Over the last few weeks, I’ve enjoyed playing Sandfall Interactive’s maiden game, Clair Obscur Expedition 33, which has swept the gaming world. Packed with gorgeous visuals, an emotional story, and a mesmerizing soundtrack, the internet cannot stop talking about the game.
However, it is a turn-based RPG, akin to the JRPGs, which means you don’t do a lot of cool real-time combat. Despite that, Clair Obscur Expedition 33 has captivated many players, including me, through its gameplay.
In fact, there is something perfect about it that pushes me to keep playing through the game. And the reason for that is possibly two of the most straightforward additions to the staple Turn-based RPG system: real-time combat inclusions and build variety.
Clair Obscur’s inclusion of Parry and Dodge feels like the genre’s natural evolution
Ideally, a traditional turn-based game generally leaves the opponent’s combat turns on what I like to call the luck factor. If your luck prevails, your party might dodge the attacks. Otherwise, it’s a big sayonara to your health bar and potentially your entire party.
Of course, there are systems at play, like the luck stat, which generally increases your party’s chances of dodging the enemy attacks or increasing the chances of critical damage. Still, ultimately, you don’t have any meaningful way of interacting with the combat in real-time.
One of the key additions to the gameplay experience of Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is its dodge and parry mechanics, which make the experience a little more forgiving. So now, you react to your enemies’ attacks by dodging or parrying.
It even goes the extra mile of rewarding your parrying skills by letting you or your party perform counter damage. This in itself is something which you won’t see much in turn-based RPGs.
While I generally love playing turn-based RPGs in my free time, sometimes those unforgiving party wipes can be disheartening. Especially when you realize you don’t have any meaningful way to prevent that from happening. So, it feels fulfilling when the game chooses to avoid that to a certain degree.
Sure, it isn’t handing you a candy. Parry and dodge timings are strict, and you will fumble often. Ultimately, that is how the game is balanced. And it just feels like a cherry on top of a beautiful cake. Or a Croissant if I have to speak like that.
The build variety shines through
While dodge and parry make the gameplay fulfilling, Clair Obscur Expedition 33 has some of the finest build variety choices.
Pictos are these small trinkets you find throughout the world, which essentially add extra stats to your party character. Some give increased base damage, while others replenish your character’s health per attack. This is a game-changer, as it works on top of your party’s skill levels.
I’ve made a build where every fire attack by Lune is a guaranteed burn damage, while each base attack also replenishes some of her health. Similarly, I’ve assigned a build to Gustave, where each attack from his guns gives a higher chance of causing critical and burn damage to the enemies.
Things like these open up the game so that two encounters might not be similar for every player. Frankly, that really scratches my brain, as I want to explore the world more, fight more enemies, and ultimately make that broken build.
Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 has become my comfort game
The brand-new turn-based RPG isn’t the first game to do real-time interaction in a turn-based environment. One of my favorite TRPGs, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, also does it where you position your party member during their turn to deal more damage.
However, the entire mechanics where you can steamroll through an encounter by being good at dodging and parrying, and making a great Picto build, helps Clair Obscur Expedition 33 to shine through, cementing it as my top three TRPGs, right behind Chrono Trigger and Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne.
And I feel this is one of the reasons why the game is receiving its well-deserved accolades. The choice of players to unconventionally play an otherwise standard TRPG is frankly enticing. And I cannot wait to see what Sandfall Interactive has in store for their next game.
