Close Menu
  • Login
  • Support Us
  • Newsletter
  • News
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Video Games
      • Previews
      • PC
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X/S
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Xbox One
      • PS4
      • Tabletop
    • Film
    • TV
    • Anime
    • Comics
      • BOOM! Studios
      • Dark Horse Comics
      • DC Comics
      • IDW Publishing
      • Image Comics
      • Indie Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • Oni-Lion Forge
      • Valiant Comics
      • Vault Comics
  • Podcast
  • More
    • Event Coverage
    • BWT Recommends
    • RSS Feeds
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Support Us
But Why Tho?
RSS Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube
Trending:
  • Features
    Guilty Gear STRIVE and Dandadan

    GUILTY GEAR STRIVE Should Collab With DanDaDan Next

    08/23/2025
    Lucy DLC Fighter Guilty Gear Strive

    Lucy’s Arrival In ‘GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE-‘ Showcases How To Do A Collab

    08/22/2025
    Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Co-Op and weapon kit promotional image from Treyarch and Raven Studios

    Sharing Gunsmith Builds in Black Ops 7 Is About To Get Much Easier

    08/19/2025
    EA Sports Madden NFL 26 Head Coach But Why Tho 5

    Dear EA Sports, Why Can’t I Make A Hot Coach?

    08/14/2025
    Blade in Marvel Rivals Season 3.5

    Blade Can Shut Down The Other Team In Marvel Rivals Season 3.5 If You Know How

    08/08/2025
  • Indie Games
  • K-Dramas
  • Netflix
  • Apple TV+
But Why Tho?
Home » PC » REVIEW: ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’ Wears Its Inspirations On Its Sleeve

REVIEW: ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’ Wears Its Inspirations On Its Sleeve

Arron KluzBy Arron Kluz04/23/20255 Mins ReadUpdated:08/23/2025
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Party
Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit WhatsApp Email

The first thing one notices about the new RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is its beauty. The developer, Sandfall Interactive, has created a beautifully rendered world that punches far above the weight of its thirty-member team. Its characters emote with intricate detail. Its attacks land with dazzling explosions of particle effects and energy bolts. Its world is filled with photo-real and meticulous details. But that can all be seen from the game’s first trailers. So, how does the entire package stand up?

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is heavily inspired by classic JRPGs, complete with world exploration, turn-based battles, and a high-concept story narrative filled with existential questions. It is set in a steampunk world that is on the brink of destruction. Years before the game starts, the world was shaken by the sudden appearance of a colossal, god-like being known as the Paintress. Every year, the Paintress paints a new number on her monolith, and anyone of that age is killed, crumbling away to ash and blowing away in the wind.

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Players are put in control of Gustave, a skilled inventor who just lost his girlfriend to the Paintress and is on the chopping block the next time the Paintress puts up a number. Along with Gustave, players control a small group of party members on a journey to try and stop the Paintress for good.

With that dark setup, it is no surprise that the story of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is very dark and moody. Less than an hour into a playthrough, players lead Gustave through a maze comprising piled-up corpses of previous expeditions to stop the Paintress. There are numerous scenes where characters spill their emotions on one another in melodramatic speeches. For the majority of the playthrough, the tonal balance works well. The emotional moments hit as they are intended, and they kick the story off with a lot of emotional gravitas.

The party members in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are built on basic tropes.

Gustave and Girlfriend in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

It is only later in the playthrough that it begins to lose its luster, but the story remains intriguing enough to maintain momentum nonetheless. Along with the game’s main story, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 offers players a party of adventurers to interact with and learn about throughout the adventure. This is another area where the game strongly emulates the JRPGs of the past that inspired it, but this time to its detriment.

There are six party members in total, with each one falling pretty squarely into a familiar archetype found in countless JRPGs. This would be fine as a foundation for the characters, but throughout the game’s playthrough, very little differentiates the player’s party members from the characters of the past that inspired them. Players of almost any major JRPG will have a hard time connecting with these characters.

But of course, the party members aren’t just there to talk to. They also fight alongside the player and can be customized throughout a playthrough via their skill tree and gear. Overall, the gear system is very barebones. Players can cosmetically alter their party members with options discovered while playing, but it doesn’t impact gameplay beyond the visual.

Each character also has a single weapon slot, with multiple weapon options found during your adventures. However, finding new weapons almost universally acts as a direct upgrade over the weapons found for that character previously, rather than presenting different build options, which makes the system pretty uninteresting.

Skill trees in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are also pretty underwhelming. The skill trees are set up like webs with different interlocking paths with slight themes. However, characters level up enough during natural play that they end up unlocking most, if not all, of the skills regardless. This leaves each character ending up at roughly the same place in the end, regardless of the path the player took to get there. The system ultimately lacks variation or impactful player choice.

Combat is by far the strongest aspect of Clari Obscur: Expedition 33.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Combat

Combat is a snappy, traditional turn-based party affair with genre features like attacking enemies in the overworld to go first in combat and quick time events to increase the damage of outgoing attacks and decrease the damage of incoming ones. Each character also has their own mechanics and combat style to account for, which helps bring some fun variety.

For example, Gustav has a mechanical arm that is powered up by using skills. Then, when it is fully powered, it can be used to deal a high-damage skill one time. Another party member is a mage who specializes in elemental attacks, which leave traces of the element behind, which she can then activate to modify future attacks.

Combat is by far where Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 shines the most. It is fast and kinetic with attacks that feel impactful thanks to wonderful animation work and explosive effects. Its party members each bring a distinct playstyle to work with, and the pool of enemies is fun to learn and defeat. The quick-time events help keep players locked into the action for every encounter. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 doesn’t necessarily bring anything new to turn-based combat, but its rendition of the system is a fun and effective one.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a competent new JRPG with which genre fans will likely be pleased. However, it does very little to iterate on the foundation laid by those that came before it. Instead, it’s content to offer its flavor of what has worked before. There is nothing wrong with that, but it does hold Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from becoming something special. Ultimately, it’s a fun and well-made, but uninspiring RPG.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available now PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S via Xbox Game Pass.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • 7/10
    Rating - 7/10
7/10

TL;DR

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a competent new JRPG with which genre fans will likely be pleased. However, it does very little to iterate on the foundation laid by those that came before it. Instead, it’s content to offer its flavor of what has worked before.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
Previous ArticleYou’ve Watched ‘Sinners’ Now Here’s What’s Next
Next Article How The ‘Sunderfolk’ Campaign Balances Story, Strategy, And Player Freedom
Arron Kluz

Arron is a writer and video editor for But Why Tho? that is passionate about all things gaming, whether it be on a screen or table. When he isn't writing for the site he's either playing Dungeons & Dragons, watching arthouse movies, or trying to find someone to convince that the shooter Brink was ahead of its time. March 20, 2023

Related Posts

Fresh Tracks Key Art But Why Tho
9.0

REVIEW: ‘Fresh Tracks’ Brings Fresh Tunes And A Fresher Story

08/21/2025
Sword of the Sea promotional key art from giant Squid
10.0

REVIEW: ‘Sword Of The Sea’ Offers Hopeful Environmentalism

08/18/2025
Archon of Prophecy Content Pack key art
8.0

DLC REVIEW: ‘Archon Prophecy’ Takes Age Of Wonders 4 Celestial

08/13/2025
TIny Bookshop promotional image
8.0

REVIEW: ‘Tiny Bookshop’ Holds Space For The Written Word

08/08/2025
No Sleep For Kaname Date - promotional still from Spike Chunsoft
8.0

REVIEW: ‘No Sleep For Kaname Date – From AI: The Somnium Files’ Is Simply A Great Entry

08/05/2025
Demon Slayer - The HinoKami Chronicles 2 promotional image from SEGA
8.0

REVIEW: ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles 2’ Is A Solid Sequel For Fans

08/05/2025

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here
TRENDING POSTS
Foundation Season 3 Episode 7 still from Apple TV+
9.0
TV

RECAP: Foundation Season 3 Episode 7 — “Foundation’s End”

By Will Borger08/22/2025Updated:08/22/2025

Foundation Season 3 Episode 7 paid off a lot of this season and gave us new things to think on, while being this season’s best hour of TV.

Lee Ha-nee in Aema
8.5
TV

REVIEW: ‘Aema’ Is Unafraid To Bare All Exploring The Industry

By Sarah Musnicky08/22/2025Updated:08/22/2025

Aema, blends history revisionism with comedic undertones that keeps the otherwise darker subject matter the series explores from taking over

Invasion Season 3 Episode 1 episode still from apple tv+
7.5
TV

REVIEW: ‘Invasion’ Season 3 Episode 1 — “The Ones We Leave Behind”

By Kate Sánchez08/22/2025Updated:08/22/2025

Invasion Season 3 Episode 1, “The Ones We Leave Behind,” succeeds more than it fails but winds up just short of capturing viewers whole.

John Cena in Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 1
9.0
TV

RECAP: ‘Peacemaker’ Season 2 Episode 1 — “The Ties That Grind”

By James Preston Poole08/22/2025Updated:08/22/2025

Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 1 nails the raunchy comedy of the first season, while emphasizing the title character’s emotional arc.

But Why Tho?
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest RSS YouTube Twitch
  • CONTACT US
  • ABOUT US
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
  • Review Score Guide
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small contribution.
Written Content is Copyright © 2025 But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

But Why Tho Logo

Support Us!

We're able to keep making content thanks to readers like YOU!
Support independent media today with
Click Here