Expedition 33
Let me just say it straight. "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" is the best game I’ve played since "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."
When the game was first announced, it caught attention not just for its visuals, but because of Sandfall Interactive—its core development team—just 33 people (and Monoco—a dog). That kind of small-team magic always gets me curious.
The game is visually stunning — a true showcase of what Unreal Engine can do. Sure, some of the animations are a bit clunky here and there, but you know, we’ve seen way worse in AAA games with way bigger budgets. It didn’t bother me at all.
I’ve always been a fan of classic turn-based JRPGs. Fast-moving action games aren’t really my comfort zone—though I’ve tried to level up in that area lately (Tunic and Hades are probably my best showings). I still have Silksong on my to-play list…
But the turn-based design in Expedition 33 genuinely impressed me. The use of Pictos and Luminas reflects the core fun of JRPG battles—it brought back the joy I felt when I first played Final Fantasy VI (my very first FF).
The game doesn’t just rehash old systems; it elevates them. The real surprise for me was the integration of real-time parrying and dodging into turn-based combat. At first, I was skeptical—why make me do this in a turn-based system? (I'm crying and yelling I didn’t even parry in Breath of the Wild.) And yes, technically you can get through the game without mastering them. But once I gave it a real shot, I was hooked. Timing a perfect parry (per each enemy), weaving it into skill combos, finding shortcuts — it all added depth and excitement to each fight. One of my favorite moments? Perfectly parrying the Danseuses’ attacks and walking away with millions of XP (It creates endless replicas and you can get all the accumulated XPs only when you had no damage). It felt like the day I summoned Knights of the Round in Final Fantasy VII. Adding mechanics like this — blending the old with the new—is easy to come up as an idea, but incredibly hard to execute well. The Expedition 33 team clearly put in the work to make it seamless.
As with all great JRPGs, the battle system is just one side of the coin. The other? Story. In my view, Expedition 33 tells a story about loss. It doesn’t try to offer comfort or “save” anyone. It simply lays out choices, consequences, and the quiet weight of what we carry. It made me reflect on my own thoughts about fate, loss, and what it means when there’s no reset button. Recently, I started reading "Being Mortal"—and I think this game was part of the reason why. It stirred something in me. The story felt heavy, grounded, and… maybe a little French (is it?). I’m not sure why exactly, but that’s the word that kept coming to mind — serious, melancholic, philosophical in a way that lingers.
People say we have a problem in the game industry: too many good games. Honestly, I couldn’t even finish reading that article because of the paywall — but I believe it. And yet, somewhere deep inside, I want to make one of them myself someday—another game with my name in the credits. It’s overwhelming, sure. But Expedition 33 reminded me that amazing things can come from small, focused teams — one step at a time. So that’s what I’ll do. One small step. One line of code. One idea worth sticking with. Because in the end, that’s how everything great begins.
