Honestly, nobody saw this coming. When Sandfall Interactive first dropped the trailer for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, most of us just saw another pretty Unreal Engine 5 project. Then the game actually launched on April 24, 2025, and basically broke the internet. It didn't just "do well." It sold five million copies in six months and walked away with nine trophies at The Game Awards, including the big one: Game of the Year.
If you haven’t played it yet, you’ve probably seen the screenshots of a melted Eiffel Tower or a giant woman painting numbers on a monolith. It looks like a fever dream set in 19th-century France. But the reason people are still obsessing over it isn't just the graphics. It’s the fact that it finally fixed the one thing people hate about turn-based games: the waiting.
What is Expedition 33 anyway?
The setup is dark. Like, really dark. There’s this god-like entity called the Paintress. Once a year, she wakes up and paints a number on a massive Monolith. If that number matches your age, you simply turn into smoke. It’s called the Gommage, or "The Erasure."
The world has been counting down for decades. When the game starts, she’s about to paint the number 33. That means everyone who is 33 years old—including the protagonist Gustave’s former lover—is about to die. You play as Gustave, a guy with a mechanical arm who leads a group of "Expeditioners" on a suicide mission to kill the Paintress before she can paint the next number.
The catch? Most of the team is 32. They have exactly one year to finish the job or they're gone.
A Cast That Sounds Familiar
Sandfall clearly spent their budget in the right places because the voice acting is ridiculous. You’ve got Charlie Cox (yes, Daredevil himself) playing Gustave. Then there’s Andy Serkis as Renoir and Jennifer English—who everyone knows as Shadowheart from Baldur’s Gate 3—playing Maelle.
It makes the quiet moments between the world-ending stakes feel human. You’re not just moving a cursor; you’re watching a high-budget drama where everyone is acutely aware they are probably going to die in a few months.
The Combat: It’s Not Just Menu Diving
This is where the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 new game hype actually lives. Most JRPGs have you select "Attack" and then sit there while the enemy hits you. Here, if you sit still, you die.
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It’s a "Reactive Turn-Based" system. When it’s your turn, you pick your skills, but when the enemy swings at you, the game turns into something closer to Sekiro or Hi-Fi Rush.
- Parrying: If you time a button press perfectly, you don't just take less damage; you gain Ability Points (AP) and can trigger a counterattack.
- Dodging: Easier than parrying but doesn't give you as many rewards.
- Jumping: Some ground-wave attacks can only be avoided by literally jumping over them in real-time.
Basically, if you’re good at rhythm games or action titles, you can beat bosses that are way higher level than you. On the flip side, if you're lazy with your inputs, a basic mob can wipe your party in two turns. It’s stressful. It’s fast. And it’s why people who usually hate turn-based games are actually sticking with this one.
Why the World Looks So Weird
The aesthetic is called Belle Époque. It’s basically France between 1871 and 1914—the era of cabaret, Art Nouveau, and the building of the Eiffel Tower. But Sandfall twisted it. In this world, an event called "The Fracture" ripped the city of Lumière away from the continent.
You aren't walking through a historical recreation. You’re walking through a landscape filled with floating coral, distorted architecture, and "Pictos"—magical paintings that you can actually equip to boost your stats. There are 210 of these things hidden in the world, and they’re basically the game’s version of gear.
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The Post-Launch "Thank You" Update
If you’re just jumping in now, you’re actually lucky. Following their GOTY win, the devs released a massive free update in December 2025. They added an area called Verso’s Drafts and a "Photo Mode" because, let’s be real, the skyboxes in this game are gorgeous and people wanted to take pictures.
They also added an Endless Tower for the masochists who finished the 60-hour story and wanted even harder boss fights. It’s one of those rare cases where a developer didn't try to nickel-and-dimie the fans with DLC after a big win.
Is It Actually Hard?
Yeah. Sorta.
The difficulty curve is a bit like a staircase. The first ten hours are a breeze while you learn the parry windows. Then you hit the mid-game, and suddenly enemies start using "Gradient Attacks." These are complex sequences where an enemy might swing five times with different timings.
If you mess up the third swing, you’re probably losing a character.
However, the game is also "broken" in a fun way. If you build Lune (the mage) correctly, she can stack elemental "Stains" that explode for millions of damage. Or you can build Maelle to be a parry god who never actually takes a turn because she's too busy counter-attacking the enemy into oblivion.
Real Talk: The Limitations
It’s not perfect. Even though it won GOTY, the lip-syncing is still a bit janky in the non-cinematic scenes. Also, the "Free Aim" mechanic—where you aim ranged attacks like a third-person shooter—can feel a bit sensitive on a controller. And if you’re looking for a traditional "relaxing" RPG where you can eat a sandwich while playing? This isn't it. You have to be "on" the entire time.
How to Get the Best Start
Don't just rush the main story. The world is full of "Journals" left behind by previous Expeditions (Expedition 0 through 32). They give you the actual lore about why the Paintress exists and, more importantly, they usually lead to hidden Pictos that make the boss fights way easier.
- Prioritize Speed: In the early game, dump your points into the Speed stat. Going first is great, but getting more turns than the enemy is how you win.
- Master the Parry, Don't Rely on the Dodge: Dodging is a trap for beginners. Parrying gives you AP. AP lets you use skills. No AP means you're stuck using basic attacks, and that's a slow way to die.
- Watch the Weapon, Not the UI: The game gives you text prompts like "The enemy attacks slowly," but the actual timing is in the animation. Watch the enemy's elbow or the tip of their sword.
The "Thank You" update also added a Lumina Sets feature. Use it. You can save up to 50 different loadouts. You should have one set for exploration (high speed/XP gain) and one for bosses (high defense/parry rewards). Swapping these on the fly is the difference between a frustrating night and a fun one.
If you haven't checked out the Endless Tower yet, wait until you've at least hit Level 45. The bosses in there are variations of the main story villains but with new "Animation Traps" designed specifically to mess with your muscle memory. It’s brutal, but the gear drops are the only way to hit that 2 million damage cap people are posting on Reddit.
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Next Steps for Players:
Check your platform's store for the latest Version 1.4 patch, which stabilized the frame rates in the "Flying Waters" district. If you're playing on PC, ensure your drivers are updated for Unreal Engine 5.4 support to avoid the stuttering issues reported during the boss fight with Renoir. Once you're in-game, focus on unlocking Maelle's "Fencer Stances" early; the defensive stance makes the learning curve for parrying much more forgiving during the first act.