Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review and Drama
A New RPG King is Crowned
If you’re a fan of classics like Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and Secret of Mana, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn’t just another RPG – it’s the RPG that finally feels like a real successor to those legends.
From the moment it’s booted up to the last credit roll, this game hits all the notes we crave: deep story, awesome characters, gorgeous visuals, insane builds, and a soundtrack that actually deserves a spot on your daily playlist.
And the absolute kicker? A tiny indie studio like Landfall Interactive made it…which makes its domination of The Game Awards (a record haul, by the way) feel like sweet, sweet poetic justice.
But of course, the haters showed up too, complaining about AI art use and dragging the title into petty politics.
Let’s break it all down.
Clair Obscur's Story: Epic, but Maybe a Little Too Mysterious?
The narrative in Expedition 33 is one of its biggest draws – its constantly elaborate, eerie, and hauntingly beautiful.
You’re not just playing through a predictable RPG: the plot unfolds like a puzzle box that seems like it really wants to go out of its way to avoid explaining anything important to you, saving the big, dramatic reveals for just the right moments.
Image: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | Landfall Interactive
Not gonna lie here, sometimes the pacing feels like you’re learning every minor NPC’s backstory before you get the full picture of the central mystery. It’s bold, and it works most of the time, but it can feel a little overkill in the mysterious lore department.
World-building? Top tier. Characters? Organic, compelling, and genuinely fun to build parties around (whether you’re stacking front-liners or running around with my fav Blue Mage Monoco, feeling like some creeper grabbing up feet pics).
Overall: it’s a layered, nostalgic narrative that rewards the patient…and maybe infuriates the lore-hungry impatient gamers that want to know what the heck is going on.
Gameplay: Welcome back Turn-Based RPGs - I Missed You!
If there’s a single part of Expedition 33 that I flat-out fell in love with immediately, it’s the gameplay.
This isn’t just another turn-based RPG…it’s turn-based with style.
The dodge/parry system isn’t just window dressing; it’s the heartbeat of combat. Sure, people are trying to shoehorn a “Souls-like” label on it, but honestly I keep thinking that Super Mario RPG was probably a closer comparison.
Image: Super Mario RPG | Nintendo
I fell in love with parrying vs. the first seemingly innocent Mime in Lumiere, which I continued to basically abuse throughout the game until I was too over-leveled for some of the main story content…which brings me to the only downside of the gameplay in my opinion – I feel like the battles in Act 3 should scale (to some extent) with your level. Once the game opens up and you’re able to access the map in its entirety, I went on my own expedition – to find and fight every single strong enemy I could find.
Some, (admittedly) whooped me good, while others I could see myself potentially beating. And that’s all I needed – a sliver of hope and a willingness to endlessly parry until I win.
But, when I decided to go back to the main story following my worldwide rampage, I found the fighting turned laughably weak.
Image: Good Luck With This Fight | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | Landfall Interactive
Yes, I acquired a lot of the best-in-slot Pictos, but I just personally feel that a game should balance (at least a bit) around it’s own content, even if it was only balanced to slightly increase enemy health and damage by a slight multiplier – it would have been better than zero scaling whatsoever.
For some perspective, even Final Fantasy 8 (circa 1999) had level scaling that kept the game feeling fresh for the try-hards. Level-scaling would’ve kept the challenge sharp in E33 (even a simple multiplier would’ve done wonders), but it’s not even close to a dealbreaker.
I would just save the majority of your exploration until at least the beginning of Act 3, but maybe in retrospect I might have even waited until after the campaign in its entirety so I could have enjoyed the endgame challenge a bit more.
Expedition 33's Graphics and Aesthetics
Powered by Unreal Engine 5, Clair Obscur’s visuals are so beautifully impressive they will easily make you forget that you’re not playing something AAA. Gorgeous locales, atmospheric lighting, expressive character art – it’s all here. Even the menus and UI elements feel lovingly crafted.
Image: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | Landfall Interactive
So of course, some Reddit-dwelling shitposters tried calling it “Unreal Engine 5 Slop.” Yeah. That’s…adorable.
Unironically from a user that seems like he just purchased his Steam library from a Sweet Baby Inc. recommendation bundle (with over 100 hours each in terrible woke games like Avowed and Assassin’s Creed Shadows lol).
The one negative that I will say on the graphics though…what’s with the Gestral Beaches?
For real though, they seem like Sandfall Interactive had some more intended with these beach areas at some point, but then decided, “eh, it’s prolly fine”, leaving every single area basically empty with the exception of the single NPC Gestral…it’s too big to be that empty!
Sigh…
The Clair Obscur Soundtrack
Okay, if the visuals are stunning, the soundtrack is downright addictive.
I don’t just play this game for the funsies – I hunt records and vibe at camp because these tunes slap that hard. This is one of the few modern games where I actively wanted to seek out music, just to listen to it ASAP.
Whatever magic the composers cooked up here, it’s honestly world-class and I can’t even count how many times I played the Goblu record at the camp.
Clair Obscur Drama: AI, Awards, and Haters
Let’s get to the internet’s favorite sport – drama, drama, drama.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 dominated The Game Awards 2025 with a record sweep, including Game of the Year, smashing expectations and sending internet rule-books flying.
But then came the tantrums.
The Indie Game Awards rescinded its own GOTY & Debut Game awards for Expedition 33 over the studio’s use of a few AI-generated placeholder textures (that accidentally shipped and were quickly patched out in days).
Yes… for placeholder textures. Like posters…
AI was only used ever so briefly during development and isn’t present in the current release version. But to some awards boards with zero sense of proportion, that was apparently enough to strip the game of honors.
In my opinion, some gaming gatekeepers think a title has to check off a political checklist to be worthy of awards and Clair Obscur didn’t have to pander to anyone – it was just that good.
Meanwhile, indie fans and many players see the reaction as pure nitpicking (and some flat-out nonsense) given the overwhelming human creativity on display.
Online communities have blown this debate way out of proportion, with a healthy split between folks defending the game and those gleefully dunking on it.
And to be clear…who the hell cares that they used AI?!
If AI tools help and do not degrade the quality of the final product, policing developers over use is just industry gatekeepers grasping for reasons to feel morally superior.
AI is here to stay and I feel like any developer that’s not using AI tools to streamline their work is just either outdated or lying while using AI themselves to virtue signal.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Final Verdict
9.6/10
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the most surprising, exhilarating RPGs in years – a nostalgic love letter to genre classics with fresh ideas and heart. Its story, characters, gameplay, visuals, and soundtrack are all amazingly excellent, and even its flaws feel like exciting design choices rather than missteps.
Image: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | Landfall Interactive
So if you’re still clinging to the idea that a game has to virtue signal with a cast of bi-curious, overweight, she/they, Temu Concord knockoffs to be meaningful…this game will make you reconsider.
And if the liberal hivemind over at the Indie Game Awards wants to act like placeholder textures are the end of civilization…well, I won’t forget and I’ll be counting the days until they conveniently don’t care about generative AI in games anymore (likely next year).
Because in the end, Expedition 33 is here to stay.
Haven’t tried it for yourself yet?
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