If you were to cross Final Fantasy with early-20th-century French art and high-concept movies, then mix in some European-flavoured folklore, you could end up with something akin to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Expedition 33 was first shown off at the Xbox Games Showcase a few months ago in a trailer that teased an action-packed RPG with a mysterious storyline. And now having seen an hour of Expedition 33 in action, it looks like one of the most interesting multi-platform games (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X), set for a release at some point in 2025.
The unusual premise of Expedition 33 is the first thing that grabbed me. It takes place in a world inspired by the Belle Époque – Beautiful Era – a period that started at the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and ended during World War I, only the peace, optimism, and enlightenment embodied by the people of Luminére is disrupted by an enigmatic antagonist called the Paintress.
She’s seemingly behind a cycle of death whereby when she wakes up each year, she paints a number on a monolith and anyone at the age of that number disappears in an event called the Gommage – it’s assumed these people are dead. And each year that number ticks down. Expedition 33 gets its name as at this point, anyone at or about the age of 33 will disappear come the next Gommage. So it’s up to protagonist Gustave and a clutch of other adventurer-hero types to head out on an exhibition to track down and kill the Paintress.
At developer Sandfall Interactive’s London office, CEO and Creative Director Guillaume Broche, and CEO and Producer François Meurisse took me through the early parts of Expedition 33. This meant I didn’t get the full thrust of the story, and had to raise my eyebrow at the barrage of names and terms spouted by the characters.
But Broche said the main story will be made rather clear – no Souls-like obscurity and inference here. More details and understanding of the world will require deeper digging, Broche stated, as he took control of Gustave and Luna in my preview, and took them out into the Falling Waters to locate Gustave's adopted sister Maelle...
Venturing forth
If you’ve come away impressed at the visual flair of Expedition 33’s trailer, then rest assured, the game does indeed look like that. Without the rapid camera cuts of the trailer, I had time to take in an area called Flying Waters, which, as its name suggests, is an underwater environment only with fish seemingly floating in air rather than H2O.
It’s a feast for the eyes, with towering coral structures pitted with crags, bursts of color from aquatic plants, and the gleaming scales of passing shoals of fish. This level of detail carries into the characters we initially join – Gustave and Luna. The former's eyes seem to beam a sadness mixed with determination, while the latter's raven-black hair shimmers in the aquatic light.
It’s all rather impressive given that Sandfall Interactive’s team is only 30-strong, but the power of the Unreal Engine 5 and motion capture means visually rich games don’t necessarily need an army of artists.
But this is not just a world to stare at. There are environmental puzzles to solve – the one I saw was a simple shoot-the-coloured-balls challenge to unlock a hidden item. Hardly a head-scratcher but this was early in the game, so I’d expect less obvious puzzles to surface.
There's also a grapple mechanic that lets you reach higher areas and unlock more exploration, adding a nice bit of verticality and dynamic movement into the mix. Plus you’ll want to dig around in the areas, as while Expedition 33 isn’t an open-world game, there’ll be plenty of side areas to scope out – think in the style of 2018's God of War.
For example, passing through a gap in a rock face, and the expedition came across a giant bipedal humanoid creature that wasn't giving off a friendly aura. Broche didn’t dive into this area, suggesting that it would be one to come back to later in the game.
Speaking of things to see, there are remnants of older expeditions to uncover – the first we saw was Expedition 66 - something that’ll surely trigger a wry smile from Star Wars fans. These discoveries and signs not only give some extra depth and flavor to the world, showing how far previous expeditions got in their hunt for the Paintress, but they also act as save points and spots to upgrade the characters.
With only an hour spread across two areas including a place called The Manor – a form of pocket dimension we go to after catching up with Maelle, where we also meet The Curator, a zombie-looking humanoid who’s actually rather friendly – there’s clearly a lot to more to see, discover, and take on beyond the critical path.
Gathering your party
When exploring these weird and wonderful environments, the expedition comprises a party of three characters. But in typical RPG form, as the game progresses there'll be six in total to choose from. Characters not in your party trio will wait at a hub-like camp, which also serves as a place to talk to these characters and listen to music.
I only got to see Gustave, Lune, and Maelle. Those three were nicely animated and had the pleasant veneer of determined and resourceful heroes, but perhaps lacked any immediate pull in terms of quirks or intriguing attributes; of course, it was too early to tell, and I suspect they’ll have deeper backstories to mine. But I hope there are some more immediately captivating characters introduced as Expedition 33 progresses, perhaps people who have other motivations than simply putting an end to the Paintress, for example.
Lune had a scholarly presence that I appreciated, as she struck me as the character who’ll offer flavor and context to the striking scenes I saw. And the pseudo-sibling relationship between Gustave and Maelle has the potential to be both amusing and heart-warming.
However, it was the strange non-player characters like The Curator and the fairy-meets-marionette-like Gestrals that caught my attention. I suspect the former probably has more of a connection to the Paintress than first meets the eye. While the latter can serve as merchants, holders of secret stashes, and bring some French-flavoured folklore to the setting.
There are also people out in the world who’ll not always be easily understood, thus encouraging exploration of the world to find ways to translate what they’re saying; the key to getting extra stories and finding out more about the world.
As someone who’s spent plenty of time pouring over Elden Ring lore breakdowns and actually reading the books in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I’m particularly interested in this extra layer of story and information that’s hidden away, and it seems like a real strength of the game.
Turn-based with a twist
Expedition 33’s combat has a handful of quirks that weren't obvious in the trailer and could make for a deep and dynamic system, rather than something that’s erring closely to Persona and Final Fantasy.
The game's battles that I saw tend to be against the Neveron, a collection of creatively designed enemies linked to the Paintress. Taking them on involves entering turn-based combat in which your party can line up attacks and then defend against those of the enemy.
There’s the standard fare of combo-ing spells and abilities, stances, and buffs to inflict the maximum damage and keep the party in the fight; Lune, for example, can debuff an enemy allowing for Gustave’s overcharge ability to deliver more damage. Things like elemental weaknesses can be exploited, while there’s a suite of items to be used in combat alongside skills and attacks.
Where the game mixes things up is firstly in the ability to enter a free-aim mode, which in exchange for an action point allows the likes of Gustave to target and shoot an enemy's weak spot before returning to the turn-based battle. This came in handy when softening up a large boss called Goblu, which reminded me a little of the trolls from Fable, only with a serious hairdo.
Then there's the implementation of real-time action mechanics that mean if you hit a button at the right time during an attack, the character will deliver more damage. Equally, time a dodge, parry, or jump at the right moment for one or all of the characters and you can avoid incoming attacks and trigger powerful counterattacks.
Broche calls this "reactive turn-based combat" and it looks like a great way to blend action into a traditional system that can at times feel a little ponderous. Furthermore, if one’s timing is truly great, Broche highlighted that Expedition 33 can be completed without any characters taking any damage.
The speed at which Broche zipped through both attack orders and the real-time actions made Expedition 33 look more like an action RPG than a turn-based one; it looked great but got close to being bewildering. Of course, things can be slowed down, and there’s a whole suite of options that could keep combat feeling fresh despite the three-character party limit.
Added depth comes in how you can build the characters around their passive abilities and those of their weapons. I was told that with some careful consideration and combos, it could yield seriously powerful builds; that’ll be a boon to people who love to min-max RPG parties. An extensive skills tree means there’s a lot of scope on how each character is developed, and while a lot of these skills can steer the direction of each character, there’s room to take them in interesting directions, like turning a tanky build into a glass cannon.
Add in unique battle mechanics for each character, like the ability to put Maelle in various stances, and Expedition 33 looks set to sport a combat system that could have me plowing hours into optimization and experimentation.
And it’s that combat system, mixed with a chin-stroking plot and gorgeous art style brought to life in the shining splendor of Unreal 5, that has me excited for Clair Obscur: Exhibition 33.
If Sandfall Interactive can deliver on the story, give the characters engrossing tales, and ensure there are enough side paths to explore in what so far looks like a strikingly beautiful world, then we could be looking at one heck of a role-playing game in 2025.
