Sandfall Interactive is a French studio that had never released a game before April 24, 2025. Their internal target for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was a Metacritic score around 80. They would have been happy with that, they said. The game ended up at 92 on Metacritic with a user score of 9.5 across over 92,000 reviews, won Best Game at the BAFTAs, and sold over 4.4 million copies despite being available on Game Pass from day one. It is one of the most decorated games of 2025, and a year later it has not been forgotten.
This review is for players who missed it at launch.
What it is
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG set in a world inspired by Belle Époque France — the period of optimism and artistic flourishing that ran from the late 19th century through the start of the First World War. The world of Lumière is governed by a malevolent figure called the Paintress, who wakes once a year and paints a number on a monolith. Everyone of that age turns to smoke and vanishes. Year by year, the number counts down. When the game begins, the number is 33. Protagonist Gustave, 32 years old and with one year to live, joins Expedition 33 — a group assembled for the sole purpose of hunting down and destroying the Paintress before she can paint again.
The combat system blends turn-based strategy with real-time mechanics in a way that feels genuinely new rather than gimmicky. On your turn, you plan: choose actions, manage a shared resource called AP, build synergies between party members. On the enemy’s turn, you react: dodge, parry, or counter incoming attacks with timed button inputs. A successful parry negates damage and generates resource for your next turn. A failed one hurts. The risk-reward calculation at the center of every enemy attack — do I try to parry for the reward, or play it safe? — keeps combat actively engaging rather than passive in the way turn-based combat can sometimes feel.
What the critics said
The consensus across professional reviews is striking for how consistent it is. Metacritic’s Must-Play designation reflects near-universal critical agreement that this is an exceptional game. IGN, GameSpot, Eurogamer, and PC Gamer all rated it among the best RPGs in years. The Metacritic critic review page is notable for the warmth of its language — phrases like “breathtaking debut” and “artistry for the senses” appear across multiple outlets.
The dissenting voices are a minority but worth acknowledging. Some players found the third-act narrative too convoluted, the plot twists more disorienting than earned, and the QTE-heavy combat fatiguing over long sessions. One Steam reviewer called it “a beautiful mess that misses the mark,” criticizing the story’s pacing and what they described as overstuffed mechanics. That view represents perhaps 4% of Steam reviewers — the game holds 96% positive across nearly 100,000 reviews — but it is a genuine perspective on a game that commits hard to its ambitions and does not always stick the landing.
What makes it distinct
The French development context matters more than it might seem. The Belle Époque setting is not a superficial aesthetic choice — it is the conceptual core of a game about beauty, mortality, and cycles of death in a world modeled on a period famous for cultural flourishing just before catastrophic collapse. The soundtrack by Lorien and Olivier Derivière blends period-appropriate instrumentation with modern orchestral elements that shift dynamically during combat. The visual art direction, which renders environments as though they are painted watercolors given three dimensions, is the debut work of a team whose confidence far outstrips their experience.
This is also, notably, a single-player only game with no live-service elements, no battle pass, no microtransactions. In 2025’s release landscape, that is a statement.
Who it is for
Players who enjoyed Final Fantasy XVI, Persona 5, or the more recent Dragon Quest entries will find familiar structural territory in an entirely unfamiliar aesthetic. Players new to JRPGs will find the difficulty settings generous — Story mode significantly reduces the precision required for parries, making the combat accessible without removing its character. The main story runs 30 to 35 hours; completionists can expect 60 hours or more. A New Game+ mode and the post-launch expansion “The 34th” extend it further.
Players who need strong narrative closure or find unreliable storytelling in the third act a dealbreaker should approach with that caveat in mind. The journey is exceptional. The destination is genuinely debated.
The verdict
One of the best RPGs released in years, from a first-time studio that should have no business making something this confident. The combat is inventive, the world is stunning, the emotional core lands more often than not. The third act’s ambitions slightly exceed its execution, and that keeps it from being unqualifiedly perfect. It does not keep it from being essential.
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Developer: Sandfall Interactive / Publisher: Kepler Interactive
Released: April 24, 2025
Metacritic score: 92