Like many folks who saw Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s reveal trailer last year, my first thoughts were along the lines of ‘Get that gorgeous-looking battle system into my veins, stat.’ And at long last, I’ve been able to sample an early chunk of Sandfall Interactive’s upcoming action RPG for myself, playing around the first three and a half hours of the game after its opening prologue.
At this stage in the game, the titular expedition team have left their hometown of Lumiere behind and set off on what everyone assumes will be a one-way trip to try and defeat the evil being known as The Paintress, who lives on a faraway island visible from the shores of Lumiere, and who keeps wiping out swathes of their friends by drawing eerie numbers on a large pillar. 33 is the latest number to get scrawled out on ‘The Continent’, and it’s since wiped out everyone who’s 33-years-old including expedition leader Gustave’s love interest, Sophie, and shrinking the remaining population of Lumiere even further.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Preview – Can an Incredible Battle System Make Up For Bland Exploration? Watch on YouTube
But the team’s arrival on the shores of The Continent to try and break this tragic cycle of death and eventual extinction have gone awry. A mysterious, but intensely hostile old man – a sight unheard of for these young explorers – suddenly wipes out most of their squad right off the bat, leaving Gustave and a handful of other survivors to scrabble for a hasty retreat. I pick up with Gustave in an ethereal forest, where high rock walls and bioluminescent flowers guide me forward toward my first main goal: a place called The Indigo Tree, your team’s designated meet-up point if your arrival went south.