Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG from French studio Sandfall Interactive, inspired by Belle Époque France. You lead an expedition with a single goal: destroy the Paintress before she paints another number. The game came out on April 24, 2025 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and it won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025. We’ll tell you what it does well, where it stumbles and whether it’s for you.
Review
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
The debut from a small French studio that critics and players rank among the best RPGs in years. Turn-based combat with real-time dodges and parries, a strong story and a great soundtrack. Points off for the missing minimap and fights that demand precise timing.
- Genre
- Turn-based RPG
- Developer
- Sandfall Interactive (published by Kepler Interactive)
- Release
- April 24, 2025
- Platforms
- PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
- Price
- €49.99 / $49.99 on Steam, Deluxe Edition €59.99 / $59.99
- Players
- Single player
What works
- Turn-based combat brought to life with real-time dodges, parries and aiming
- The story, characters and performances
- A soundtrack that won an award at The Game Awards
- Voice acting in English and French, subtitles in 20 languages
What doesn’t
- No minimap, so it’s easy to get lost in locations
- If you don’t master dodging and parrying, fights wipe you out fast
- Learning enemy attacks can be trial and error
- Some critics find the menus confusing
Rated on player and critic reception as of October 21, 2026 · Steam 95.2% positive (281,349 reviews) · Metacritic 92 (PS5, 86 reviews)
What Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is about
Once a year the Paintress wakes up and paints a number on her monolith. Everyone older than that turns to smoke and fades away. The number drops every year, and tomorrow she’ll paint 33. So Expedition 33 sets out on its final mission: destroy the Paintress so she can never paint death again. You play as Gustave, Maelle and their companions, and along the way you find out what happened to the expeditions before yours.
You explore a world inspired by Belle Époque France across a large world map in the style of classic JRPGs and in smaller locations that work like dungeons. The map hides optional places that you can only reach with new ways of travelling. The game is single player only and runs on Unreal Engine 5.
Turn-based fights where you have to react
Combat is turn-based, but you don’t just wait out the enemy’s turn. You can dodge or parry attacks in real time, and a perfect parry triggers a counterattack. Dodging has a wider window, parrying demands precise timing. You aim at enemy weak points, and each character has their own mechanic, for example Monoco, who learns skills from defeated enemies. You build your team through gear, stats, skills and character synergies.
What critics praise and what bothers players
On Metacritic the PS5 version has 92 from 86 reviews, PC 91 from 60 and Xbox Series X 91. Users give it 9.4. At The Game Awards 2025 it won nine awards, including Game of the Year, Best Narrative, Best RPG and Best Score and Music, and Jennifer English won Best Performance for her role as Maelle. IGN writes that the studio understood why classic RPGs are special and made the borrowed pieces its own. GamesRadar+ calls it an outstanding debut with a distinctly French identity.
The most common complaint is the missing minimap: IGN, GamesRadar+ and PCGamesN all write that it’s easy to get lost in the winding paths of its locations. PCGamesN also criticizes a confusing UI and weaker level design. The second complaint is the combat. PC Gamer gave it 70 and writes that you have to dodge or parry most attacks or get melted in a handful of turns, and the trial-and-error memorization frustrated it. GamesRadar+ compares the hard-won battles to Sekiro and notes that even the lowest difficulty won’t let you skip the defensive mechanics. IGN also admits that first attempts can be frustrating. Players love it: on Steam it has 95.2% positive out of 281,349 reviews, rated Overwhelmingly Positive.
How long Expedition 33 lasts
IGN finished the main story with a decent amount of side content in about 35 hours, and PCGamesN talks about a 30-hour adventure on the default difficulty. According to IGN there’s no filler on the critical path. If you’re mainly there for the story, you can switch to an easier difficulty.
Price and platforms
On Steam Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 costs €49.99 or $49.99, and the Deluxe Edition with cosmetic outfits €59.99 or $59.99 (regular prices as of October 21, 2026). The game is on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and it launched straight into Game Pass on Xbox and PC. On PC you need at least a GTX 1060 6 GB, 8 GB of RAM and 55 GB on an SSD. An RTX 3060 Ti and 16 GB of RAM are recommended for 1080p at 60 fps on high settings.
Voice acting is in English and French, and the game has interface and subtitles in 20 languages, including German, Spanish, Polish and Czech.
Who Expedition 33 is for (and who it isn’t)
It’s for you if you love story-driven RPGs and turn-based combat but want to actually do something during it. If you enjoyed Persona or Final Fantasy, you get a strong story, an excellent soundtrack and fights where your reflexes decide.
Skip it if you can’t stand memorizing enemy attacks and repeated attempts. Fights don’t work without dodging and parrying, even on lower difficulty. And if you like to navigate by a minimap, you’ll sometimes wander around in circles.
Verdict: Is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 worth it?
Yes. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the best RPGs in years, and its Game of the Year award was no accident. We’re giving it 9/10.
Critics and players agree on the story, the music and a combat system that brings tension back to turn-based fights. For €49.99 you get roughly 30 to 35 hours of main story. Points come off for the missing minimap, confusing menus and fights that won’t let you through without precise timing.
Playing Expedition 33? More reviews of the biggest games are in our reviews section. You can find people to talk about the game with on the GamersTogether Discord.
FAQ
We’re giving it 9 out of 10. The score is based on player and critic reception: on Steam the game has 95.2% positive out of 281,349 reviews, and the PS5 version has 92 on Metacritic from 86 reviews. It won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025.
€49.99 or $49.99 on Steam, and the Deluxe Edition with outfits €59.99 or $59.99 (regular prices as of October 21, 2026). It launched straight into Game Pass on Xbox and PC.
According to IGN and PCGamesN the main story takes roughly 30 to 35 hours, longer with side content.
On the default difficulty you need to master dodging and parrying, otherwise enemies beat you quickly. An easier difficulty helps, but it doesn’t remove the defensive mechanics entirely.
No. It’s a single-player game.
PC (Steam and other stores), PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
This review is based on player ratings on Steam and critic scores on Metacritic, on reviews from IGN, GamesRadar+, PC Gamer and PCGamesN, on The Game Awards 2025 results as reported by Windows Central and TechRadar, and on official information from Sandfall Interactive and Kepler Interactive. Information verified on October 21, 2026. More reviews are in our reviews section.