What you need to know
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the first game from small developer Sandfall Interactive and will be launching day 1 on Xbox Game Pass in 2025.
- A brand new gameplay trailer was shown behind closed doors at Gamescom 2024, and launched publically yesterday showing the unique combat mechanics and dark fantasy setting of the game.
- The game looks incredible using the Unreal Engine 5, and was my favorite game at the whole conference.
Since returning from my first ever Gamescom, the one question everyone had to ask was, "What was the best game you saw?" and until now, I've had to keep pretty quiet on the matter. However, last night, the embargo finally lifted on the gameplay reveal trailer for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and now everyone has got to see the fantastic trailer we saw behind closed doors, and I can shout from the rooftops that this was my hands down best game. I also got to watch a developer play the game and chat through its concepts, but for now, let's break down this new trailer.
Characters I immediately want to know more about
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It isn't easy to convey a snapshot of an intricate story in a trailer for a new game, and it actually makes me care about the characters immediately — but Clair Obscur pulls it off with ease. Straight away, we are introduced to two main characters, Gustave, the "resourceful and dedicated engineer," and Lune, the "passionate scholar and mage," who are retracing the steps of Expeditions that came before them. The seed is sown, Expedition 33 is not the first, and many have failed before them, but at what exactly? What are they looking for? All we know so far is that the protagonist, the 'Painteress,' is painting down an ever-decreasing number of people and reducing the life span of everyone in this world. "There was a time 30 was considered young," Gustave remarks.
Initially, I thought the game was taking place underwater, but the developers explained to us that this was a 'surrealist' inspired by Belle Époque, a long romanticized period in French history prior to the First World War. The graphics and, indeed, the face modeling are exquisite to watch; the developers explained to us that what started as development in Unreal Engine 4 has now advanced to Unreal Engine 5. As a small team of only 30 people, the visuals they have been able to pull off here are impressive and have been aided by Epic's Metahuman tech to do heavy lifting on the facial models.
But back to Gustave and Lune, the trailer shows us the player in control of Gustave as the duo navigate the world of Lumière, though it was explained to us on the day that there will be six characters in total that you can switch between, each with their own attributes and skill trees. I already want to know more about Gustave and Lune, and indeed, a later character we are introduced to, Maelle, who the pair have been searching for. In our preview Maelle was lost and found in the care of a mysterious 'Curator' who seemed to be a threatening figure but one the party could train their moves on.
Combat like nothing I've seen before
Characters and visuals aside, the real standout of the trailer and the gameplay we witnessed behind the scenes was the combat, which is like nothing I've seen before. Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 combines both turn-based combat for the player characters and real-time combat for the enemy into something quite unusual, and I was slightly disappointed we didn't get to hop in with a controller ourselves.
As you can see from the trailer, when it is the player's turn, they can select to aim with their weapon, use an item, or choose a skill. This all plays out in a traditional turn-based system similar to what you would experience in Baldurs Gate 3, but not from the traditional isometric viewpoint we are used to.
As the characters cycle through their turns using an Action Point (AP) system, we then get to the enemy turn in which the combat switches from turn based to real-time. Both in the gameplay trailer and in the developer chat where we watched them play through an early level in the game, we saw that during this real time turn you have the ability to dodge attacks, parry and counter. The developer was extremely skilled and hitting the parry each time but we were told it's actually quite difficult, but not so much when you've been playing the same level all day for viewers at Gamescom!
Interwoven in combat is a QTE system allowing impressive and satisfying combos to inflict bonus damage to your foes. Following the short combat scene we are shown, Luna indicates that the whole fight could have been avoided altogether — so perhaps fighting everything you encounter in the world of Lumière isn't always the answer? It is also possible, given the dodge and parry system, to get through a fight without taking a single hit, so I anticipate many 'hit-less' speedruns dropping on YouTube when this game launches.
We'll be able to unlock new skins for our characters
At the end of the presentation, I asked if we would be able to customize our characters in the world of Lumiere — and the developers confirmed that cosmetic customization would be available so you can get full Style points and unlock new skins for the characters as you play through the game. Fans of Style Souls rejoice! I and many others can't wait to dive into the world that Sandfall Interactive have crafted next year.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will launch on Xbox Series X|S, PS5 and Windows 10/11 in 2025, and will also be available on day one with Xbox Game Pass. Lock in 2 years of Xbox Game Pass for $5 a month.
