If the ID@Xbox press event at GDC 2025 had a headliner, it was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Preview builds went out to some publications a few weeks ago, and we weren’t one of them, so when we saw this game on the event’s list of featured titles–we knew where we were going first.
For those unfamiliar with the title, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is Sandfall Interactive’s first project. They’re a 30-person team based in France, and when you watch any footage for the game, you can really see the inspirations of French artistry and storytelling. This preview won’t talk much about the story. Having watched a bunch of trailers and reading a few press releases about the characters, I do have some appreciation and understanding of its world building, but that’s not what made me give this game attention. What got people like me interested was the combat, and I got more than a deep dive.
Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG and aside from its overall look (which is a big positive for me), it checks all the boxes of what a great JRPG can be. If I can can compare the battle system to any current game, I’d point out the current Like A Dragon games with turn-based combat. They do the Personathing of making most of the menu navigation delegated to various buttons, but when it’s time to attack or defend, QTE comes into play. When you’re attacking, the appropriate button shows up on the screen with a visual cue to time your attack(s) perfectly for more damage. When defending, one button is used to dodge, and another one can be used to parry. Successful dodges and parries are all reliant on your ability to predict when enemies hit you, so you won’t be seeing any QTEs on the screen when defending.
In addition to attacking, you have your standard spells, but there’s also a gun mechanic that you activate with the shoulder buttons similar to what Persona 5 did, except it’s free aim. This felt clunky, but I still got a sense of satisfaction shooting out enemy weak points. Aside from that though, it didn’t serve much of a purpose because the enemies with such weak spots in the demo only had one. If they had multiple, it makes more sense to have the free aim, so I’m assuming that’s something we’ll see later on in the full game.
Bet people didn’t expect to see this when the initial trailers shifted to combat.
I didn’t take that much of a look into it, but leveling in the game looks to be reliant of a skills tree system that was simple enough to understand. That’s one big takeaway I have during my time with Expedition 33 — while there are definitely some processes to be used to, the game’s UI is simple and user-friendly enough to just play and not worry. I’m the type of person that doesn’t like to worry about builds and finding the best combination of abilities. I just want to be able to equip the best gear, choose classes that fit my attack style, and go. So far, Expedition 33 looks to be exactly that.
As far as in-game traversal, it also was simple with some stylish dynamics thrown in. After getting out of a creepy cave and finding another party member, there were points in environment that allowed us to lasso or hookshot over to other ledges to continue the exploration. They appear to just be ways to make otherwise simple JRPG traversal look more flashy, but they were a fun touch nonetheless.
Eventually, we came to a pantomime boss battle that I died three times to. I didn’t want to hog the station, so I quit there. I look forward to having another chance at taking it down with full context of what it was and what’s going on in the story.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 just went gold a few days ago and is due out at the end of next month, and we can’t wait for it. We’ll definitely have a full review during its release window.
If the ID@Xbox press event at GDC 2025 had a headliner, it was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Preview builds went out to some publications a few weeks ago, and we weren’t one of them, so when we saw this game…
If the ID@Xbox press event at GDC 2025 had a headliner, it was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Preview builds went out to some publications a few weeks ago, and we weren’t one of them, so when we saw this game on the event’s list of featured titles–we knew where we were going first.
For those unfamiliar with the title, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is Sandfall Interactive’s first project. They’re a 30-person team based in France, and when you watch any footage for the game, you can really see the inspirations of French artistry and storytelling. This preview won’t talk much about the story. Having watched a bunch of trailers and reading a few press releases about the characters, I do have some appreciation and understanding of its world building, but that’s not what made me give this game attention. What got people like me interested was the combat, and I got more than a deep dive.
Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG and aside from its overall look (which is a big positive for me), it checks all the boxes of what a great JRPG can be. If I can can compare the battle system to any current game, I’d point out the current Like A Dragon games with turn-based combat. They do the Personathing of making most of the menu navigation delegated to various buttons, but when it’s time to attack or defend, QTE comes into play. When you’re attacking, the appropriate button shows up on the screen with a visual cue to time your attack(s) perfectly for more damage. When defending, one button is used to dodge, and another one can be used to parry. Successful dodges and parries are all reliant on your ability to predict when enemies hit you, so you won’t be seeing any QTEs on the screen when defending.
In addition to attacking, you have your standard spells, but there’s also a gun mechanic that you activate with the shoulder buttons similar to what Persona 5 did, except it’s free aim. This felt clunky, but I still got a sense of satisfaction shooting out enemy weak points. Aside from that though, it didn’t serve much of a purpose because the enemies with such weak spots in the demo only had one. If they had multiple, it makes more sense to have the free aim, so I’m assuming that’s something we’ll see later on in the full game.
Bet people didn’t expect to see this when the initial trailers shifted to combat.
I didn’t take that much of a look into it, but leveling in the game looks to be reliant of a skills tree system that was simple enough to understand. That’s one big takeaway I have during my time with Expedition 33 — while there are definitely some processes to be used to, the game’s UI is simple and user-friendly enough to just play and not worry. I’m the type of person that doesn’t like to worry about builds and finding the best combination of abilities. I just want to be able to equip the best gear, choose classes that fit my attack style, and go. So far, Expedition 33 looks to be exactly that.
As far as in-game traversal, it also was simple with some stylish dynamics thrown in. After getting out of a creepy cave and finding another party member, there were points in environment that allowed us to lasso or hookshot over to other ledges to continue the exploration. They appear to just be ways to make otherwise simple JRPG traversal look more flashy, but they were a fun touch nonetheless.
Eventually, we came to a pantomime boss battle that I died three times to. I didn’t want to hog the station, so I quit there. I look forward to having another chance at taking it down with full context of what it was and what’s going on in the story.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 just went gold a few days ago and is due out at the end of next month, and we can’t wait for it. We’ll definitely have a full review during its release window.
by Danreb Victorio
