Latest news with #Gustave
Evening Standard
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Evening Standard
Ready player one! The best games of 2025 so far, from Doom to Split Fiction
Clair Obscur has already been hailed as the best title of the year, and for good reason: it's a massive, ambitious fantasy RPG that sticks the landing. Developed by French studio Sandfall, it's set in the land of Lumiere: a place where every year, a goddess called the Paintress marks down a number. Everybody who happens to be that age then dies in an explosion of petals. Naturally, this has to stop, and soon enough leading man Gustave is leading an expedition to defeat her once and for all. The studio has been open about the fact that this is intended to be a tribute to Japanese games, and it shows: there's a lot of Final Fantasy in its DNA, from the turn-based combat to the melodramatic story that unfolds as you spend more time with your companions. The game itself is pleasingly slim - only 35 hours long - but the combat is exceptional and the world dense with secrets to uncover.
New Indian Express
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a review
If you were told that there were only a few precious decades left in this world — and you could either try the impossible and attempt to stop it, or accept your fate and enjoy your last few years here, what would you do? Now this isn't some sobering outlook on climate change, but the actual premise of 'Clair Obscur: Expedition 33'. To answer my own question, I would want to try to stop it, even if there's only an incredibly small chance of my succeeding. And that's probably why I love the game so much. I'll admit the lore of 'Clair Obscur' sounds a bit ridiculous when I describe it in a few short sentences, but you've got to give it a shot anyway, ok? Because it has one of the most riveting plotlines I've seen in a video game recently. You see, a French town called Lumiere seems to be the only piece of land inhabited by humans, after a catastrophic event occurred exactly 67 years ago. Note the date. This is important. Every year since then, a mysterious number hovers in the sky in shining light (that's clair obscur in French), like a Lotto call out from hell. What it means is this: everyone above the age of the number would all perish during this now annual event called the 'gommage'. And so, every year, a group of expeditioners who fall under the age category go on a courageous quest, to try and attack the entity behind the fatal 'gommage' before they too perish. They haven't succeeded yet. In the game, we follow 'Expedition 33'. Which is actually the 67th expedition. Will they make it? Will they be the expedition that defeats the evil 'paintress' that slowly eats up the only humans left? Well, it's in your hands now. The actual gameplay has little to do with the story, and I've never played anything quite like it. I've played turn-based games, and I've tried souls-like games. This game is a combination of both. It combines real-time elements within the turn-based gameplay. Imagine Pokémon, but without the cute monsters. It's much darker. No, darker than what you're imagining — think Cthulhu and Dark Souls-inspired graphics. That's more like it. Now imagine that the enemy you face has five arms, two swords, and is a gigantic faceless beast with spikes and thorns for skin. It comes at you with a flaming sword, swinging it. Act fast! You have to avoid its killing blows — dodge, or if you are confident, parry. Too late now, you missed your chance. You are now burned and stunned. You lose 50 HP and can't attack in the next turn. You might as well read more about the game. Since we follow an Expedition, the game involves playing as a small team of people. The team grows in skill as the Expedition makes it deeper into the mainland where the 'Paintress' lives. Skills can be modified in checkpoints and the character menus. They consist of actions, 'Lumina' (or special skill upgrades), passive 'Pictos', weapons with elemental abilities, and the character's own unique strengths. Gustave is undoubtedly the most powerful character when the game starts, but you eventually add new members to the team, and different play styles may persuade you to pick other characters. Let me know when you meet Monoco — he's my favourite playable character. Every time he plays an action, an arbitrary wheel turns, which decides which of his skills will be more powerful during the next turn. The skill and combat mechanics are sort of congealed in a messy way, and it makes it feel more like a deck-building strategy board game than anything else. Character interactions, story, and combat aside, this game is mostly about the vibes. The vibes are excellent. It's gritty, it's gloomy, and it's absolutely beautiful. The music is a constant operatic undertone throughout the entire game, and it deserves an analysis of its own. But the game isn't without its setbacks. One of the more annoying parts of it is the menu; the skill menu isn't super intuitive to use, and I struggled a bit with it initially. But there aren't too many moving parts, and I did get used to it. On occasion, I was also confronted with some strange bugs with optional side bosses. The most irritating gameplay mechanic that I struggled with was movement. The game isn't built for running, turning, and jumping. And it was an absolute struggle to do some of the traversal-based side missions — you'll know what I mean if you encounter these islands called the 'Gestral beaches'. I admit these aren't important, and you should try the game anyway! The game is best played with a controller; don't bother going at it with a keyboard and mouse. It is currently available on Windows, Xbox, and PlayStation. I played this game for free as it comes as part of the Xbox PC Game Pass.
Japan Forward
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Japan Forward
Is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a JRPG?
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been lighting up the gaming world recently, winning big-time approval from critics and fans alike, despite being the very first game from independent developer Sandfall Interactive. People are calling it the best new JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game) in years, a refinement of the template set out by games like Final Fantasy . The twist, of course, being that Clair Obscur is not a Japanese game. Made in France by a team of around 30 developers at Sandfall Interactive, Clair Obscur is helmed by Director Guillaume Broche and several of his fellow ex-Ubisoft colleagues. The game draws heavy inspiration from classic JRPGs like Final Fantasy and Persona , hidden gems such as Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon , and Japanese action titles like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice . Gustave and Lune begin their quest to slay the Paintress in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The result is a game that blends turn-based combat with action in a gorgeous fantasy world. Yet, while it is every bit as high-concept and fantastical as the games that inspired it, Clair Obscur manages to avoid much of the bloat that has crept into those series over the decades. It delivers an immersive world and a relatable story about a band of young adventurers on a quest for freedom over tyranny, told over a relatively compact 30 to 40 hours. Clair Obscur is set in a dark fantasy world where, for the past 67 years, the inhabitants of the island of Lumière have perished one age group at a time. Each year, they fall victim to a mystical sorceress known as the Paintress, who has been counting down from age 100, reaching 33 this year. Now aged 32 and facing their own demise next year, stoic expeditioner Gustave and his peers undertake a voyage dangereux to destroy the Paintress so that future generations may live. The game was released on April 24, receiving a critic score of 92% on Metacritic and a user score of 9.7, making it one of the most highly acclaimed games of all time. IGN gave it a 9/10 score, writing, "Wearing its inspirations on its sleeve, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 paints itself into the pantheon of great RPGs with a brilliant combat system and a gripping, harrowing story." Clair Obscur's deep and complex battle system is a hybrid of classic turn-based commands and skill-based action. Our writer at IGN Japan gave it a slightly lower score of 7/10, saying, "While I was hooked by its combat system, the story's sudden plot twist felt forced. Although this was hard to ignore, it is undeniable that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an appealing game that delivers a strong message." IGN France, meanwhile, gave it a perfect 10/10, labelling it "a sumptuous and captivating work of art that never forgets its status as a game, offering rich and exhilarating gameplay." Within 12 days, it had sold two million copies, plus an undisclosed number of additional players on Xbox Games Pass. Michael Douse, the publishing director at Larian Studios, whose own RPG Baldur's Gate 3 was a smash hit in 2023, estimated on his X (Twitter) account that the game will end up selling at least six million copies, and maybe up to ten million – huge numbers for a lower-budget independent game. I hope now word of mouth is in control it can reach its potential. and I say that in support of the developers and their incredible achievement. It has the potential to reach a conservative 6, at least. Could top 8-10. — Very AFK (@Cromwelp) May 6, 2025 For comparison, the most recent Final Fantasy game, 2024's Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth , also scored 92% with critics but 8.9 with users, while the latest mainline game in the series, 2023's Final Fantasy XVI , scored 87% and 8.4. Despite these being excellent and well-made games, sales in the series appear to be in decline. Publisher Square Enix reported that FFXVI sold three million units in its first week, but has been noticeably reticent to announce official numbers for Rebirth , suggesting they are low. This is less than previous games, with 2016's FFXV selling five million copies on its first day, the fastest-selling game in the series to date, eventually reaching at least ten million. Rebirth 's 2020 predecessor, a FFVII remake, sold 3.5 million in three days and finally hit around seven million. The budgets to make each of these games were likely much, much higher than for Clair Obscur . Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, the second in a trilogy of remakes of Square Enix's classic RPG, was met with critical praise but apparently disappointing sales. That's not to pick on Final Fantasy or Square Enix: JRPGs are a niche genre in gaming. An important, storied, and beloved niche – but a niche nonetheless. Which makes Clair Obscur 's crossover success all the more impressive. Sandfall Interactive's game has sparked fresh debate about what the term JRPG really means. After all, if the "J" stands for "Japanese", should it only apply to games made in Japan? Or any game with the characteristics of a JRPG? What even are the characteristics of a JRPG? In fact, the term JRPG has had its controversies over the years. In February 2023, Final Fantasy XVI producer and veteran developer Naoki Yoshida told YouTube channel Skill Up that he found the term offensive. Clair Obscur has won high praise for its painterly art style and moving story. Yoshida commented, "For us as developers, the first time we heard it, it was like a discriminatory term, as though we were being made fun of for creating these games. And so for some developers, the term JRPG can be something that will maybe trigger bad feelings because of what it was in the past. It wasn't a compliment to a lot of developers in Japan. We understand that recently, JRPG has better connotations and it's being used as a positive, but we still remember the time when it was used as a negative." The term was coined at some point in the late 1980s or early 90s, with the first confirmed online usage made on a web forum in 1992, and was used to differentiate between RPG games from Japan and the West. As Yoshida pointed out, it was mostly used by gamers and media outside of Japan. I've personally never considered it a derogatory term, but I can understand how someone in Yoshida's position may find it othering. These days, we tend to expect a JRPG to cast the player as a specific protagonist to experience a set story, whereas Western RPGs will usually have players create their own character and co-author the story as they play. We also tend to expect a turn-based combat system and anime-influenced visual design and characters. 2023's Sea of Stars was a homage to classic Japanese RPGs, despite being made in Canada But of course, early Japanese RPG developers were themselves heavily influenced by Western games such as the early-80s Wizardry series from America, just as some of today's Western developers grew up with JRPGs. The lines have blurred accordingly, with games like 2023's Sea of Stars being considered a JRPG despite being made in Canada. While Clair Obscur does pay homage to the best of the JRPG genre, it also does a great job of honoring its French roots. The game's dialogue is available in French or English, with a stellar voice cast in both, and even in English, it is unafraid to slip in plenty of French terms. When the game's characters face erasure at the hands of the Paintress, their bodies disintegrate into petals that flutter on the wind, a process named the Gommage – a French word meaning to exfoliate and erase. And as you play, Gustave's friends mutter expletives in French, with a well-timed "Merde!" reminding you of their origins. Gustave dressed in an outfit simply titled Baguette. The setting itself is a fantasy take on France's pre-WWI Belle Époque period, a distinctly French visual style that is striking. And you can even dress Gustave, Lune, Maelle, and their amis in a stereotypically French costume comprising a striped T-shirt, beret, and freshly baked baguette slung across their backs, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the development team's culture. French President Emmanuel Macron even praised Clair Obscur in an Instagram post, calling it "a shining example of French audacity and creativity." IGN recently published a video titled The 25 Best JRPGs of All Time, in which it gave the editorial team's favorites, including titles like Chrono Trigger , Persona 5 Royal , and Final Fantasy X . In some ways, I was actually a little surprised that all the games in IGN's best JRPGs list were indeed from Japan. Our team at IGN Japan gave our own thoughts on the list during an episode of our video podcast Shaberisugi Gamer a few days later, drawing a lively debate in the comments from our viewers. As for me, I'm steadily working my way through Clair Obscur and loving every minute of it. I often struggle to play modern RPGs as the time commitment is so extreme, as many games require around 60-80 hours to beat, so the fact that Clair Obscur offers a fascinating story and hugely engaging combat system within a relatively tight package appeals to me. Gustave and friends on their perilous journey. As a British pop-culture journalist based in Japan for 19 years, I've always enjoyed cross-pollination of culture, and for me, the erosion (or gommage ) of boundaries is always welcome. So the idea of a JRPG made outside of Japan didn't seem strange to me until the conversation blew up around Clair Obscur . I hope you'll try the game and see what you think! Author: Daniel Robson
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has Charlie Cox and it knows how to use him
Every Friday, A.V. Club staffers kick off the weekend by taking a look at the world of gaming, diving in to the ideas that underpin the hobby we love with a bit of Game Theory. We'll sound off in the space above, and invite you to respond down in the comments, telling us what you're playing this weekend, and what theories it's got you kicking around. The first thing that struck me when I finally got around, this week, to loading up Clair Obscur: Expedition 33—the new and extremely French turn-based RPG from Sandfall Interactive that everyone you know online has been losing their minds over since late April—was that the acting didn't suck. This isn't entirely surprising, given that the game stars Daredevil charisma machine Charlie Cox, and features supporting performances from the likes of Jennifer 'Shadowheart from Baldur's Gate 3' English. But that non-suckage is enough of a rarity in the gaming space—reminder that I'm fresh off Doom: The Dark Ages and The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, neither of which ever get past 'serviceable' in this department—that it still made me sit up and go 'Hey, holy shit.' And it's not just the performances, although the performances (including the facial acting and animation) are very good. (Especially as the game winds its way through its stunningly confident prologue chapter, slowly revealing the mystery of why all these very pretty, very young French people seem so hideously sad.) I was also struck by the rhythm of the opening conversation between Cox's Gustave and his young ward Maelle, the two of them talking over and interrupting each other in ways that felt more like natural speech than the stilted 'I say my line, now you say your line' manner of so much video game dialogue. Editing is a deeply underrated skill in the world of games, and Sandfall clearly gets it in a way that even big-money studios that drop stacks of cash on big-name actors often don't. And Clair Obscur needs that boost as it busts out of the gate, giving everything a grounding of human recognizability as it slowly spools out its high-concept premise: An ongoing apocalypse in which everyone over a certain age is suddenly, magically killed, with the lethal number dropping every year. It could be the stuff of pulpy melodrama, as Gustave reunites with his lover Sophie on the day she's set to have her 'Gommage.' But the game's writing, and its performances, dovetail so nicely that the whole mad concept becomes entirely believable. (Sandfall is also careful to capture the inevitable culture that arises from this society-altering threat, from the webs of foster families and orphanages that spawn as whole generations of children are orphaned, to the ways those who are about to die pile their furniture on the street so that survivors can take their pick.) Cox is especially mesmerizing as Gustave, as the character forces himself to adopt a series of fragile, brave faces in the face of a grief that is no less painful for having been perfectly predictable. I'm not that far into Clair Obscur, having only just recently cleared its first major boss fight, about four hours in. But I've already gotten the sense that it's a game that might be frontloading a big portion of its impact, with that incredibly dense and detailed prologue giving way to much quieter, less focused exploration once the titular Expedition actually begins. This could be a fatal flaw. I've played plenty of games where their first chapters—i.e., the bits that get completed first, and demoed a million times as devs do the work of convincing people that what they've made works—were clearly polished to perfection, only to have later acts feel like an afterthought. But it's here where the commitment to emotionally mature storytelling, to using actors and animators and editors to create characters who actually feel like people, pays huge dividends. Even if the game loses some of its early complexity once you're actually running around and beating up Geometry Monsters every few minutes (and as the cast gets, uh, reduced in the opening minutes of its first full chapter), the memory and weight of those opening minutes lingers. 'Why does what I'm doing matter?' is one of those big narrative hurdles any game story writer has to tackle. Few games have answered it as definitively as Clair Obscur does in those first few scenes, and understanding that effectively staging and recording those moments, not just as bits of a game, but as dramatic scenes, is a huge reason for that success. More from A.V. Club The Last Of Us finally eulogizes Joel Miller Mr. Fielder goes to Washington in this week's The Rehearsal Joe Biden diagnosed with "aggressive" form of prostate cancer
The Hindu
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33' game review
There are two types of gamers: those who are obsessed with turn-based Japanese Role-Playing Games (JRPGs), and those who steer well clear. Today, a close friend of mine, firmly in the latter camp, surprised me by saying they have been drawn into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the latest turn-based, Final Fantasy-inspired JRPG from a passionate team of French developers. A game so deeply rooted in JRPG tradition, yet since its launch, it has been turning heads, blurring genre boundaries, and drawing in even the most hesitant of players. Given its rapid virality, it would be easy to dismiss Expedition 33 as just another flash in the pan. But even a cursory glance at the trailers and previews reveals a labour of love, one that pulls you into its mysterious world with a compelling story, inspired and challenging combat, incredible characters, and arguably one of the most memorable narratives in recent gaming history. Every year, the surviving humans gather for Gommage, a grim ritual in which a towering figure known only as The Paintress paints numbers in the sky. Each number erases everyone of that age from existence. That is where Expedition 33 begins: the number 33 is painted, and the protagonist Gustave is forced to watch his loved ones turn to roses and ash. With heavy hearts, the expedition sets out to end The Paintress, but the journey is anything but simple. Gustave and his companions must traverse a world of eerie beauty and unspeakable horror, one richly inspired by French art. The game begins in a deceptively light-hearted way, reminiscent of Chrono Trigger, with you meeting a friend at a fair. But things take a dark turn quickly when the number 33 is painted. From that moment, the game has you emotionally invested in Gustave's story. Expedition 33 excels at keeping you at the heart of its narrative filled with grief, hope, and quiet resilience. Despite the odds, its cast clings to hope as they march toward a conclusion that is as satisfying as it is weighty. The Paintress may paint death, but the developers have painted a storytelling masterpiece. The battle system is a love letter to the best elements of turn-based RPGs. It blends Final Fantasy's materia systems, Persona 5's sleek UI, Mario RPG's timing-based dodges, and even Sekiro's parries into a combat system that is both reactive and precise. The thrill of landing a perfect parry or using a character's unique mechanics to gain the upper hand is immensely rewarding. However, there are moments when the game throws overwhelming multi-hitting enemies at you, occasionally bordering on unfair, forcing you to truly master the mechanics. Each character has a distinct combat style, ranging from complex to beginner-friendly. For example, Lune generates elemental 'stains' based on her attacks, and chaining specific combinations boosts her damage output. Meanwhile, Maelle, a fan favourite, employs a more straightforward fencing stance system to deal powerful blows. The diverse cast allows players to experiment with different builds before settling on the party that best suits their playstyle. Clair Obscur Expedition 33 Publisher: Sandfall Interactive, Sandfall S.A.S. Developer: Kepler Interactive Price: ₹4,999 on Playstation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, PC Forget Steampunk, Expedition 33 embraces the elegance of the belle époque, a stunning yet ironically chosen aesthetic for a game centred on mass erasure. The world design is exquisite, clearly influenced by French art, history, and architecture. Every environment feels like a painting worthy of framing. Despite its harrowing plot, the game provides moments of peace, allowing players to explore, discover, and engage in well-crafted side quests that genuinely add value. Visually, Expedition 33 is astonishing. Sandfall Interactive — a relatively small team, many of whom are ex-Ubisoft — have delivered a game that feels AAA in every respect. At a time when even major releases like Star Wars Outlaws launch in rough shape, Expedition 33 stands as a testament to what passion and vision can achieve. While big studios often scoff at turn-based systems in favour of formulaic design, Expedition 33 proves there is a hungry audience for innovation within tradition. As Final Fantasy continues to drift away from its roots, perhaps this game will inspire a return to form. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a triumphant reminder that the JRPG is not only alive but thriving. If you are after a game that is beautiful, intricate, and emotionally resonant, look no further. It is only May, and yet this already feels like a strong contender for Game of the Year, especially with Grand Theft Auto VI sitting out 2025.
