Weekly Update #46: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Complete!

November 9-15, 2025

After just over a month and almost 100 hours later, I’ve completed Expedition 33. I’m actually shocked I put that much time in in such a short timeframe. If I could consistently play 100 hours per month, I might actually have a chance of reducing my backlog 😅 In any case, this game was absolutely incredible. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself; the full review is below.

Game Acquisitions

Compared to previous weeks, it was finally a light week for acquisitions. There were some bundles offered, including a new site from ex-Humble Bundle employees, but nothing that really caught my eye. As such, the only games acquired last week were a Steam family purchase with Winter Burrow and an Epic freebie with Song of Silence. I love these smaller weeks, although getting a lot of cool-looking games for dirt cheap in bundles is cool too. Gotta strike a balance!

# of Games: 2

Total Money Spent: $0

Price/Game: $0

Game Recaps

Most of the time in Expedition 33 was spent grinding all my party members to level 99 and getting Lumina so I can take on the superboss Simon. I’m happy to say I finally managed to do it, and it felt like a satisfying conclusion to the game. Afterwards, I started a new game just to pick up the last achievement I was missing which only took a few minutes. That means I was able to get the 100%! I don’t often go for completionist runs in my games so whenever I do that, you know I had a good time (or it was ridiculously easy to do, which was definitely not the case here). As always, I’ll post a link to the latest public video as well as the playlist if you want to catch up on the whole journey so far. Looks like the latest video is still before the first Axon fight so it’s got quite a bit of catching up to do. I really thought I’d get to both Monster Prom 2 and Metaphor: ReFantazio last week and ended up getting to neither. My co-op partner had a last-minute plumbing issue come up, then I had various life things that prevented me from starting my next single-player game. Maybe this week? I definitely won’t have any co-op gaming next week due to Thanksgiving, so this’ll be our last chance before December!

 

Game Reviews

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

This game is a turn-based RPG with real-time shooting, dodging, and parrying elements by French developer Sandfall Interactive. I point out that the developer is French for two reasons. One, I wanted to call the game a JRPG because it shares a lot of the same tropes as other games of the genre. However, since it wasn’t developed by a Japanese studio, some might say that automatically disqualifies it. I don’t really care about labels that much and won’t go into my thoughts on whether it qualifies. The second and much more important reason is because the game is heavily influenced by French culture. The opening city of Lumière is based off Paris, you fight mimes, you can unlock silly outfits with baguettes and berets, and people occasionally throw out French words in otherwise English conversations. It’s all very delightful, and not something I’ve seen in a lot of games.

The premise for the world is that every year, there’s a giant lady way off in the distance known as the Paintress who paints a number on a monolith. The number goes down by one every year and when the new number is painted, everyone older than that number dies (known as the Gommage, which is French for erased). There is a festival at this time to say goodbye to loved ones gommaging and set out the next day on expeditions. The goal of these expeditions is to make it to the Paintress and kill her to stop the Gommage from happening ever again. You see, there was an event called the Fracture that happened 67 years before the start of the game that broke Lumière off from the rest of the Continent, made physics go all wonky, introduced monsters known as nevrons, and started the Gommage in the first place starting at year 100.

The game starts with a very sad scene showing the number 33 being painted on the monolith and the subsequent gommage of the ex-girlfriend of one of the party members Gustave. They broke up sometime before the events of the game but clearly still have feelings for each other that Gustave finally expresses moments before she dies. This sets the tone for most of the game which is just emotional gut punch after gut punch. There are humorous moments, but for the most part, the game is a tragedy. After the Gommage, Gustave’s sister gives a rousing speech about how important the expeditions are and even if you don’t make it back, you’ll blaze a trail “for those who come after” and so on and so forth. Then the titular Expedition 33 sets sail for the Continent to finally take down the Paintress once and for all!

Here's the thing though. No expedition has ever made it back, and the Gommage is still happening every year. Deep down, everyone knows it’s a suicide mission. Some people decide they want to go anyway, either out of perseverance, misplaced confidence, curiosity, dedication, or just because they feel there’s nothing left for them in Lumière. They’d rather explore the world than wait around to die. That’s the case for Gustave’s adopted sister Maelle, who decides she wants to go with her brother on the expedition despite being way younger than the other expeditions and thus having many good years left. She insists, and he begrudgingly allows her to go. This might prove to be a mistake since as soon as they land on the Continent, they’re greeted by an old man who somehow survived the Gommage who just starts massacring them. Gustave is knocked unconscious during the battle and comes to the next day where he sets off to the planned rendezvous point only to be met with a massive pile of bodies from past expeditioners. Overcome with loss and hopelessness, he sits down against the pile of bodies to kill himself, only to be talked out of it by fellow expeditioner Lune with the oft-quoted phrase “when one falls, we continue.”

This all happens within the first hour or two of the game! I won’t go into the story anymore for risk of spoilers, but it is very well-written, told, and presented. Speaking of presentation, the graphics are some of the best I’ve ever seen. It runs on Unreal Engine 5, and before you raise your pitchforks, it seems Sandfall utilized the engine well. I didn’t experience any shader compilation, stuttering, or poor performance that seems to be prevalent in other games using the engine. I do admittedly have a high-end PC so I’m not the best judge for performance, but it ran well for me. The music is another standout, and you can listen to the whole OST on YouTube!

Finally, on to the gameplay itself. As I mentioned at the beginning, it’s a turn-based RPG with real-time elements. You can pick three out of a possible five total party members to go into battle with, with the other two serving as backup if the first team goes down. There is a turn order on the top-left of the screen that determines who goes and when. When it is one of your party member’s turns, you can choose one of six skills to use out of the 20-30 available for each character depending on what you want to accomplish and how many action points or AP you have. It could be something simple like a lightning damage skill against an enemy weak to that element or something more complicated like firing some free-aim shots to mark an enemy, then using a skill to apply the defenseless status effect so the next character will do a lot more damage on their turn. Each party member plays completely differently and has their own mechanics to learn which makes combat more exciting and opens the door to some amazing party synergies. Each character can also equip three pictos which provide one ability such as dealing more damage to burning enemies as well as one or two passive stat increases like 500 more health or 30% higher critical hit rate. When you’ve won four battles with a pictos equipped, you can spend lumina points to have any character benefit from the ability it offers without the stat increase that goes with it. You can also use one of three items in combat to heal, revive, or replenish AP or use one of three levels of gradient attacks which are basically unique supers that each character has that don’t use up your turn. You build up gradient charges primarily by doing damage but also by parrying attacks. Speaking of, on the enemy turn, you can learn enemy attack patterns to time button presses to dodge or parry their hits. Doing either one negates damage, but they each have an advantage and disadvantage. Dodging has a bigger timing window so it’s easier to execute. On the other hand, parrying every attack on an enemy turn provokes a counterattack that allows you to do massive damage. All these systems mesh together along with the enemy variety to keep combat fresh and engaging throughout the entire playtime.

When outside of combat, you can explore out in the overworld and in designated zones to find collectibles, talk to NPCs, buy new pictos and equipment, fight monsters, complete side quests, or further the main story. Anytime in the overworld, you can set up camp to talk to party members to advance relationships with them and unlock new abilities. There is also a merchant at camp to upgrade items and equipment as well as increase the number of lumina points available for each character. You’ll spend a decent amount of time at camp as the game likes sending you back there at many major story beats. The camp looks exactly the same no matter where you set it up, which could be a bit of a bummer for some, but at least it allows you to learn where everything is to get in and out relatively quickly.

I’ve been praising this game heavily this whole time, but it wouldn’t be a review if I didn’t point out the flaws I came across. Some are minor, some are subjective, and there’s at least one that could potentially be a major issue. One minor issue that comes up a lot is that there are invisible walls EVERYWHERE when you’re exploring in the different areas. This usually bothers me more in other games and takes me out of the experience, but it becomes easier to spot where you can and can’t go to stick to the paths. Some people will find the optional platforming sections frustrating and out of place, but I didn’t really have an issue with them. Some areas can also be a real maze to navigate, and there’s no map outside of the overworld which can make the navigation confusing. There’s a story moment that comes up at the end of Act II that recontextualizes the whole game, and as a result, Act III can feel more open-ended and directionless. If someone wasn’t totally enamored with the game up to that point like I was, I can see them rushing to the final boss shortly after Act III starts just to get it over and done with. I would obviously advise against that as there’s tons of stuff to do, but the central plot device up to that point is no longer a motivating factor which can cause some people to fall off. It’s very hard to avoid spoilers here, I’m trying the best I can! The one major issue I ran into, and this is impossible for me to ignore, is that I experienced regular game crashes starting in Act II. The crashes would come almost like clockwork after 2-3 hours of play. There are frequent saves, so I never lost any meaningful progress from them, but it was annoying and I found myself anxiously looking at the time every time I had sessions longer than two hours just bracing for the inevitable. It could just be a problem with my PC setup, but it made some longer boss fights or cutscenes more nerve-wracking than they should’ve been. Your mileage may vary on that, and console players probably don’t have anything to worry about.

So that’s my rundown of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. This is by far the longest review I’ve written to date, but I had a lot to say about this title. I loved it to bits, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to all RPG fans out there. The fact that this was the debut title for an indie studio is mind-blowing to me. I sincerely hope that other studios are taking notes to improve their future games. The story, music, graphics, characters, and gameplay are all top-notch. No game is perfect, nor do I think perfection is possible. I pointed out the issues I had in the last paragraph. But a game doesn’t have to be perfect to be a masterpiece, and this game absolutely deserves the title. I await with bated breath for Sandfall’s next title, they knocked it out of the park here.

Time to beat (Completionist) - 95h:45m
Rating – 10/10

TV/Movie Recaps

Here is everything I watched last week:

·       Berserk Season 1 Episodes 19-25 (complete)

·       Berserk: The Golden Age Arc – Memorial Edition Season 1 Episodes 1-3 (still watching, show ended)

·       Ballerina

Wow, that second Berserk show has quite a lengthy title. That’s gonna be annoying to type for the next couple updates. *Ahem* Anyway, I finished up the first Berserk anime and started the Memorial Edition. Turns out ME is just a remake of the first one so I guess I’m just rewatching the same show but with better graphics and sped up 😆 The first show was good despite the stiff animation and questionable voice acting, but it took a huge turn in the last two episodes that I don’t know if I like. It wasn’t a satisfying conclusion; it just ended on a terrible note in the middle of a climactic moment. I did some research, and a lot of people say the anime is really just an ad for the manga as it plucked the story from there. This is fairly common in anime I feel like, but at least it usually has a complete story arc with a conclusion. Not the case here unfortunately. I want to see more of the story, but the manga is up to 42 volumes now spanning decades of work and I don’t know if I’ll be able to get to it. Maybe the 2016 anime will continue the story. On another note, the John Wick spinoff Ballerina was good. It was cool seeing Keanu Reeves back, even as a secondary character. I’ve enjoyed every John Wick showing (even The Continental, if only just) so I hope they continue with it.

Conclusion/Upcoming

I know I keep saying this, but it feels so surreal beating another game, and another long RPG at that. Putting in nearly 100 hours in just over a month is quite a feat, and I was able to get it all recorded and uploaded too! Maybe I will be able to keep up with the whole YouTube thing after all. Now if only someone would actually watch the videos…

My plan for this week is to continue watching Berserk. The Memorial Edition is only 13 episodes so it should be quick, then I’ll move on to 2016. I just moved up Nobody 2 for my next movie night. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the first one a couple of years ago. Probably because Christopher Lloyd was in it cursing up a storm and shooting people. On the gaming front, I’ll finally get into Metaphor: ReFantazio in earnest. I really thought that I’d get more time last week, but real life got in the way. Anyway, that’s all for now. Thank you so much for reading, see you next week!

Backlog total: 3,718 (-1) OH MY GOD! This is the first time my backlog total has gone down. It only took until November for it to happen. I just need to do that a few thousand more times and I can clear the backlog! 😅