, but in personality reflected through combat. One character might rely on rhythm-based parries, while another uses environmental manipulation to alter the attacks and effects of an attack. The combat system loves the synergy. Chaining abilities, adjusting them differently to each fight, mixing elemental effects, or creating space for an ally’s finisher. The game actively encourages you to understand not just what each skill does, but when and why it matters to use them.
Then there’s the resource system that uses a material called Lumina. This is the fuel for your most powerful actions, but it’s not infinite. Every ability, dodge, or counter costs something. You have to be careful if you spend Lumina to use a one strong attack, or save it for an action that may cause even more damage, but in the next 2-3 rounds? Every fight becomes a puzzle. Enemies are rarely simple. They have unique behaviors, phases, counters, and psychology of attacks. Boss fights especially feel like duels of both strength and intelligence.
Perhaps the greatest strength of the combat is its growth. It makes you feel smart. Early battles teach you mechanics gently, but the further you go, the more the game expects you to think about those systems, experimenting with tactics, and adapting to the current situation. Victory never feels free. It’s earned through patience and practice.
World-building and exploration + designs and aesthetics
One of the most fascinating aspects of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to me is how it constructs a world that feels immense and immersive without offering full open-world freedom. It’s what you might call a closed-world RPG, similar to games like God of War. It has large, detailed zones connected by story progression. Every alley, bridge, and chamber is deliberately designed, full of atmosphere, history, and personality.
The city of Lumière, the main world from the prologue, feels like a character in its own right. Inspired by Art Nouveau architecture and the romantic atmosphere of Belle Époque France, it’s a place of contrasts that perfectly introduces you to this world and its people.
NPCs aren’t just filler for the background. They have their own stories, and their lives change as yours does. Despite the game’s guided structure, exploration is rewarding. Hidden side paths lead to new lore, secret bosses, powerful gear, or emotionally loaded story moments. Some of the most impactful scenes can only be found by going off the main path and trusting your curiosity. There are mysteries hidden in the corners of this world, memories trapped in paintings, forgotten letters, and abandoned gardens.
Calling Clair Obscur beautiful is an understatement. It’s a fantastic visual storytelling. The use of Unreal Engine 5 allows for stunning lighting, soft shadows, and ultra-high fidelity textures. The game is full of visual metaphors. Character designs, likewise, are wonderful and meaningful. Armors and suits look like porcelain in the sun. Each party member’s design tells their personal story visually, often before they even speak. The enemies, especially bosses, are grotesque and unique in their ways.
And then there’s the music. The soundtrack is beautiful, emotional, deep, and what’s most important, it fits every single scene. Its presence during battle, playing a violin mixed with a French choir changing into a melancholy piano and ambient echoes during moments of quiet, is something that I can call a masterpiece.
Each region has a distinct soundscape that complements its mood. Whether it’s the sadness of a forgotten forest or the cold majesty of water regions, the music doesn’t just support the game, it proves why every single part of this game is important and needed.
Final thoughts on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is more than a promising debut game. It’s a game that feels as emotionally rich as it is mechanically satisfying. It’s a love letter to art, memory, and the human will to defy erasure. And what’s most important, it’s proof that even with a small team of people like this, you can create a game that is one of the easiest contenders to win the Game of the Year award.
At its heart, this is a story about what we choose to remember, and what it means to fight for a future when the world insists on forgetting. You have to remember the pain and everyone you lost. This is your fuel, this is your life, this is your reason to keep fighting.
If you come to Clair Obscur seeking another RPG or JRPG to check off your list, you may find yourself surprised. This is a game that lingers towards a world that will go deep into your imagination, its characters will stay in your thoughts, and its questions will enter your reflections on life and death. It challenges you not only to survive, but to understand what it means to live and to die.
Have you played this game? What did you think? Let us know in our Discord or on social media @MyCosmicCircus or @TheCosmicCircus.com on Bluesky!
Also check out: Game Review: Assassin’s Creed Shadows
