Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG set in a world inspired by the Belle Époque era in France, roughly the late 19th to early 20th century. You start in a city called Lumière, and you soon realize that the city and the people living there are under some kind of curse from someone called "The Paintress". Your goal is to stop her and lift the curse.
Telling you more than that would be a spoiler. You learn a lot about the premise in the first few minutes of playing, but I'll leave it there so the story stays fresh for you.
Graphics & Art Style
The graphics in this game are hard to describe. They're realistic, but with a layer of paint on top, done in a very particular style. As I understand it, the look is inspired by an art style from the same era. This makes the world feel really strange at times, and sometimes it's like walking through an art gallery.
It is a very beautiful game, though, and the art style adds a lot to the atmosphere.
Audio
Everything about this game's audio is great. The voice acting is really good for the most part, and the music is some of the best I've heard in a game. I even listen to it outside the game. It has won awards for its music, and for good reason.
Combat
Like many turn-based RPGs, you explore the world in real time, but combat is turn-based. What makes it different is that combat has a lot of QTEs (quick time events). You have to react in time to parry or dodge, and you can make your skills more effective by hitting your timings.
I usually don't like QTEs, but here they work well. If they're not for you, you can turn some of them off. Some fights also have several phases, with cinematics in between.
Exploration & Structure
Outside of combat, you travel around an open world map with entrances to cities and "dungeons". The story itself is fairly linear and divided into three acts. Still, you can do a lot of things in whatever order you like, and you can go back to places later if you missed something. Only certain story beats have to be done in a set order.
Character Building
The skill system is interesting. Each character has their own skill tree, and skills synergize both with each other and with skills on other characters. On top of that, weapons can strengthen certain types of skills or boost your character's attributes. You can also raise those attributes yourself as you level up.
You can unlock even more enhancements through something called "Lumina", which you get by collecting and using special items in the game. There are a lot of them. This allows for some really interesting builds for specific fights, or for insanely powerful combinations if you really dig into it.
Story & Characters
Even though there aren't many game-changing choices, I got really invested in the story. It's a very dark story, with some lighthearted moments thrown in to lift the mood now and then.
The dialogue is great, and there are a lot of memorable characters. The way they interact with each other, and their individual stories, are fantastic. I rarely get this invested in characters in a game.
It's also one of the most emotionally powerful games I've played. There were moments in the story where I was close to tears, and that rarely happens to me while playing games.
The Expeditions & the World
As the title suggests, you are not the first expedition. Many expeditions came before you and failed. Throughout the game you pick up hints about what happened to them, and some of those hints actually help you along the way. This adds a lot to the story, but I wish there was even more about each expedition.
The characters and enemies you meet are like nothing you've seen before. These are not your typical fantasy creatures, and you can clearly see the art inspiration in them. I won't spoil anything, but you'll see some of them in the screenshots.
Overall, the game feels a bit like a Japanese RPG, a genre I haven't played much of, with some Dark Souls elements thrown in.
Conclusion
I highly recommend Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to anyone who likes a good story, and to anyone who likes RPGs. A few great RPGs have come out over the past few years, but this one is special. It's beautiful, it's clever, and it hits hard emotionally. It's a rare gem that really stands out from the crowd.