Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – First Impression

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has blown me away! My expectations were through the roof, and how can it still blow me away with how awesome it is? Such a heartbreaking but beautiful story.

This is just a short impression for now as I’m only 3,5h into the story, but I’m already heartbroken and amazed by everything. The story is quite sad at the beginning. It has been a long time since I cried this hard in a video game (looking at you, Final Fantasy 10 in 2002!), but there it was around the middle and the ending, you had time to bond with the characters. The more impressive it is, I cried so hard with the story of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, with only 30 minutes into the game. They do such a fantastic job with world-building and character-building. It is just so impressive.

They also do a fantastic job with the tutorial. There are snippets of the tutorial here and there, and in a menu, you can find those again if you need a refresh on something. However, it doesn’t feel like you’re on this leash during the tutorial. You can already explore the world, talk to people, and soak in the story. The story and your emotional bonding with the game are at the forefront of everything.

The only negative thing I have experienced so far is how much trouble my computer has running this beautiful gem. However, that is totally on me, it turns out my 8-year-old PC is totally underspecced for this wonderful creation. It is impressive that it runs already, it just gets stuck on a loading screen once every 1,5h or so, and I saw 1 time a blue Windows crash screen, which was a bit scary. But again.. after checking the specs.. it turns out my computer is not even close to the specs listed on Steam. I saw on Steam that someone else was having problems with their ultrawide monitor and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but I have no problems at all with my ultrawide monitor in combination with this game.

I’m so shocked at how this game can still blow me away. I have been hyped for this game for such a long time, as it reminds me of the best RPG I have played, Lost Odyssey. Normally, being this hyped and expecting so much, results in disappointment, as nothing can live up to such high standards, but that is not the case this time. I’m even more hyped now than before I started the game.

I’m all for achievement hunting, as you guys know if you read more of my reviews, and I hope to update this review later with more information about that… However, I can also see myself letting go of hunting the achievements and just enjoy the story and the beauty of this game. Did that back in the day with Lost Odyssey as well, and enjoyed the game so much more when I wasn’t worried about the achievements. (Yes, I was already an achievement hunter back then as well). I think that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has missable achievements, as I got an achievement for beating up a Mime in the prologue which I think is missable. However, the game warns you when you’re about to leave an area and can’t return.

This “short impression” was much longer than I thought I could tell you yet. However, my main advice is: Don’t look up too much, just play this gem, and it will likely blow you away!

This review for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was written on 24 April 2025, based on the current Steam version of the game which has 55 achievements at the time of writing this review. This information can be outdated, for example, when the developer adds or removes achievements or releases (new) DLC.