Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

TL;DR: If you're considering this game, stop right now, buy and play it. You will thank yourself later for making a great choice. I saw a presentation of this game a few years ago on an Xbox showcase and I waited impatiently for launch. To say that I had high expectations is an understatement. Suffice it to say, this is very risky approach to anything, and especially a new game, from a new and unproven studio. I can happily say that all my expectations were met and then some. Most games are either very artistic but don't play all that great, or are fun to play but you would not necessarily compare them to works of Da Vinci or Chopin. This game is both a great game and a true work of art. Everything about this title is inspired. The music alone is fantastic. When combined with art style, story, world and creature design, acting, and tough but fun gameplay, it puts most other games to shame. To think that something like this came out of a new, small development studio (with a lot of help from contracted artists of course) is almost unbelievable. If you haven't already, look up some documents about how this game came together. This story is in itself a great entertainment (I recommend Skill Up's video). I played it on Game Pass when it launched and loved it there. I though of buying on Steam but I try to avoid that, if possible and much prefer GOG. When I saw it today on the home page, I just had to have it. Now I'm thinking if I should maybe put another 100h in...

L'ambiance mélancolique me fait penser à ce que j'ai ressenti en jouant à FFX ou Shadow Hearts 2, et je n'ai pas ressenti un tel plaisir à jouer les combats d'un JRPG depuis Chronotrigger. Trop rares sont les JRPG qui donnent vraiment le sentiment de jouer en équipe et pas avec juste des personnages juxstaposés. J'aime particulièrement le dosage de la difficulté : on peut battre des boss vraiment costauds sans avoir à farmer trop les niveaux ; si l'on arrive à bien gérer les parades ou les esquives, on peut compenser une faiblesse de niveau. Ce qui rapproche vraiment de la sensation typique des animés japonais où les héros vainquent un ennemi surpuissant. Le combat final contre la Peintresse m'a bien secoué émotionnellement. Malgré plus de 30 ans de jeux derrière moi, je pense que ce jeu restera dans mon coeur comme un des meilleurs jeux auxquels j'ai pu jouer tant tous ses aspects (musique, scénographie, sound design, etc.) sont bien faits et complémentaires les uns avec les autres. On verra avec le temps mais pour le moment il pourrait être mon top 1. Les + : + L'exploration et la découverte du monde + Les décors, véritables tableaux, sont magnifiques + La musique, les sons + Les combats, les animations + L'histoire et les scènes cinématiques + L'animation faciale des dialogues et les dialogues Je l'ai par une autre plateforme mais je vais probablement l'acheter une 2e fois sur GOG d'ici peu.

One of the best soundtracks, beautiful environments, tight gameplay, and an *amazing* story. Truely, just a lot of fun. Watch a video to see if the combat is a turn off and if it's not then do yourself a favor and play this game.

While there are small things that bother, such as small performance issues, this is a must play in my book!

I admit it, I do not own a GOG version and I will not buy this game again for its full price. I have it on Steam and I spent with the game several nice dozens hours. I will eventually buy it on GOG - my favorite place actually - but maybe like for 50% off. Clair Obscur is an unique game when it comes to its dreamy atmosphere and an unique battle system. However being unique does not automatically equal being good, let alone perfect. Clair Obscur is a cinematic game - it relies on cutscenes - however it tries to be sad in every bloody cutscene, in every bloody moment so awfully hard, that sooner or later it will get on your nerves. Yeah, the world ain't a happy place, but why the characters have to act as if the game was a soap opera? Everybody cries, everybody looks sad, everybody has a gloomy look. IMHO it's just too much for its own good. Yeah, Clair Obscur tries hard to be as emotional as it can get whenever it is possible, but it overdoes it. The battle system, cursed yet interesting. IMHO if it is something turn based, it should rely on statistics, or vice versa, if it is action based, players' reflexes should be the main key to success. Clair Obscur wants to mix both worlds together while maintaining both worlds equally important. There had been turn based games when players' input mattered to some degree but it always was just to make the system a bit evolved, or to spice combat up. If you failed, it did not mean the end of the world. One example for all - The Legend of Dragoon. However, if you fail in an action segment in Clair Obscur, it often means death, or a significant damage to tell that real-time actions in a turn-based system aren't just an add-on. If only the action based parts did not have such a significant impact, I would have liked the combat much better. Basically, the atmosphere and the combat are two things I wanted to comment on, because these are two key elements of the game. Otherwise, the game is pretty linear, it has not that much interesting level design, it contains optional superbosses, several awful minigames that feel totally out of the place (really, if your game is not a platformer, why is one of the minigames based on platforming?!) and several not that interesting (and frankly, pretty short) sidequests. But to end on a positive note, the music here is absolutely phenomenal. Easily, one of the best soundtracks ever made for a video game! 83%