When you blend just the right amount of Final Fantasy with just the right amount of Dark Souls you get Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and what a beautiful blend that is.
The game starts out on the day of Gommage this is the day that the paintress changes the number on the monolith the day that sees hundreds of people disappear from lumière.
The cutscenes and story within the first 30 minutes of the game are so captivating that when the sequence ended I felt so emotional. It’s not often that a game can introduce characters and have you hooked that fast it’s truly amazing.
Art design within the game is absolutely amazing there hasn’t been one character, monster or area that I’ve explored that hasn’t blown me away. The artists behind this should get some kind of award.
The music within the game is world class, the musical score just beautifully compliments the visuals on screen at the times and it makes for some seriously immersive and emotional story telling on a really deep level. I am not normally a fan of this kind of music but the OST on this game is flawless.
Combat in the game is turn based with interactive elements, you take your turn and then during the enemy phase you either dodge, parry or jump to avoid attacks or you fail and take it on the chin.
Leveling up allows the player to apply 3 points to stats of their choice which makes for some very versatile builds and tons of replayability. Alongside the leveling players pick up pictos through the game completing 4 fight with one pictos unlocks the ability and the player can now use luminas to passively add that to their character allowing them to pick up new pictos while keeping their old abilities.
To wrap up the games story, music, graphics, gameplay, monster and environmental design are absolutely flawless. The games combat and character development are some of the best in the business. Skills and character leveling is simple yet very very effective allowing you to build to your play style.
My only bad thing to say about the game is that I do wish there was an option to not have to dodge and parry, not because i don’t like it but I feel some people don’t like that hardcore style gameplay and this would open the door to more people. However I didn’t actually try story mode and I don’t know if this is more forgiving in this department.
I highly recommend this title, it is up there with some of my favourite games of all time.
