Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is memorable, full-featured, lengthy, and fun.

The worldbuilding/lore, story, and dialogue are all enthralling (a rarity these days), which the game uses to seemingly effortlessly chain poignant moments. The voice acting and music are top-notch, as are the facial animations (presumably most of that credit goes to Unreal Engine 5).

The opening to Clair Obscur immediately drew me in with its polish and oppressive doomed horror fantasy setting. I wish the game had continued to lean into this atmosphere it had worked so hard to build, but the lighthearted Gestrals ruin what they had going soon after (I'm not someone who dislikes the Felynes or Grimalkynes of Monster Hunter, either).

The combat is compelling enough for a JRPG. Real-time button presses have always worked well as a system, and each character comes with unique mechanics. There are a wide variety of possible pictos/builds, though the Burn build I stumbled into felt pretty necessary given some of the endgame scaling. Speaking of the endgame, I was impressed by the amount of optional (perhaps postgame) content.

The developers were successful at making exploration rewarding, and Unreal Engine 5 can make areas look beautiful. I would say, however, that there's some movement and platforming jank, and that the boundaries of the traversable game area are not always clear. I don't think the world map was a positive inclusion, as it is inherently less immersive and at the end of the day, it's really nothing more than a hub.

I was intrigued by the mystery of the Clair Obscur's world, but found it at times to be frustratingly tight-lipped with regard to clues. The answer was acceptable and suitably complex (but a bit of a cop-out at the same time).

[i]Clair Obscur: Expedition 33[/i] is memorable, full-featured, lengthy, and fun. The worldbuilding/lore, story, and dialogue are all enthralling (a rarity these days), which the game uses to seemingly effortlessly chain poignant moments. The voice acting and music are top-notch, as are the facial animations (presumably most of that credit goes to Unreal Engine 5). The opening to [i]Clair Obscur[/i] immediately drew me in with its polish and oppressive doomed horror fantasy setting. I wish the game had continued to lean into this atmosphere it had worked so hard to build, but the lighthearted Gestrals ruin what they had going soon after (I'm not someone who dislikes the Felynes or Grimalkynes of [i]Monster Hunter[/i], either). The combat is compelling enough for a JRPG. Real-time button presses have always worked well as a system, and each character comes with unique mechanics. There are a wide variety of possible pictos/builds, though the [spoiler]Burn[/spoiler] build I stumbled into felt pretty necessary given some of the endgame scaling. Speaking of the endgame, I was impressed by the amount of optional (perhaps postgame) content. The developers were successful at making exploration rewarding, and Unreal Engine 5 can make areas look beautiful. I would say, however, that there's some movement and platforming jank, and that the boundaries of the traversable game area are not always clear. I don't think the world map was a positive inclusion, as it is inherently less immersive and at the end of the day, it's really nothing more than a hub. I was intrigued by the mystery of the [i]Clair Obscur[/i]'s world, but found it at times to be frustratingly tight-lipped with regard to clues. The answer was acceptable and suitably complex [spoiler](but a bit of a cop-out at the same time)[/spoiler].