I haven’t bothered doing a review this in-depth for a game in a while, but this one deserves it so here we go! For the record I received this product as a birthday gift, which is why I have indicated I got it for free.

I'm running this game on Epic settings at 2k resolution with this setup:

i5-13400K @ 2.50GHz
32GB RAM
Nvidia RTX 4060
Kingston 1TB SSD


Graphics = 10
Sound = 10
Gameplay and Controls = 7
Story = 10
Overall Rating = 10



This is a gorgeous game with a painterly aesthetic that per Sandfall Interactive’s website is described as a mix of fantasy and European “Belle Époque" influences. It is a wide range of everything you can imagine as you explore the different locations of this world: stunningly beautiful, whimsical, and sometimes genuinely unsettling while also being occasionally horrific.

This game was clearly a labor of love, and they did an incredible job of creating a variety of visual themes that work incredibly well within the story. The lighting and color choices throughout really do a great job of setting the game’s tone. It is an excellent mix of fantastical and foreboding that if nothing else, will never leave you bored visually.

On a technical note, at epic graphics settings (everything maxed with all the bells and whistles) even a lowly 4060 was able to play it without any issue. Recommended settings on the store page list a 3060 Ti video card, so I’m guessing that would work as well.


The music in this game is fantastic and manages to fit extremely well with the various environments you encounter. It does throw some curve balls and will occasionally mix in something a little more techno, upbeat jazz or even a little metal into its usually more epic or melodic ballads, but it always seems to work. You even gain access to an old-school record player in your camp and can find songs to play on it scattered throughout the world. Overall, the music is quite charming and fits well with the rest of the game, even when it sometimes strays into the eclectic.

The sound effects are also quite strong. Weapon and magic effects have satisfying audio to accompany them and the aural cues for certain enemy attacks can be helpful in timing your parries and dodges. Furthermore, the sounds you make when you land your timed actions during an attack can be quite satisfying, especially when paired with the visuals.

On to the voice acting, which is also extremely good. Everyone on this cast does a fantastic job of conveying emotions and personality. They really help you get into the story and make the characters live, breathe, and have depth. By time you come to the close of the game, you will feel like you know these characters very well. Actor Jennifer English of Baldur’s Gate 3 fame particularly gives a fantastic performance as Maelle, one of the game’s main Expedition members. A shoutout to Andy Serkis, who masterfully voiced Renoir, is also in order.


And here’s where we hit a little bit of a snag: the one caveat I can give about this game is that you might want to do a little research on YouTube of what combat looks like before you buy it. Because this game basically has a JRPG combat system, it's not going to be for everyone. Let me break it down a bit for you for those unfamiliar:

While you are in combat, each of your characters take a turn attacking using various abilities. Using these abilities will trigger timed actions where you need to hit a specific button on your keyboard or controller. This part is fairly straightforward and as you move through the game you will figure out which abilities are more effective to chain together and how to time them.
As a matter of fact, there is even an accessibility option to automatically trigger the timed actions when your characters attack.

The tricky part here is when your opponents attack: it’s very important as they attack that you either dodge or parry their attacks. This takes good timing, rhythm and precision as sometimes you are assaulted by multiple attacks of varying speed. Even at the easiest difficulty, being unable to counter the enemy’s attack can wipe out your party quickly, especially when you are straying into the more optional (and difficult) areas of the world.

Let me be clear however, even on the main story line encounters you will die until you learn the rhythm, timing and patterns of certain encounters. Again, for the average gamer (like me): you will die. A lot.

A challenging game is fine, but the easy difficulty could really use some tweaking. This kind of combat is not for everyone and that’s fine, but as I will get into, this game has a story that is truly worth experiencing. If the sheer difficulty of combat makes someone avoid or quit the game and miss out on this excellent story, that would be a shame. Here’s hoping they’ll tweak easy difficulty further at some point or perhaps extend at least some of those accessibility options to defense as well as offense.


WARNING: Very mild spoilers here, but nothing you don’t find out from watching a trailer:

Clair Obscure takes place in the ruined city of Lumiere, and looming over it across the water is a great monolith representing a deadly countdown. On the monolith, every year a number is erased, and anyone of that age is erased as well. Every year, an expedition is sent out to try and stop a being called The Paintress, who is behind it all. Or if not to stop her, to help pave the way for the Expedition that comes after.

Your characters are part of Expedition 33, and the story follows the character Gustave as he prepares to set out with his expedition team. Things go from there, which I will leave for you to discover but most of the story focuses on the main expedition and moving forward, with some optional side quests lightly peppered in for those who are interested.

I could write about this story all day, but let me just say it is heavy, but fantastic. This is not a simple, happy-go-lucky expeditionary adventure with fake high stakes and unstoppable heroes. You will watch these characters fight and bleed. You will learn things about them that are sometimes charming and sometimes dark, tragic and full of despair. You will witness moments that are shared between them that will stick with you long after the end credits. The story is so good, that if you throw in sound and graphics, you have a 10/10 game even with the aforementioned combat barriers.


Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 is one of the best RPG’s I have played in my life and it absolutely now ranks among my favorites. The story and characters will live rent free in my head for a long time to come. Not only is Clair an excellent RPG, it is also an abstract but deeply excellent examination of the cycles and stages of grief, often lingering in the sweet temptation of denial, or sometimes even the agonizing liberation of acceptance. But even beyond that, it examines how our grief affects the ones we love and how such grief, left unchecked, can shape the very world around us.