I’m a little over six hours into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and it’s already become one of my favorite games of the year. I’m far from alone: it’s reviewed extremely well and, despite fierce competition, it's garnered enough interest to sell over a million copies in just a week. What makes it more remarkable is that it's a debut game from a relatively small team of developers that managed to craft one of the most imaginative narratives I’ve played through in a long while.
But it’s not just that Expedition 33 delivers and follows through on one hell of a premise. It’s how that premise is delivered that makes it exceptional. It’s a crying shame that my poor sense of direction is ruining this otherwise perfectly-paced instant classic.
From its captivating opening shot of a wilted, Persistence of Memory-esque Eiffel Tower, Expedition 33 feels like the all-original game people often clamor for. Seeing Lumiere City, a gothic metropolis inspired by early 20th-century Paris, for the first time pulled me right in. This beauty is juxtaposed with the haunting obelisk which haunts almost every frame of the game’s opening minutes. The massive pillar, and the so-called Paintress that presides over it, seals the fate of all denizens whose age corresponds with the ominous number it displays. And the sweeping score of operatic voices and echo-y strings sells the nightmarish scenario exquisitely.
When we meet our hero Gustave and his adopted daughter, their banter captures the melancholy we often see in the darkest moments of JRPG classics. Strong, contemporary voice acting and character design (Gustave looks like an Edgar Allen Poe or Lovecraftian protagonist and I love that for him) create a sense of mourning that all make sense by the title drop. And even when the game widens up for us to meet the more lighthearted members of your Expedition, a knowing sense of dread pervades even the most hopeful lines of dialogue.
The game’s art direction may be inspired by France’s Belle Époque era, but in stills, its elaborate architecture and natural landscapes make moments look like Baroque paintings (something that we could enjoy more fully if the game had a photo mode). But instead of reveling in these immaculate vibes, the game moves at a speed I was both surprised and thrilled by.
The genre that inspired Expedition 33 most isn’t exactly known for its brevity. While many of them represent some of the finest storytelling offerings in all of gaming, experiencing all they have to offer can often drag a bit. So when I was ushered from one stunning locale to another every 45 minutes to an hour, I was gleaming with joy. Every section and story beat sticks around just long enough to convey its point before keeping things moving.
I’ve written countless times about how much I enjoy games that respect my time. And Expedition 33 is the latest title to whittle down its experience to its greatest strengths without sacrificing any of the gameplay depth you’d find in its lengthier contemporaries like Persona 5 or the Final Fantasy VII remakes. The pacing is so well done, that it accentuates one of the few personal nitpicks I have with the game.
I am hopelessly lost all the time in Expedition 33. Almost every time the game pulls me into a new location or a large area more open than the hallway-like levels of its opening hours, I find myself running in the wrong direction more often than I’d like to admit. It’s never too bad. It never takes more than a minute or three to regain my bearings. But when I’m excited to meet the next missing Expedition member or get to the next emotional story beat, I can’t help but feel like I’m wasting time.
I can understand why developer Sandfall Interactive would have favored leaving a proper on-screen map out of the game. Not having to dedicate real estate to UI means those painterly environments really get to shine. It makes the game’s non-combat moments just as immersive as its well-directed cutscenes.
I’ll admit that this is largely a “me” problem. The more open-world games have swelled in size, the less I’ve committed to memorizing the layouts of an average game. But this hasn’t been too much of an issue for most of the contemporary games I play. I can usually rely on a minimap in the corner, or at the very least a compass to keep me headed in the right direction (most of the time). It’s not enough to deter me from enjoying an otherwise fantastic little game. But it’s enough to make me join the chorus of players hoping Sandfall will add a map to cure my awful sense of direction.
Expedition 33 is a fantastic game that skirts one of my personal pet peeves in modern gaming: games that don’t know when to reign things in a little bit. As something completely original that harkens back to tried and true game design, it’s a poster child for what I’d like to see more of in video games. I just hope its developers will provide grace for those of us who are easily disoriented in a future update.
