Last week, we started our look at Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, one of 2025's most hyped games. E33 has cleaned up at every major gaming awards show, and for good reason. It features a unique and amazing world, a gripping story and spectacular soundtrack that has captivated millions of gamers. All of those things make for a great movie...but this isn't a movie, now is it. Here, we have gameplay to discuss. Did it live up to the high standard set by its narrative? Well, let's see.
It may be French in origin, but E33 plays like a classic, turn-based JRPG. I talked a little bit about this last week, but it was so nice to see a game that played like this, at least a core level, receive the amount of reverence it has. It has the combat, the dungeons, the exploration, the pacing, all the hallmarks of the genre that those of us that grew up in the 90's came to know and love. You have turn based combat, a world map, tons of sidequests, all of the things that made these games so popular back in the day. While I appreciate the callbacks to games of old, none of it matters if it isn't done well. With such a strong narrative, does E33 have the gameplay to match? Well, I will say I had far more problems with the gameplay than I did the story. Not gamebreaking problems by any means, not even close, but issues. Still, it's definitely more good than bad and at the end of the day, it's a general gameplay loop that I absolutely want to see more of.
I want to start by addressing a criticism I've seen about E33, one that gets applied to a lot of games in the RPG genre. This criticism takes a lot of different forms but essentially boils down to "x title's gameplay is not revolutionary or special in any way and thus not good." While there are instances where this can be the case, I largely dislike this criticism, especially when it comes to games that are cultural touchstones. And make no mistake about it, E33 is going to be one of those games. Look, I understand why someone might criticize E33's gameplay for not being "revolutionary," because it kind of isn't.
But to this criticism I have two rebuttals. First, that's kind of the point. A big part of this whole "RPG revival" trend is that developers are making games that are more like old ones, not less. They are making quality of life improvements, sure, but it's been a long times since games were done in this style. There have been so many attempts to reinvent the wheel that the wheel isn't even recognizable anymore. Sometimes this works, and you get an awesome new game. But other times you get a game that's unique and different, but also terrible. E33's gameplay isn't trying to be "revolutionary," it's trying to give gamers what they actually want. Which leads me to my second point: just because something is revolutionary doesn't mean its good. These two things are often conflated in the general gaming discourse and one just doesn't necessarily indicate the other. There are plenty of games that are revolutionary that just aren't very good. Likewise, there is something to be said for executing a proven formula to its full potential. Frankly, most all time classic games probably lean more on the latter than the former.
Like many of the golden age RPGs we grew up with, E33 offers exploration by means of an overworld map. I think I might have been more excited to see this than even the turn-based combat, it's something I never understood the hate for. The continent is a suitably sized map that opens gradually, starting fully linear, then offering the occasional side path before opening up at the end of the game. It's fairly easy to get around, both on foot and with the method of transportation you eventually require. There are plenty of items to collect and enemies to fight, encounters are touch based which I don't love but do understand. You can stray off the path occasionally, with dungeons you might not be ready for providing a danger warning to make sure you know you might be in over your head. I have always felt world maps are the ideal way to explore RPG worlds. Too often, open worlds are filled with fluff and feel almost designed to show off a graphics engine while wasting your time. And I absolutely despise the whole "menu navigation" that became a thing in the 6th and 7th generation. This epidemic infested even some all-time great RPGs and it knocks a few out of my 10s list entirely (Final Fantasy X and Shadow Hearts: Covenant are the biggest offenders). It was really awesome to see a world map, especially one that was so well done and beautiful.
While the overworld exploration was a refreshing return to the genre's roots, the dungeon design was a little less successful. I can't say it's absolutely horrible, but it is very linear. I didn't see it right away, but by the end of the game I definitely started to get Final Fantasy XIII vibes from some of these dungeons. For those not in the know, many people derisively refer to FFXIII as "hallway walking simulator," so that's not good. At the very least, the amazing visuals, incredible sound and the occasional branching path go a long way in making things not feel so linear. Again, the midgame is where things start to drag, the early game is still so exciting and the endgame starts to get more complex. A lot of the midgame dungeons are very underwhelming and there were points where I felt like abandoning the game. I'm glad I didn't, but the thought crossed my mind. This was kind of compounded by the lack of development in the story a little bit as well. I do have to give some credit here as well, the stronger dungeons tend to be really strong, almost to the point that it makes the weaker ones feel worse than they actually are. The final dungeon especially is outstanding, it is a little straight forward, but it perfectly fits the cinematic vibes of the game. The post-game dungeons are also fairly strong, some are mid but most are well designed and appropriately challenging.
Ah yes, post-game content, something E33 has in spades. This is yet another aspect of the game I'm not sure how I truly feel about. On one hand, really strong post-game content is a hallmark of golden era RPGs that I love seeing in modern games. On the other, adding extraneous content is a common issue in modern gaming and I hate to say, I think they went a little overboard here. You can beat the main story of E33 in about 25-30 hours, which I think is a perfectly reasonable amount of time. If anything, it's probably a few hours short of the kind of games to which E33 pays homage. But with the side content here, you are looking at close to 80 or 90 hours. Maybe it's just me, but that always feels long for a game like this. That's especially true when about two thirds of the game is considered "side content." I really feel like they should have found a way to incorporate some of these dungeons into the main story, I think if there were a little more balance between required and optional content it wouldn't have felt so unwieldy. But as it was, too much of the optional dungeons felt more like they were trying to extend playtime than they were to actually create meaningful content.
I will say though, at least most of the side content here involves actual RPG gameplay and not something completely out there. I was very critical of Yakuza: Like a Dragon for having too much of its side content come in the form of minigames, and E33 had far less of an issue in that regard. There were certainly some examples, I absolutely skipped the beaches that become available relatively early in the game. Stuff like this is the epitome of what I talk about when I bring up lousy attempts to "add variety," unnecessary stealth, driving in non driving games, etc. Why am I being asked to do platform jumping in a turn-based RPG? The controls here are not designed for platform jumping (nor should they be) so all it's going to do is lead to frustration. At least they kept it to a minimum here and the only things locked behind it are cosmetics, so it's not nearly as big an issue as it could have been. But it still will prevent me from likely ever 100 percent-ing this game. Full disclosure, I did not do that, I pretty much kept it to the endgame content that had some level of story relevance. I do have to give some credit here as well; those were typically the quests that had actually useful rewards as opposed to just costumes or other extras. I guess at the end of the day, it's better to have too much to do than not enough. But I think they went a little overboard here and it feels like a lot of this stuff should have either been cut or held back for a later update.
Now, we have to talk about the combat, something I have been, for lack of a better term, putting off. I had some issues with the combat, but I need to make sure I am absolutely clear that those issues had nothing to do with the turn-based format. Nothing at all. Again, it was so refreshing to see a title with this kind of core gameplay, especially after all the years of trying to convince us it was obsolete. As mentioned, E33 is a turn-based RPG where you battle with a party of three. You get to see the turn order, FFX style, allowing you to plan out your attacks and see when the enemy is going to strike next. Characters can bank up to nine charges, which can be used for special abilities. The stronger the ability, the more charges it's going to cost. Each of your available characters has their own a special ability that the game rewards you for exploiting. From Maelle's stances to Gustave's charges to Lune's stains, all of the characters feel truly unique and it was fun to experiment with builds and strategies for each of them. The characters all have fairly substantial skill trees and good selections of weapons, which can offer buffs once they are upgraded. Characters can also equip Pictos, which will provide them with additional abilities and buffs. Once learned, these abilities can be equipped permanently provided the character has enough Lumina Points, which are earned by leveling up and finding appropriate items. At its core, it's a fairly simple system that allows for a good amount of customization.
That's all great, but there's just one more major element to the combat we haven't discussed yet: the dodging/parrying system. This may be the biggest differentiator E33 has from more traditional RPGs, it's a system more common to what everyone calls "Soulsborne" titles these days. While it may not be as precise or critical as it is in those kinds of games, the dodging plays a central role in E33. If you would like to avoid enemy attacks, you can simply dodge them to avoid damage. If you would like to counterattack, you can attempt a parry. This will deal boatloads of damage to your foes, but it also requires much stricter timing. In addition, enemies can use attacks that need to be jumped over or prevented with something called a "gradient counter." So basically, you have four different types of defensive moves that you can perform with the correct timing to help protect your party and defeat enemies. Simple in theory, but difficult in practice. And to be honest with you, this completely throws off the balance of the game's combat in a way I couldn't really ignore.
E33 isn't the first time an RPG has required timed button presses for defense. Super Mario RPG did it, as did Breath of Fire. But E33's system presents a twofold problem. The first is that you need to master the timing, at the very least on the dodging, if you want to have any shot at getting any more than a few hours into this game. Your characters can tank one, maybe two attacks before they go down, as enemies hit incredibly hard. In those other games, getting the timing right on a block is more of a bonus than a necessity. But here you are going to die over and over again until you get down the very specific timing for each individual enemy's attacks. And some of these attacks are damn near impossible to time properly, many rely on very subtle visual cues or even audio cues (a problem in and of itself from a design perspective) that the player needs to practice reading over and over again. In many cases, the game's cinematic camera makes this feel actually impossible. This is made even worse because most of the regular enemies have weird patterns or really tough-to-read moves, while bosses tend to have big, grandiose attacks with very clear cues, making them far easier to dodge. This means that in a lot of instances, the mobs are actually more difficult to defeat than bosses. I don't think I need to explain why that's a major problem.
Which leads to the second part of the issue with the system. After you have died to a mob two dozen times, you will have finally pinned down their pattern, allowing you to parry their every move. Once this happens, the games difficulty completely evaporates, and you will start walking through with little resistance. I get it, that's kind of supposed to be how Soulsborne games work. You die to an enemy and finally master its patterns before you move on to the next. But E33 isn't a Soulsborne game, it's a traditional RPG with turn-based combat. Frankly, this isn't really the combat loop a lot of people that play the genre are looking for and, while not totally gamebreaking, it was somewhat off-putting. I did have plenty of fun with the battles, your characters are all so unique and their skills are fun to use, but putting so much stock into the timing-based defense frustrated me to no end. It never felt like the difficulty was just right, the game was either too hard or too easy, never balanced. There were timing cues of offense as well, but these tend to work a little better as they weren't essential or all that difficult to pull off.
There was so much going on with E33 that I could just keep going forever talking about all the little nuances to its gameplay, both bad and good. For me, it's still a tough game to rank, because its hard to separate what the game represents from what the game actually is. The trend it represents gets a 10/10 from me, I want more turn-based RPGs and I want them now. I want more defined characters, I'm tired of being asked to play as an avatar for myself so I can "immerse myself" in the game. I already play as myself every day, I would rather "immerse myself" in a good story than a pointless open world. I want RPGs with world maps and good characters and awesome stories and E33 has all of that. But while the gameplay wasn't bad by any means, it was just missing something for me. Not missing something to the point that I'm going to give it a bad score, more that I just don't quite think it lived up to all the insane hype. But believe me, it certainly lived up to most of it, offering one of gaming's best crafted and executed narratives ever. While I am not going to hop in the driver seat of the "best game ever" train, I will certainly enjoy my trip on the "well deserved game of the year" express, probably somewhere in the dining car eating a baguette.
I know I had plenty of negative to say about E33, but the positive far outweighs it. I'm very much looking forward to the sequel, which I'm sure will have a much bigger budget behind it. I also hope the big guys in the industry take notice, that JRPGs aren't dead, that these games don't need to have anything to do with anime, that they can appeal to both normies and hardcore gamers and that they are worth investing time and money into. While I would advise some tempering of expectations, I can definitively recommend E33 to anyone who grew up playing RPGs like I did. Even if you didn't you might find something to like. Either way, I'm excited to see what kind of lasting impact E33 will leave on the industry. This may end up changing the score long term, but for now:
9.5/10
It may be French in origin, but E33 plays like a classic, turn-based JRPG. I talked a little bit about this last week, but it was so nice to see a game that played like this, at least a core level, receive the amount of reverence it has. It has the combat, the dungeons, the exploration, the pacing, all the hallmarks of the genre that those of us that grew up in the 90's came to know and love. You have turn based combat, a world map, tons of sidequests, all of the things that made these games so popular back in the day. While I appreciate the callbacks to games of old, none of it matters if it isn't done well. With such a strong narrative, does E33 have the gameplay to match? Well, I will say I had far more problems with the gameplay than I did the story. Not gamebreaking problems by any means, not even close, but issues. Still, it's definitely more good than bad and at the end of the day, it's a general gameplay loop that I absolutely want to see more of.
I want to start by addressing a criticism I've seen about E33, one that gets applied to a lot of games in the RPG genre. This criticism takes a lot of different forms but essentially boils down to "x title's gameplay is not revolutionary or special in any way and thus not good." While there are instances where this can be the case, I largely dislike this criticism, especially when it comes to games that are cultural touchstones. And make no mistake about it, E33 is going to be one of those games. Look, I understand why someone might criticize E33's gameplay for not being "revolutionary," because it kind of isn't.
But to this criticism I have two rebuttals. First, that's kind of the point. A big part of this whole "RPG revival" trend is that developers are making games that are more like old ones, not less. They are making quality of life improvements, sure, but it's been a long times since games were done in this style. There have been so many attempts to reinvent the wheel that the wheel isn't even recognizable anymore. Sometimes this works, and you get an awesome new game. But other times you get a game that's unique and different, but also terrible. E33's gameplay isn't trying to be "revolutionary," it's trying to give gamers what they actually want. Which leads me to my second point: just because something is revolutionary doesn't mean its good. These two things are often conflated in the general gaming discourse and one just doesn't necessarily indicate the other. There are plenty of games that are revolutionary that just aren't very good. Likewise, there is something to be said for executing a proven formula to its full potential. Frankly, most all time classic games probably lean more on the latter than the former.
Like many of the golden age RPGs we grew up with, E33 offers exploration by means of an overworld map. I think I might have been more excited to see this than even the turn-based combat, it's something I never understood the hate for. The continent is a suitably sized map that opens gradually, starting fully linear, then offering the occasional side path before opening up at the end of the game. It's fairly easy to get around, both on foot and with the method of transportation you eventually require. There are plenty of items to collect and enemies to fight, encounters are touch based which I don't love but do understand. You can stray off the path occasionally, with dungeons you might not be ready for providing a danger warning to make sure you know you might be in over your head. I have always felt world maps are the ideal way to explore RPG worlds. Too often, open worlds are filled with fluff and feel almost designed to show off a graphics engine while wasting your time. And I absolutely despise the whole "menu navigation" that became a thing in the 6th and 7th generation. This epidemic infested even some all-time great RPGs and it knocks a few out of my 10s list entirely (Final Fantasy X and Shadow Hearts: Covenant are the biggest offenders). It was really awesome to see a world map, especially one that was so well done and beautiful.
While the overworld exploration was a refreshing return to the genre's roots, the dungeon design was a little less successful. I can't say it's absolutely horrible, but it is very linear. I didn't see it right away, but by the end of the game I definitely started to get Final Fantasy XIII vibes from some of these dungeons. For those not in the know, many people derisively refer to FFXIII as "hallway walking simulator," so that's not good. At the very least, the amazing visuals, incredible sound and the occasional branching path go a long way in making things not feel so linear. Again, the midgame is where things start to drag, the early game is still so exciting and the endgame starts to get more complex. A lot of the midgame dungeons are very underwhelming and there were points where I felt like abandoning the game. I'm glad I didn't, but the thought crossed my mind. This was kind of compounded by the lack of development in the story a little bit as well. I do have to give some credit here as well, the stronger dungeons tend to be really strong, almost to the point that it makes the weaker ones feel worse than they actually are. The final dungeon especially is outstanding, it is a little straight forward, but it perfectly fits the cinematic vibes of the game. The post-game dungeons are also fairly strong, some are mid but most are well designed and appropriately challenging.
Ah yes, post-game content, something E33 has in spades. This is yet another aspect of the game I'm not sure how I truly feel about. On one hand, really strong post-game content is a hallmark of golden era RPGs that I love seeing in modern games. On the other, adding extraneous content is a common issue in modern gaming and I hate to say, I think they went a little overboard here. You can beat the main story of E33 in about 25-30 hours, which I think is a perfectly reasonable amount of time. If anything, it's probably a few hours short of the kind of games to which E33 pays homage. But with the side content here, you are looking at close to 80 or 90 hours. Maybe it's just me, but that always feels long for a game like this. That's especially true when about two thirds of the game is considered "side content." I really feel like they should have found a way to incorporate some of these dungeons into the main story, I think if there were a little more balance between required and optional content it wouldn't have felt so unwieldy. But as it was, too much of the optional dungeons felt more like they were trying to extend playtime than they were to actually create meaningful content.
I will say though, at least most of the side content here involves actual RPG gameplay and not something completely out there. I was very critical of Yakuza: Like a Dragon for having too much of its side content come in the form of minigames, and E33 had far less of an issue in that regard. There were certainly some examples, I absolutely skipped the beaches that become available relatively early in the game. Stuff like this is the epitome of what I talk about when I bring up lousy attempts to "add variety," unnecessary stealth, driving in non driving games, etc. Why am I being asked to do platform jumping in a turn-based RPG? The controls here are not designed for platform jumping (nor should they be) so all it's going to do is lead to frustration. At least they kept it to a minimum here and the only things locked behind it are cosmetics, so it's not nearly as big an issue as it could have been. But it still will prevent me from likely ever 100 percent-ing this game. Full disclosure, I did not do that, I pretty much kept it to the endgame content that had some level of story relevance. I do have to give some credit here as well; those were typically the quests that had actually useful rewards as opposed to just costumes or other extras. I guess at the end of the day, it's better to have too much to do than not enough. But I think they went a little overboard here and it feels like a lot of this stuff should have either been cut or held back for a later update.
Now, we have to talk about the combat, something I have been, for lack of a better term, putting off. I had some issues with the combat, but I need to make sure I am absolutely clear that those issues had nothing to do with the turn-based format. Nothing at all. Again, it was so refreshing to see a title with this kind of core gameplay, especially after all the years of trying to convince us it was obsolete. As mentioned, E33 is a turn-based RPG where you battle with a party of three. You get to see the turn order, FFX style, allowing you to plan out your attacks and see when the enemy is going to strike next. Characters can bank up to nine charges, which can be used for special abilities. The stronger the ability, the more charges it's going to cost. Each of your available characters has their own a special ability that the game rewards you for exploiting. From Maelle's stances to Gustave's charges to Lune's stains, all of the characters feel truly unique and it was fun to experiment with builds and strategies for each of them. The characters all have fairly substantial skill trees and good selections of weapons, which can offer buffs once they are upgraded. Characters can also equip Pictos, which will provide them with additional abilities and buffs. Once learned, these abilities can be equipped permanently provided the character has enough Lumina Points, which are earned by leveling up and finding appropriate items. At its core, it's a fairly simple system that allows for a good amount of customization.
That's all great, but there's just one more major element to the combat we haven't discussed yet: the dodging/parrying system. This may be the biggest differentiator E33 has from more traditional RPGs, it's a system more common to what everyone calls "Soulsborne" titles these days. While it may not be as precise or critical as it is in those kinds of games, the dodging plays a central role in E33. If you would like to avoid enemy attacks, you can simply dodge them to avoid damage. If you would like to counterattack, you can attempt a parry. This will deal boatloads of damage to your foes, but it also requires much stricter timing. In addition, enemies can use attacks that need to be jumped over or prevented with something called a "gradient counter." So basically, you have four different types of defensive moves that you can perform with the correct timing to help protect your party and defeat enemies. Simple in theory, but difficult in practice. And to be honest with you, this completely throws off the balance of the game's combat in a way I couldn't really ignore.
E33 isn't the first time an RPG has required timed button presses for defense. Super Mario RPG did it, as did Breath of Fire. But E33's system presents a twofold problem. The first is that you need to master the timing, at the very least on the dodging, if you want to have any shot at getting any more than a few hours into this game. Your characters can tank one, maybe two attacks before they go down, as enemies hit incredibly hard. In those other games, getting the timing right on a block is more of a bonus than a necessity. But here you are going to die over and over again until you get down the very specific timing for each individual enemy's attacks. And some of these attacks are damn near impossible to time properly, many rely on very subtle visual cues or even audio cues (a problem in and of itself from a design perspective) that the player needs to practice reading over and over again. In many cases, the game's cinematic camera makes this feel actually impossible. This is made even worse because most of the regular enemies have weird patterns or really tough-to-read moves, while bosses tend to have big, grandiose attacks with very clear cues, making them far easier to dodge. This means that in a lot of instances, the mobs are actually more difficult to defeat than bosses. I don't think I need to explain why that's a major problem.
Which leads to the second part of the issue with the system. After you have died to a mob two dozen times, you will have finally pinned down their pattern, allowing you to parry their every move. Once this happens, the games difficulty completely evaporates, and you will start walking through with little resistance. I get it, that's kind of supposed to be how Soulsborne games work. You die to an enemy and finally master its patterns before you move on to the next. But E33 isn't a Soulsborne game, it's a traditional RPG with turn-based combat. Frankly, this isn't really the combat loop a lot of people that play the genre are looking for and, while not totally gamebreaking, it was somewhat off-putting. I did have plenty of fun with the battles, your characters are all so unique and their skills are fun to use, but putting so much stock into the timing-based defense frustrated me to no end. It never felt like the difficulty was just right, the game was either too hard or too easy, never balanced. There were timing cues of offense as well, but these tend to work a little better as they weren't essential or all that difficult to pull off.
There was so much going on with E33 that I could just keep going forever talking about all the little nuances to its gameplay, both bad and good. For me, it's still a tough game to rank, because its hard to separate what the game represents from what the game actually is. The trend it represents gets a 10/10 from me, I want more turn-based RPGs and I want them now. I want more defined characters, I'm tired of being asked to play as an avatar for myself so I can "immerse myself" in the game. I already play as myself every day, I would rather "immerse myself" in a good story than a pointless open world. I want RPGs with world maps and good characters and awesome stories and E33 has all of that. But while the gameplay wasn't bad by any means, it was just missing something for me. Not missing something to the point that I'm going to give it a bad score, more that I just don't quite think it lived up to all the insane hype. But believe me, it certainly lived up to most of it, offering one of gaming's best crafted and executed narratives ever. While I am not going to hop in the driver seat of the "best game ever" train, I will certainly enjoy my trip on the "well deserved game of the year" express, probably somewhere in the dining car eating a baguette.
I know I had plenty of negative to say about E33, but the positive far outweighs it. I'm very much looking forward to the sequel, which I'm sure will have a much bigger budget behind it. I also hope the big guys in the industry take notice, that JRPGs aren't dead, that these games don't need to have anything to do with anime, that they can appeal to both normies and hardcore gamers and that they are worth investing time and money into. While I would advise some tempering of expectations, I can definitively recommend E33 to anyone who grew up playing RPGs like I did. Even if you didn't you might find something to like. Either way, I'm excited to see what kind of lasting impact E33 will leave on the industry. This may end up changing the score long term, but for now:
9.5/10
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