In the crowded video-game landscape, it takes real verve and style to stand out. There are a lot of ways for a developer to do this: arresting trailers, beguiling mysteries, the enthusiasm of livestreamers. But consider: What if, instead of all that, a game was just the Frenchest thing you’d ever seen in your goddamn life?
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the first game from the Montpellier-based studio Sandfall Interactive, is a lush tribute to Japanese role-playing games like Final Fantasy and Persona, except, well, French. It immediately steeps you in its Frenchness, introducing you to protagonist Gustave (voiced in English by a tremendously sad Charlie Cox), a deeply melancholic man about to bid farewell to his ex-lover in an alternate Paris bearing the scars of some fantastic disaster. The Eiffel Tower is warped and displaced, the Arc de Triomphe hewn in twain. And everyone is wearing floral garlands because, like Gustave, they are about to say goodbye to a loved one.
In this world, once a year, everyone of a certain age is vanished away à la Thanos snap, an event marked by a somber celebration known as the Gommage (French for “erasing”). The titular Expedition is an annual attempt made by volunteers looking for a way to stop the Gommage from happening again.
In the extravagantly expensive and risky world of video-game development, anything that might potentially limit a game’s audience is carefully considered and often avoided. Thus, while Francophone developers of mainstream games are not uncommon — there are many, from Ubisoft, one of the largest in the world, to smaller but still popular shops like DontNod, makers of Life Is Strange — they rarely center their Frenchness in their games. This has been a net loss, and Clair Obscur demonstrates why; the game’s Belle Époque lens, applied to its dark fantasy world, does tremendous work toward making a very familiar genre feel new.
Role-playing games have long been a vector for cultural exchange. Japanese role-playing games like Dragon Quest descend from the American-Canadian developer Sir-Tech’s 1981 game Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, one of the first successful attempts to translate Dungeons & Dragons–style adventuring to computer games — and exporting its ideas to the world. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest’s unique stylings emerged in large part because they are third-hand expressions of tabletop role-playing games grafted to uniquely colorful characters and melodramatic stories. The Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) is as much of a style of game as it is a descriptor of origin.
There are many variations, but the term usually describes a story-rich game with multiple player characters and turn-based fights that involve choosing your preferred options from a menu. The pleasure comes in accruing said options, which open new strategies to the player, while your characters simultaneously grow as people — a potent, compelling confluence. You can find developers all over the world making games in the JRPG style, like indie hits Chained Echoes (from solo German developer Matthias Linda) or Sea of Stars (hailing from Quebec-based Sabotage Studio). Clair Obscur is in dialogue with this history.
Its story is pure Final Fantasy, luxuriating in its melodrama; its systems come together like a greatest hits album of modern RPG design. Its stylistic flourishes, however, are its own. The game wisely sidesteps lengthy exposition, breezily mentioning new terms and ideas without explaining them, trusting that you’ll figure out all you need to know in due time. In the gap between the player’s initial ignorance and eventual clarity, there’s a little bit of wonder and absurdity.
The game’s villain is called the Paintress, its fantasy nomenclature revolves around light and art — Pictos, Lumina, and Chroma are among the proper nouns you’ll learn here — and its score, from composer Lorien Testard, aspires to the same painterly yearning as the art direction. All told, the game is a phenomenal throwback.
It’s possible to read Clair Obscur as an invitation to keep the conversation going. The game isn’t doing something new, it is doing something old with aplomb, arguing that the market for idiosyncratic RPGs hasn’t evaporated so much as has been abandoned. There’s some truth to this — we used to get games in this style about the fever dreams Chopin had on his deathbed, you know?
The developers of big-budget video games are often proudest of their technical achievements, the dazzling sights and sounds they can render with increasing realism. Clair Obscur is gorgeous to behold, but it is also wonderfully, tangibly French. C’est magnifique, non?
The launch trailer for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 announces the game is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC (Steam, Epic Games Store). Players can join Gustave (Charlie Cox), Maelle (Jennifer English), Monoco (Rich Keeble), Sciel (Shala Nyx), and Lune (Kirsty Rider) on the expedition of a lifetime alongside Esquie (Maxence Carzola), Verso (Ben Starr), and Renoir (Andy Serkis).
Once a year, the Paintress awakens to inscribe her cursed number on the monolith, and everyone of that age vanishes. Each year, the number decreases, erasing more lives. Soon, she will mark “33.” When she does, players will embark on the final mission—to destroy the Paintress and end her deadly cycle for good.
As the game unfolds, players will experience a rich narrative woven with emotional farewells and a quest that challenges the very fabric of fate. With its unique French flair and homage to classic JRPG elements, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 promises to captivate audiences and reignite their love for storytelling in video games.
