I may as well finish the year with a bang.
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past year, you've probably heard of the latest and greatest turn based RPG that's taking the gaming world by storm. It seems that these games are popping up every year now, something I absolutely love to see. It was less than 10 years ago that the general consensus was that these games were all but dead, made all but obsolete by bigger, better open world and action games that allowed for a more "true" role playing experience. I'm not going to get into that now, because I have strong feelings about that, but it feels like it was the mindset of the gaming community at large for the entirety of the 7th and majority of the 8th console generations. Console RPGs were all but dead, relegated to a niche genre for weirdos full of doe eyed chibis and unnecessary fan service. The genre that seemed to spawn new IPs left and right was all the sudden focused on a few core series, Tales, Trails, Persona, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. The latter series seemed to do everything in its power to move away from its turn based roots, becoming nigh unrecognizable for many long time fans.
But a few years ago, that seemed to change. More and more developers, both big and small, seemed ready to start taking chances on traditional RPGs again. Perhaps more importantly, gamers started absolutely eating them up. From old school inspired indie titles like Chained Echoes and Sea of Stars to big budget remakes/remasters of Star Ocean and Dragon Quest to efforts from major developers like Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Metaphor: RE Fantazio, RPGs are cool again. For all the buzz those titles generated, it's been a long time since I've seen an RPG generate hype quite like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Developed by French studio Sandfall and published by Kepler Interactive, E33 seems to sit square in the middle of the aforementioned indie and big budget titles. I'm not going to get into the whole "what is an indie" debate right now, that's a different discussion for a different day. But the bottom line is E33 has become a phenomenon that absolutely cleaned up at every major gaming award show. It may not have kickstarted this RPG revival, but its absolute hijacking of the gaming discourse confirms that the genre is back in a big, big way.
So of course, I had to give E33 a shot. As more and more new turn based RPGs hit the market, I find my interest in modern games has grown exponentially. I have been a fan of the genre my whole life, so when a title generates as much buzz as this one does, I take notice. Of course, this does present a few problems for me. Because the games I review are usually decades old, I typically don't take great pains to avoid spoilers. That isn't the case here, E33 hasn't even been out a year yet, so I want this review to have few, if any, spoilers. The analysis and discussion of the story might come off as a little bare bones, but I think it's essential that I don't blow the game for those who haven't experienced it yet. Because believe me, E33 is an experience, one that anyone with a passing interest in the genre should check out. However, that does lead me to the next issue I am going to have in reviewing it. Because, as I think I've made clear, the hype this game has generated has been completely and utterly absurd. As such, my expectations were sky high going into this, so high that I'm not sure any game ever could have met them. Does it deserve a lot of the hype it has received? Definitely. Should we be pumping the brakes on the "best game of all time" talk? Probably. But before I can say that definitively, we actually need to talk about the game. As is customary, we will look at the story and characters this week, before moving onto the gameplay, and eventual score, next week.
E33 puts you in the shoes of Gustave, a young inventor in the city of Lumiere. Lumiere is a broken and depressed city, torn in half by an event called the cracking 77 years before the start of the game. With the cracking came an entity called the Paintress, a creature that Lumier's denizens live in constant fear of. Each year, the Paintress awakens from her slumber to paint a number, counting down each time, atop her monolith. Why is this so terrifying? Well, anyone older than the painted number is doomed to something called the "gommage." Essentially, this means they straight up disappear from existence, never to be seen again. While they live in great fear of this, the Lumierians have made the best of it, holding an annual festival in its, for lack of a better term, honor. The game begins on the day of the Paintress' awakening, with her set to paint the next number...33. For Gustave, and many of his close friends, this means they are officially on the clock. And it also means they are ready to set out on their expedition.
You see, the Lumierians haven't just accepted this status quo and resigned themselves to an inevitable death. Each year, those set to gommage take part in an expedition, a trip to the Paintress' continent to attempt to take her down. No one has ever returned from one of these expeditions (at least not in the lifetime of anyone that's left), but each year, they leave trails and traces to help "those who come after" get just a little bit further in their quest to break the cycle of death. I guess it's logical, that's probably what I would do, or at least I think so. I mean, it's better to die trying than just disappear having done nothing, right? Gustave has been tabbed as the leader of Expedition 33 and he believes his new invention, the Lumina Converter, will finally be the final piece of the puzzle.
With the device in his hand (or more accurately as his hand), he and the expeditioners set out for the continent, with both hopes of success and understanding of the fact that they have most likely left Lumiere for the last time. Despite some turbulence, the boat trip to the continent goes relatively well, with most of the group making landfall on the continent. There, they find a landscape unlike anything they could have ever imagined in the broken down Lumiere, they also find, very slight spoiler here, a man dressed in an expeditioner's uniform. This man looks largely unspectacular for a citizen of Lumiere aside from one major difference...he appears to be about 50 or 60 years old. Gustave and his friends are shocked to see this and as they collectively wonder aloud how he managed to avoid the gommage...well, that's where we will stop with the spoilers and the events of the game begin in earnest.
This is one of the more interesting plots I have seen in an RPG in quite a while, it's a simple and effective premise that does an excellent job in keeping the game's story grounded. Many RPGs, especially modern ones try a little bit too hard to come up with a plot that's so "unique" or "different" that it ends up creating a convoluted mess that they can't write their way out of. This isn't the first time a video game has explored how humans deal with impossible circumstances and unavoidable death, but it might be the best one. How Lumiere's citizens, both expeditioners and otherwise, do this is a major focal point here and it really allows for deeper exploration into a topic that is incredibly relatable to just about any of us. I also applaud E33 for telling its story in an elevated way without coming off as pretentious. Not going to lie, my biases were in full effect when I heard "indie RPG by a French studio," a thought this game was going to take itself entirely too seriously. Make no mistake, E33 is a deadly serious game, but it doesn't insist upon itself like so many examples of these kinds of games do.
The story does start out with a fairly singular focus, find Paintress, kill Paintress, save world. The game keeps you on that path for the majority of the main story's runtime, dropping subtle hints here and there might not be as clear cut as they seem. E33 has quite a few twists and turns, but most of them don't really manifest themselves until the last quarter or so of the game. This wasn't due to rushed storytelling or developer oversight, as is so often the case when that happens. Here, it was a very intentional narrative choice, one that I definitely appreciated. I know some people dislike this kind of storytelling and I agree it can be absolutely miserable if it's not done well. But it is here, largely because the core plot means there is always something at stake, even if that something is very simple. While it may not be overly complex, this might be some of the best storytelling I've ever experienced in a game, it's up there with Nier:Automata, a game I reviewed a few years ago. I might have to hand E33 the crown in this regard, Nier smacked of the pretention I alluded to earlier in the review while this game did not. It's hard to put into words the difference, but the best way I can explain it is that Nier: Automata felt more like Yoko Taro trying to show everyone how quirky he was and that he reads Nietzsche, while E33 came off as a truly heartfelt story that was incredibly meaningful to the Sandfall team.
You could really feel how personal this was to the folks at Sandfall, especially once the aforementioned plot twists finally did hit. For better or worse, the story dives into a quite a few other topics beyond just the whole "meaning of life when you have limited time" narrative once the story opens up. Some more potentially small spoilers here, but E33 eventually expands to topics like the pitfalls and complexities of family relationships, dealing with and moving past grief, perception and reality and the attachment of creators to their creations. The latter topic is definitely a major theme here, one that's through lines become apparent once the the plot twists start hitting. Again, you could really feel the love Sandfall had for the world and characters it created. I have seen some mixed opinions about this part of the story, but as someone that creates a lot of content, I found it very relatable. When you create something, no matter what it is, you tend to become incredibly attached to it and I think Sandfall really wanted to drive home the fact that they were attached to E33's world and characters.
Speaking of the characters, E33s cast is fairly strong, though I didn't find this crew quite as amazing as some are making them out to be. For better or worse, the plot does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to their motivations. They may all have different interests, but at the end of the day they all have the same goal for the same primary reason: they don't want to vanish next year. While there are quite a few characters with major roles in the story, the core group is relatively small. The aforementioned Gustave takes on something of a leadership role, particularly for Maelle, a girl who he has essentially raised for most of her life. Maelle's parents had a child in their late 20s, something very uncommon in Lumiere for obvious reasons. Gustave has been looking out for her since they gommaged, so she can't bear to see him leave. Thus, she decides to join him on the expedition despite being only 16. Lune is the group's resident expert on pictos, which are essential for helping expeditioners defeat the Paintress. Sciel is a blunt, matter-of-fact farmer who keeps the party grounded while the enigmatic Verso is deadly focused on the task at hand, though it does feel like he is keeping secrets from the party. The Paintress is more of an ominous presence than an immediate threat, but the game does have a direct antagonist that is incredibly strong. Even mentioning their name would constitute a spoiler, so I'm not going to do that, and you will have to be happy with a "trust me, bro."
It's a good group that I found myself very attached to, though they did feel kind of flat at points. There are points where you can perform sidequests to learn more about your crew, but those don't become available until much later in the game. Honestly, the thing I think helped me really connect with the characters was the voice acting. E33 has some of the best voice acting I've ever heard and it's a legit candidate for the absolute best. There was a reason why the majority of the cast was nominated for insane amounts of awards, all deservingly so. These folks truly embraced their roles and delivered top-notch performances, something I think really elevated the cast. It might even be the best part of the game.
If the voice acting wasn't E33's strong suit, the art style may very well be. I will say, the actual graphical quality is just okay, the relatively low budget manifested itself here more than anywhere else. But this art style is absolutely bonkers, it's one of the most unique looking games I've ever seen. Have you ever seen the movie "Amelie?" Imagine that, but mixed with Fallout and a lot of hallucinogens. If Sea of Stars was the most unique looking 2D game I've ever played, this might take the cake for 3D titles. I will say, it was a little weird at first and the random objects floating around kind of felt odd. But this does end up tying back to the story and it starts to make more sense the further you go. The Paintress' continent feels absolutely otherworldly, with all sorts of bizarre colors and uncanny locales. It manages to be bright and colorful while never abandoning the bleak atmosphere of what may very well be a hopeless expedition. You know how in Final Fantasy everyone still looks pretty and has perfect hair no matter how many battles they fight or dungeons the enter? Yeah, not the case here. Characters faces are covered with dirt and scars, their clothes are ragged and they all actually look they are roughing it in an unfamiliar wilderness. Again, I don't want to say to much, but just know that E33 looks like no other game I've seen before. The French influence was on full display here and again shows how personal the world was for its creators.
And the music? Absolutely incredible. Each track does a perfect job of conveying the exact emotion it's supposed to, whether it's hope, fear, sadness or anything in between. This isn't a small soundtrack, their are 154 unique tracks without a weak one among them. The soundtrack was composed by a gentleman named Lorien Testard...who had never composed music for a video game before this. In fact, the lead developers found him on Soundcloud. Looks like he's going to be getting more work in the future. It's hard to put into words, but each track perfectly fits where it is played and meshes with the gameplay as well as the atmosphere. I highly recommend checking it out, even if you have yet to play the game. If you were on the fence about playing it, this may change your mind.
So, I think it's safe to say E33 did a pretty damn good job telling a compelling story and crafting a unique world. Not bad for a bunch of former Ubisoft employees and a budget of (allegedly) $10 million. It may have had a low budget, but this game felt far from cheap. It's one thing to make a technically good game, or even a great one, but it's not every day when you get a title so heartfelt. There is a lot to like about E33, especially when it comes to its story, presentation and soundtrack. But alas, this isn't a movie, we still have gameplay to discuss. And as for that...well, let's keep the "no spoilers" vibe going and get back to it next week.
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past year, you've probably heard of the latest and greatest turn based RPG that's taking the gaming world by storm. It seems that these games are popping up every year now, something I absolutely love to see. It was less than 10 years ago that the general consensus was that these games were all but dead, made all but obsolete by bigger, better open world and action games that allowed for a more "true" role playing experience. I'm not going to get into that now, because I have strong feelings about that, but it feels like it was the mindset of the gaming community at large for the entirety of the 7th and majority of the 8th console generations. Console RPGs were all but dead, relegated to a niche genre for weirdos full of doe eyed chibis and unnecessary fan service. The genre that seemed to spawn new IPs left and right was all the sudden focused on a few core series, Tales, Trails, Persona, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. The latter series seemed to do everything in its power to move away from its turn based roots, becoming nigh unrecognizable for many long time fans.
But a few years ago, that seemed to change. More and more developers, both big and small, seemed ready to start taking chances on traditional RPGs again. Perhaps more importantly, gamers started absolutely eating them up. From old school inspired indie titles like Chained Echoes and Sea of Stars to big budget remakes/remasters of Star Ocean and Dragon Quest to efforts from major developers like Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Metaphor: RE Fantazio, RPGs are cool again. For all the buzz those titles generated, it's been a long time since I've seen an RPG generate hype quite like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Developed by French studio Sandfall and published by Kepler Interactive, E33 seems to sit square in the middle of the aforementioned indie and big budget titles. I'm not going to get into the whole "what is an indie" debate right now, that's a different discussion for a different day. But the bottom line is E33 has become a phenomenon that absolutely cleaned up at every major gaming award show. It may not have kickstarted this RPG revival, but its absolute hijacking of the gaming discourse confirms that the genre is back in a big, big way.
So of course, I had to give E33 a shot. As more and more new turn based RPGs hit the market, I find my interest in modern games has grown exponentially. I have been a fan of the genre my whole life, so when a title generates as much buzz as this one does, I take notice. Of course, this does present a few problems for me. Because the games I review are usually decades old, I typically don't take great pains to avoid spoilers. That isn't the case here, E33 hasn't even been out a year yet, so I want this review to have few, if any, spoilers. The analysis and discussion of the story might come off as a little bare bones, but I think it's essential that I don't blow the game for those who haven't experienced it yet. Because believe me, E33 is an experience, one that anyone with a passing interest in the genre should check out. However, that does lead me to the next issue I am going to have in reviewing it. Because, as I think I've made clear, the hype this game has generated has been completely and utterly absurd. As such, my expectations were sky high going into this, so high that I'm not sure any game ever could have met them. Does it deserve a lot of the hype it has received? Definitely. Should we be pumping the brakes on the "best game of all time" talk? Probably. But before I can say that definitively, we actually need to talk about the game. As is customary, we will look at the story and characters this week, before moving onto the gameplay, and eventual score, next week.
E33 puts you in the shoes of Gustave, a young inventor in the city of Lumiere. Lumiere is a broken and depressed city, torn in half by an event called the cracking 77 years before the start of the game. With the cracking came an entity called the Paintress, a creature that Lumier's denizens live in constant fear of. Each year, the Paintress awakens from her slumber to paint a number, counting down each time, atop her monolith. Why is this so terrifying? Well, anyone older than the painted number is doomed to something called the "gommage." Essentially, this means they straight up disappear from existence, never to be seen again. While they live in great fear of this, the Lumierians have made the best of it, holding an annual festival in its, for lack of a better term, honor. The game begins on the day of the Paintress' awakening, with her set to paint the next number...33. For Gustave, and many of his close friends, this means they are officially on the clock. And it also means they are ready to set out on their expedition.
You see, the Lumierians haven't just accepted this status quo and resigned themselves to an inevitable death. Each year, those set to gommage take part in an expedition, a trip to the Paintress' continent to attempt to take her down. No one has ever returned from one of these expeditions (at least not in the lifetime of anyone that's left), but each year, they leave trails and traces to help "those who come after" get just a little bit further in their quest to break the cycle of death. I guess it's logical, that's probably what I would do, or at least I think so. I mean, it's better to die trying than just disappear having done nothing, right? Gustave has been tabbed as the leader of Expedition 33 and he believes his new invention, the Lumina Converter, will finally be the final piece of the puzzle.
With the device in his hand (or more accurately as his hand), he and the expeditioners set out for the continent, with both hopes of success and understanding of the fact that they have most likely left Lumiere for the last time. Despite some turbulence, the boat trip to the continent goes relatively well, with most of the group making landfall on the continent. There, they find a landscape unlike anything they could have ever imagined in the broken down Lumiere, they also find, very slight spoiler here, a man dressed in an expeditioner's uniform. This man looks largely unspectacular for a citizen of Lumiere aside from one major difference...he appears to be about 50 or 60 years old. Gustave and his friends are shocked to see this and as they collectively wonder aloud how he managed to avoid the gommage...well, that's where we will stop with the spoilers and the events of the game begin in earnest.
This is one of the more interesting plots I have seen in an RPG in quite a while, it's a simple and effective premise that does an excellent job in keeping the game's story grounded. Many RPGs, especially modern ones try a little bit too hard to come up with a plot that's so "unique" or "different" that it ends up creating a convoluted mess that they can't write their way out of. This isn't the first time a video game has explored how humans deal with impossible circumstances and unavoidable death, but it might be the best one. How Lumiere's citizens, both expeditioners and otherwise, do this is a major focal point here and it really allows for deeper exploration into a topic that is incredibly relatable to just about any of us. I also applaud E33 for telling its story in an elevated way without coming off as pretentious. Not going to lie, my biases were in full effect when I heard "indie RPG by a French studio," a thought this game was going to take itself entirely too seriously. Make no mistake, E33 is a deadly serious game, but it doesn't insist upon itself like so many examples of these kinds of games do.
The story does start out with a fairly singular focus, find Paintress, kill Paintress, save world. The game keeps you on that path for the majority of the main story's runtime, dropping subtle hints here and there might not be as clear cut as they seem. E33 has quite a few twists and turns, but most of them don't really manifest themselves until the last quarter or so of the game. This wasn't due to rushed storytelling or developer oversight, as is so often the case when that happens. Here, it was a very intentional narrative choice, one that I definitely appreciated. I know some people dislike this kind of storytelling and I agree it can be absolutely miserable if it's not done well. But it is here, largely because the core plot means there is always something at stake, even if that something is very simple. While it may not be overly complex, this might be some of the best storytelling I've ever experienced in a game, it's up there with Nier:Automata, a game I reviewed a few years ago. I might have to hand E33 the crown in this regard, Nier smacked of the pretention I alluded to earlier in the review while this game did not. It's hard to put into words the difference, but the best way I can explain it is that Nier: Automata felt more like Yoko Taro trying to show everyone how quirky he was and that he reads Nietzsche, while E33 came off as a truly heartfelt story that was incredibly meaningful to the Sandfall team.
You could really feel how personal this was to the folks at Sandfall, especially once the aforementioned plot twists finally did hit. For better or worse, the story dives into a quite a few other topics beyond just the whole "meaning of life when you have limited time" narrative once the story opens up. Some more potentially small spoilers here, but E33 eventually expands to topics like the pitfalls and complexities of family relationships, dealing with and moving past grief, perception and reality and the attachment of creators to their creations. The latter topic is definitely a major theme here, one that's through lines become apparent once the the plot twists start hitting. Again, you could really feel the love Sandfall had for the world and characters it created. I have seen some mixed opinions about this part of the story, but as someone that creates a lot of content, I found it very relatable. When you create something, no matter what it is, you tend to become incredibly attached to it and I think Sandfall really wanted to drive home the fact that they were attached to E33's world and characters.
Speaking of the characters, E33s cast is fairly strong, though I didn't find this crew quite as amazing as some are making them out to be. For better or worse, the plot does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to their motivations. They may all have different interests, but at the end of the day they all have the same goal for the same primary reason: they don't want to vanish next year. While there are quite a few characters with major roles in the story, the core group is relatively small. The aforementioned Gustave takes on something of a leadership role, particularly for Maelle, a girl who he has essentially raised for most of her life. Maelle's parents had a child in their late 20s, something very uncommon in Lumiere for obvious reasons. Gustave has been looking out for her since they gommaged, so she can't bear to see him leave. Thus, she decides to join him on the expedition despite being only 16. Lune is the group's resident expert on pictos, which are essential for helping expeditioners defeat the Paintress. Sciel is a blunt, matter-of-fact farmer who keeps the party grounded while the enigmatic Verso is deadly focused on the task at hand, though it does feel like he is keeping secrets from the party. The Paintress is more of an ominous presence than an immediate threat, but the game does have a direct antagonist that is incredibly strong. Even mentioning their name would constitute a spoiler, so I'm not going to do that, and you will have to be happy with a "trust me, bro."
It's a good group that I found myself very attached to, though they did feel kind of flat at points. There are points where you can perform sidequests to learn more about your crew, but those don't become available until much later in the game. Honestly, the thing I think helped me really connect with the characters was the voice acting. E33 has some of the best voice acting I've ever heard and it's a legit candidate for the absolute best. There was a reason why the majority of the cast was nominated for insane amounts of awards, all deservingly so. These folks truly embraced their roles and delivered top-notch performances, something I think really elevated the cast. It might even be the best part of the game.
If the voice acting wasn't E33's strong suit, the art style may very well be. I will say, the actual graphical quality is just okay, the relatively low budget manifested itself here more than anywhere else. But this art style is absolutely bonkers, it's one of the most unique looking games I've ever seen. Have you ever seen the movie "Amelie?" Imagine that, but mixed with Fallout and a lot of hallucinogens. If Sea of Stars was the most unique looking 2D game I've ever played, this might take the cake for 3D titles. I will say, it was a little weird at first and the random objects floating around kind of felt odd. But this does end up tying back to the story and it starts to make more sense the further you go. The Paintress' continent feels absolutely otherworldly, with all sorts of bizarre colors and uncanny locales. It manages to be bright and colorful while never abandoning the bleak atmosphere of what may very well be a hopeless expedition. You know how in Final Fantasy everyone still looks pretty and has perfect hair no matter how many battles they fight or dungeons the enter? Yeah, not the case here. Characters faces are covered with dirt and scars, their clothes are ragged and they all actually look they are roughing it in an unfamiliar wilderness. Again, I don't want to say to much, but just know that E33 looks like no other game I've seen before. The French influence was on full display here and again shows how personal the world was for its creators.
And the music? Absolutely incredible. Each track does a perfect job of conveying the exact emotion it's supposed to, whether it's hope, fear, sadness or anything in between. This isn't a small soundtrack, their are 154 unique tracks without a weak one among them. The soundtrack was composed by a gentleman named Lorien Testard...who had never composed music for a video game before this. In fact, the lead developers found him on Soundcloud. Looks like he's going to be getting more work in the future. It's hard to put into words, but each track perfectly fits where it is played and meshes with the gameplay as well as the atmosphere. I highly recommend checking it out, even if you have yet to play the game. If you were on the fence about playing it, this may change your mind.
So, I think it's safe to say E33 did a pretty damn good job telling a compelling story and crafting a unique world. Not bad for a bunch of former Ubisoft employees and a budget of (allegedly) $10 million. It may have had a low budget, but this game felt far from cheap. It's one thing to make a technically good game, or even a great one, but it's not every day when you get a title so heartfelt. There is a lot to like about E33, especially when it comes to its story, presentation and soundtrack. But alas, this isn't a movie, we still have gameplay to discuss. And as for that...well, let's keep the "no spoilers" vibe going and get back to it next week.
Comments
Post a Comment