Yon the 1990s, turn-based RPGs were unstoppable. From Pokémon to the multi-million-selling PlayStation Final Fantasy games, there was nothing cooler than beating blocky beasts through drop-down menus. Then came the new millennium. As computing power flourished and Western games gained popularity, traditional Japanese role-playing games slowly but surely fell out of fashion.
“What Final Fantasy did before (a more realistic, grounded version of the turn-based genre) no one is doing now. And that’s where we want to be,” says Guillaume Broche, CEO of Sandfall Interactive and creative director of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Citing the 2007 Xbox 360 classic Lost Odyssey as the last truly high-budget turn-based RPG, the former Ubisoft employee founded a studio with the mission of advancing the genre.
The result is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The name is a baffling mouthful, but this ambitious French epic is inspired by the 20th century French belle époque and surrealist painters. A lavishly rendered group of adventurers move through a world that shimmers with a dreamlike quality, from a Little Mermaid-style underwater kingdom to grandiose gothic mansions.
It’s not just the setting and aesthetics that separate Expedition 33 from its peers, but also its fast and fluid combat. “I’m a little burned out on turn-based RPGs, because I’ve played too many of them,” Broche shrugs. “So for players like me, we wanted to make sure turn-based battles felt more interactive and different, that they required skill and offered something new.”
Each attack requires a successful timed button press. Dodges and parries are performed in real time during enemy attacks, and successful parries and evades restore HP and allow for counterattacks. Jumping is introduced halfway through our demo, adding an extra layer of dynamism as each party member moves out of the way of incoming attacks.
“The belle époque and art deco aspects are really present everywhere,” says Broche, “from the costumes to the decor and the environments. “We wanted to bring that aesthetic as deep as possible into every aspect of the game.”
While the developers are staying tight-lipped about specific plot details, the plot centers on an expedition team that only has one year left to live. Every year, a mysterious painter paints a new number on a distant tower and everyone of that age disappears into ashes. Seeking answers, the group ventures to find and kill the painter, discovering the lifeless bodies of the expeditions that preceded them.
“The tone of the story, the writing, and the characters we’ve developed are darker than traditional JRPGs,” says Broche. “(Games like) Sea of Stars and Octopath Traveler are what I would call love letters, because they remind you of the old days. We don’t consider ourselves a love letter at all. “We obviously took inspiration from it, but in terms of art style, presentation and gameplay we took a different approach.”
The high fidelity and somber tone are reminiscent of the aforementioned Lost Odyssey, an impressive feat for a game created by only 30 people. While the dull scenes shown so far have left me scratching my head, there’s an irresistible style and dynamism to this world. If you have even a passing interest in the genre, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a must-see.