You can find the full-length video of this review on Everett Zarnick’s Youtube Channel. This article replaces the original review that came before it.
Clair Obscur’s dominance at the Game Awards has come and gone, and while there isn’t much surprise to be had in their sweep, it does irk my sensibilities to know that they pulled best RPG out from literally any other game.
Expedition 33’s greatest attribute is the fact that it’s a video game made by artists, and not a title made by video game devs who were trying to make art. This has resulted in the final product being something that modern gamers just aren’t used to: great music and an original plot line.
Unfortunately, this has also resulted in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s gameplay being ultra-safe; lacking complex interplay between party members, interesting mechanics, and a meaningful dialogue between characters for 80% of what the player will be doing (loading into combat.)
As it happens, players didn’t really care. They were blown away by the fantastic music, the interesting visuals, and the teen-aged romance shneeb shnobbery cosplaying as a plot-line dressed in fake moral dilemma (Verso’s ending all the way, go team red.)
I found myself always wanting while playing Clair Obscure. Wanting more interesting mechanics. Wanting something other than parrying to matter in combat. Wanting more dialogue to take place in the game naturally as opposed to in camp, where I spent hours upon hours just starting at dialogue boxes and watching cut scenes that were varied in quality.
I think by the end of the whole ordeal, I was just happy to get my three playthroughs out of the way so that I could get started on my video, and that took far more time than I had originally anticipated.
There’s a lot that I’ve said about this game, and there’s a lot that other people have decried as my being unfair to an “indie” studio that’s only made one game so far. Ultimately, I think Clair Obscur is an overrated gem that will be mostly forgotten as time goes on.
But then, I’ve been wrong before, and I’ll be wrong again.
GLHF,
-E
