Introducción
I knew that Clair Obscur Expedition 33 was going to be a very different experience, not just within the RPG, but the truth is that I didn't imagine to what extent I didn't expect so much personality and sensitivity from this French studio, but the result is a JRPG or maybe we should start talking about FRPG that does almost everything well and, above all, that dares to touch on things that you're not used to seeing in the genre or practically in video games. We're going to discover them all in this analysis.
History and setting
In case you don't know yet, Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is the story of a fragmented world where the city of Lumieg has ended up disconnected from the rest of the continent by a strange cataclysm. From its port, all you can see is a strange monolith with a number symbolizing a countdown from 100 to zero, and every year, people of the age indicated by the monolith vanish. The entire opening of this game is truly unique, not only because of the premise but because Soundfall has had the good sense to avoid overexposure as much as possible, making you constantly ask yourself questions:
Why is this happening? Who is responsible? What also happened to the other expeditions?
The questions are important because the game clearly plays with these mysteries. It is a story that wants it all, it wants deeply felt characters who will constantly show us their concerns, but above all, many secrets to reveal in a plot full of twists, some very unexpected, others quite crazy, and others perhaps also a little forced because they want to withhold a lot of information to give all the surprises in the final third.
Combat system
but don't worry because I haven't said everything in terms of story yet okay what happens is that I also need to tell you about how good the combat is because I have really been surprised by its fusion of traditional mechanics of the genre with a much more active system than what we are used to seeing and it is clear that Sanfall wanted to take advantage of the tactics of turn-based games obviously but make sure that you do not stop pressing buttons at any time so here all the attacks and abilities are followed by power-ups in the form of quick time events that help us improve attacks or get additional effects in each of them but the key is in the defense in each turn that we are attacked we can try to dodge or parry the blow and here we only depend on our reflexes dodging is easier than parrying without a doubt but if we manage to do the latter perfectly we can counterattack and do a lot of damage to the opponent and thus a risk-reward game is formed that has had me hooked to the maximum every hour I have never tired of continuing to try to learn the patterns of the enemies, to know when it was better to dodge or when it was better counterattack, the enemies and their bosses are increasingly more malicious and are always renewed with each new part of the world you visit. They make all kinds of feints, they try to deceive you and very rarely will you achieve a perfect fight. However, when you do, it is also rewarding.
Tactics and skill management
but in addition to all this new system, its tactical side is just as fun, its interface is a bit like that of a person, not only because of how pretty they are and how impressive the menus are but because of the dynamics and the rhythm they have, but its mechanics are also more reminiscent of perhaps a kind of Hearthstone or something like that in which we have nine action points at most and the best skills have more cost and do more damage but we always have to know how much we should spend this turn and how much we should save for the next turn to be completely empty or to be able to make a much more powerful attack, in addition, each of our characters has a completely unique system, Gustav, for example, is capable of accumulating charges for each attack until he fills his glove with a very powerful attack, while yes, he, for example, has a system of light and darkness cards that, well combined, unleash super powerful attacks and discovering them all is a real pleasure
Visual design and structure
Another of the things that makes Expedition 33 such a special game is the visual design, without a doubt it is not only a technically powerful game and with an Unreal Engine 5 engine that has not given me any problems here there is no jerk but what you see on the screen also has a very very noticeable artistic quality it also achieves this by forgetting about open world formulas and betting on a more classic structure of the genre which is a world map and which is also very beautiful and areas within that world map are delimited and more linear but watch out for some interesting secrets to find in addition they are increasingly expanding until they form some more complex areas that even have their own puzzle, their secret paths and even also obviously their secret enemies each region contains these optional enemies that some of them are really hard but also minigames and many extra activities to discover
Conclusion
because the plot of Clair Obscur Expedition 33. I think it's worth it despite the crazy twists in its plot, the core remains its characters and it can't always develop them as much as I would like because it has this obsession with always keeping so many surprises but it doesn't forget them either and thus manages to relate them to a lot of themes that the work wants to explore: loss, sacrifice and even refuge in art. It's impossible for this game to leave you indifferent because it is very human and because there is even a reason why it is called Clair Obscur and it not only refers to the pictorial technique but also to the strong narrative and moral contrast that you will have to play if you want to discover. Look, I say this clearly if you are a fan of JRPG even if it is only for its combat system, I think it will already convince you and if it weren't enough to do everything practically right, Expedition 33 also has the audacity to come out at a reduced price of about $ 48, practically half of what can be asked today for a video game, it seems that Sanfall has not wanted to make excuses not to play it and whether you are a fan of genre as if you are even minimally attracted to turns and fantasy stories I think you would do well to do it but beyond the genre is that I think it is one of those types of works that many of us are looking for year after year isn't it in which the authorship is very noticeable because it is one of the most unique games of the year so far that type of games to which we refer when we complain isn't it about the lack of ideas specific to the medium of how little personal some works feel you will be able to connect more or less with it but this is precisely what happens with all games.
