Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Is an RPG Adventure We Can’t Wait to Take

Sandfall Interactive is taking a big swing with their debut game, the upcoming RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, one of the upcoming titles featured on this week’s Xbox Developer Direct broadcast. This small French studio has spent the last four years crafting the game’s fantasy world, writing the story, and developing a turn-based combat system, all in an effort to deliver a world to play around in and explore that feels familiar yet also wholly new and exciting. 

We got a look at this world during the Dev Direct that left us pretty impressed with the progress so far. The world of Expedition 33 is plagued by a mysterious figure known as the Paintress. Every year she paints a number of decreasing size on a monolith, causing everyone that age and older to suddenly fade away. And every year in response, an expedition is sent out to try and stop her. This game follows the eponymous Expedition 33, as they depart on what they assume to be their final quest, as they follow the path laid out by previous expeditions, discover what happened to them, and try to fight against their own fate to save themselves and their world.

But even though the expeditioners may be tasked with following in the footsteps of their predecessors, this isn’t a linear experience. The developers want players to explore every nook and cranny of their expansive, interactive map inspired by old-school JRPGs. Sandfall’s CEO & Creative Director Guillaume Broche told the Official Xbox Podcast that “In the beginning, [the map] seems extremely, extremely big. And it is very big. There are a lot of levels to find… hidden bosses to find also on this world map; there are tons of secrets. And that’s also what makes a world map super cool, because it feels like a completely different exploration game… and really makes you understand how much you’re travelling.”

As someone who loves to test the boundaries and depths of a game’s world map, I am already incredibly excited to dive into this open world. But on top of Expedition 33’s gorgeous visual design, gameplay and combat look like they will be just as awe-inspiring. 

Not only is Sandfall Interactive working to craft a turn-based combat system that injects some momentum into battle with real-time reaction mechanics, they’ve also made the six playable characters on the Expedition that they’ve said are incredibly customizable. With extensive skill trees and hundreds of unlockable passive abilities, the studio wants players to be able to experiment with a number of playstyles. In fact, Broche encourages players to make some “crazy combos” of skills and equipment, and genuinely hopes that players find new ways to “break the game” and make it their own.

Expedition 33’s turn-based combat really catches my eye as someone who sometimes gets overwhelmed and overstimulated by real-time combat (smashing buttons for the two combos I remember in the moment and hoping for the best is usually my strategy). From the glimpses of combat that have been revealed so far, it looks like there’s a combination of QTE triggers, paused moments to select a character’s action, and the ability for real-time reactions that should make the combat accessible to players of different skill levels.

The more I learn about Expedition 33, from the gameplay itself to the care that went into crafting it, the more I can’t wait to play it. This may be Sandfall Interactive’s first game, but they are already a studio to keep an eye on, and I, for one, cannot wait to go on this adventure with them when the game is released on April 24 for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC.

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