Tomorrow comes in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 came into my gaming world out of nowhere like a sudden, brilliant flash of lightning. A combination of a story trailer, a gameplay trailer, and a cheaper than usual price tag had me convinced that it would be a game worth owning. And then, the game became instantly unobtainable for physical collectors. (If you bought multiple copies of this to scalp, then get wrecked. You’re not a gamer). That scarcity had me more intrigued. (As of this writing, the game is much more readily available.) I was eventually gifted a copy, and I can say that the game almost lived up to the hype. Almost. My nitpicks were major, but not enough to cause me to not recommend what might be one the best releases of 2025.

There’s a lot of great stuff, so let’s dive in. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 follows a group of warriors that volunteer to confront an all-powerful entity called The Paintress. Every year, The Paintress paints a number on her monolith. Citizens in the floating city of Lumiere that are the same age as the painted number perish. Their bodies slowly fade and turn into multicolor flower pedals that get blown away in the breeze. This cycle of painting and erasure is called The Gommage, and it’s been ongoing for 67 years. With the age limit decreasing each year, the members of Expedition 33 are hoping to finally break the cycle. One of those members is Gustave, an engineer that sets sail for The Continent with an army of others volunteers where The Paintress dwells. After the crew lands on The Continent, things don’t go well and Gustave gets separated from the others.

And that’s about all I’ll say to avoid spoilers. The story has a lot of heartbreaking moments that feel real and relatable. That’s because Gustave and his friends are well-written, believable, and likable – all for different reasons. Gustave is pure and kind; impossible not to like. He’s become a fan-favorite among players. Then there’s Maelle, a fiery girl that is the youngest of the crew. Her personality is as explosive as dynamite one second and vulnerably introspective the next. Seeing her diminutive frame’s multitudes made her my favorite in a cast of characters where it was hard to pick a favorite. The rest of the cast has their own quirks and traits, and getting to know them was a treat. If I had to critique something with the story, it would be that not all the terms and lore are spoon-fed to the player like other RPGs. The creators might have attempted to take a page from the Souls series; making the players piece the tale together themselves. Expedition 33 isn’t a Souls. It’s a turn-based RPG. So, I’m not sure why more stuff (for lack of a better term) wasn’t explained. That said, the narrative shouldn’t require any outside research.

After the initial events on The Continent, players take control of Gustave and the other expeditioners as they navigate a bizarre and beautiful world. This game is GORGEOUS. Every asset and angle and vantage point is a surreal, multicolor fever dream that shouldn’t work in theory, yet it does. Each set piece has its own theme that feels disconnected from one another, but this disconnection somehow makes The Continent feel that much more alive and believable. To look at it another way, it felt like the developers threw everything at the wall and everything stuck. And, that’s just the start. The character models are realistic and unleash devastating looking abilities and spells. The monster designs range from nightmare fuel to abstract artwork. The music that accompanies these areas is just as magical. Melodies are haunting. Battle themes are intense. Lovely operatic and emotive vocals seep in when least expected. Seeing and hearing anything and everything is quite a marvel. Despite the expeditioners constantly facing death, it’s not hard to feel a tinge of jealousy at all the beauty they get to experience.

That all said, I feel like now’s a good moment in the review to point out my biggest issue because it involves the above mentioned, beautiful locations. As gorgeous as each area was, five times out of ten I found myself within them longer than usual because of one, crucial, modern, missing component: a map. The game does have a world map that you can pull up while navigating the overworld. The game does not have something of that ilk in the areas you enter. I’ve always had the worst sense of direction. Not just in games, but in real life. Maps are more than a crutch for me. So, to have a game with such massive areas that are filled with things to collect and gather (some of which are required for trophies) and not have some sort of navigation tool is a crime. I wandered aimlessly; constantly second guessing myself if I missed something or not. While only a few items could be permanently missed, it didn’t help with my self-imposed stress. I later learned that the developers opted out of adding a map of any sorts to increase “immersion.” Yeah – no. If anything, it decreased my immersion because I had to set up a separate screen and follow along someone else’s path to find where the heck I needed to go. Toss in some Eurojank that caused random bouts of stuttering and…I think you get my point; I found myself the opposite of immersed.

With that out of the way, we can focus on more good stuff. On the world map, you can enter a camp to restore your party’s health, upgrade their weapons, get to know the party members on deeper levels, and increase their Lumina Points. The equipment in this game is limited to one weapon and three stat/combat boosting accessories called Pictos. However, after a Pictos is on a combatant’s person for four battles, the Pictos’ ability can be equipped by anyone. To do so, you need the above mentioned Lumina Points. There’s a massive, numerous number of Pictos/Lumina abilities to discover, which means there are numerous ways to tweak your party. Outside of camp and the world map, you’ll often run into Expedition Flags. These also let you recover your health, as well as allocate stat points from level ups and skill points to learn new skills. The party members of the 33rd Expedition are a diverse bunch with unique skills and abilities. So, along with the Pictos/Lumina allocation, further customization is available depending on the skills you focus on learning first. A commonly found item lets you reset both stat points or skill points in case you want to try different builds.

Where does the player get to see these builds and tweaks in action? Combat, of course. The combat is the aspect I look forward to the most when I turn the console on to continue the journey. Often described as something like The Legend of Dragoon, combat in Clair Obscur is turn-based, fast paced, and always keeps you on your toes. That said, I feel like comparing it to The Legend of Dragoon is only half-true. Combat also has moments of Shadow Hearts and Tsugunai: Atonement. Only the most niche RPG fans will get the reference to that second title. During a player turn, you can use items, skip a turn, attempt to run away, or perform an attack. A standard attack restores one Ability Point. Free Aim attacks cost one AP and can be used to target an enemy’s weak point. Abilities, naturally, cost Ability Points and the more powerful abilities require more AP. Up to 9 AP can be stored. Since enemies have a decent amount of energy, you’ll be relying more on abilities than standard hits to take them down. Most abilities require a QTE styled button press (hence the Dragoon reference) for them to reach maximum damage. Some items and abilities restore AP, but the most effective way to earn them is to parry enemy attacks.

Here’s where the reference to Tsugunai: Atonement comes in. In that early PlayStation 2 game, the hero Reise would reduce the amount of damage taken depending on timing and the button pressed. With perfect timing, you could completely reduce an enemy’s attack and land a powerful counter. That’s the premise Clair Obscur. There’s a button to dodge, but dodging doesn’t give AP. Parrying an attack, however, builds AP. Parrying every attack during an enemy’s round lands a powerful, visceral, and over the top counterattack that is intensely satisfying. It’s also one of the most powerful ways to deal damage to the enemy team. The timing is tricky, and enemies hit insanely hard. But, the effort to learn the parrying system is worth it. Over time, more types of parries and counterattacks will be unlocked. It takes practice to master this system since there’s a large swath of enemies. Again, it’s worth doing so.

A powerful narrative. Intense combat. A tightknit cast of characters with plentiful build options. Really, if not for the major issue with the mini-map and a few other issues not worth getting into, Clair Obscur is a perfect example of a modern RPG. It’s one of those RPGs that I recommend to all gamers. Not just RPG fans, but gamers in general. A variety of difficulty options can make the combat more accessible for those that have trouble with the parrying mechanics. Finishing the game took me 50 hours, but I expect my playtime to continue. As of this writing, I have more bonus content to explore to see it all. I’ll be sad when the journey ends, but I can see myself replaying this game in the future just to experience the magnitude again.

Overall, 9/10: Yes. I took off a point off for no mini-map. Otherwise, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is worthy of the praise it’s received from across the world.