Spoilers ahead!
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a deeply reflective game that I recommend playing at least once for yourself. It handles topics with such deep nuance and care that, by the end, everything is laid clear.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG with real-time mechanics developed by the French studio Sandfall Interactive and published by Kepler Interactive. It heavily features a Belle Époque setting, taking frequent inspiration from French influences.
Once a year, the Paintress wakes and paints upon her monolith. Paints her cursed number and everyone past that age turns to smoke and fades away.
Year by year, that number ticks down and more of us are erased. Tomorrow she’ll wake and paint “33.” Tomorrow we depart on our final mission - Destroy the Paintress, so she can never paint death again.
We are Expedition 33.
The game at its core poses you a question about grief, family trauma, and healing. It leaves it up to you to decide, ultimately holding up a mirror that reflects your perspective of grief through the choices you make.
There seems to be two layers to this game when I think about it: there’s the game on the surface, where we talk about:
- the surface-level plot of the Expeditioners and their quest to end the suffering of the people of Lumiére
- the combat mechanics of the game — turn-based RPG with a points (AP) system, skill trees, and unique character playstyles
On a deeper note, there exists the lore of the game; the true “why”s behind the game and the world(s) revolving it:
- the true nature of Lumiére and its world, about the Paintress and her role in the world
- the quasi-supernatural family of Verso, Alicia, and Renoir
- how different people can have vastly different methods to cope with a major loss
The endgame
Spoilers ahead!
Endgame spoilers below. You’ve been warned!
The endgame sets up a deeply human depiction of the Dessendre family, now collapsed years after the fire incident that claimed the life of Verso Dessendre. Each family member represents an immense version of pain, and they each tackle the loss in their own ways:
- Aline dives into Verso’s Canvas and becomes the Paintress, running away from the pain of the real world and Painting a copy of her family — one seemingly unaffected by pain. She represents bargaining; in her grief, she attempts to lessen it by painting a new reality at the cost of herself in the real one.
- Renoir dives into Verso’s Canvas in an effort to save his wife, who spends ever more time lost in her grief within it. Where Aline paints within the Canvas to commemorate memory, Renoir erases in a desperate bid to push her out of it. Renoir roots his pain in reality, forcing others to realise that hiding in fantasy is not the way to be.
- Alicia mirrors Aline; being the last object of sentiment with a slice of Verso’s real soul embedded within, Alicia takes the side that the Canvas must be preserved at all costs, especially given the fact that all the lives in the Canvas are full lives deserving respect of being left alone to live.
The endings of the game are devastating, leaving you the choice between Alicia — who believes the Canvas must be preserved at all costs — or Painted Verso — who believes that, to move on, one has to let go. Though the game frames one choice in a more positive light than the other, both are valid and extremely human ways to cope with loss.
I’ve come to agree with the perspective that the way the endings are presented sets up a “good” and “bad” ending. Maelle’s ending ends in a jumpscare while Verso’s ends with a heartbreaking wave of a goodbye. It’s still not as clear-cut, though, because each path still shows the flipside of your action: the inevitable revival or farewell of Lumière and its residents.
The masterpiece of a soundtrack
It’s crazy to think that the composer for E33’s soundtrack was picked up by Sandfall Interactive through SoundCloud of all places; if that doesn’t show just how indie E33’s development was, I’m not sure what else to say.
The soundtrack has such beautiful pieces that altogether fit to tell the story of E33. And they’re masterful about it, too: everything has its place in the audio and it all eventually comes together. Might be the same as many others, but my favourite include:
- Alicia and Maelle — sister tracks that play at the start and end of the game, and you’ll soon realise just how incredibly smart it is; they truly are sister tracks even in the literal sense. If you make it to the end of the game, you’ll learn that Alicia Dessendre and Maelle are one of the same, but separated by a painted boundary; the Alicia who had been painted over became Maelle, but the real Alicia is still there. The tracks reflect that: Alicia starts the game in Occitan, a language we perceive as French-ish but not, then ends with Maelle, in clear French and understandable. It’s almost like they’re the same track, just one understood and the other not (exactly like Alicia and Maelle). You can tell I’m too excited because of how long this paragraph is.
- Aline — a calm but wistful song that perfectly resembles Aline Dessendre. She’s lost so much, and she’s coping with the grief of that in her own way; to jump into the Canvas and paint another reality to run away from her own.
- Une vie à t’aimer — goes full hard in French, and it basically tells you the entire story if your ears are perked enough and you understand French (I don’t). The song is an argument with two voices: Aline doubling down her position to preserve and remain in the Canvas, and Renoir who pleads with her with the opinion that salvation lies in letting go. I don’t even know which to describe my favourite part of the song as, and I’ll still listen to the entire 11 minutes (which, if you consider the other “Une vie” songs all add up to 33 minutes, btw) and remain awe-struck throughout.
- Une vie à rêver — took me a while to get around to liking it, but ultimately this stuck because the melody feels so deeply touching. If the other two “Une vie” tracks represent the two endings of the game, this one represents the third that never existed; one where a middle ground was reached, and maybe one where the dream world can continue at the same time of the Dessendre family’s healing. The choral echo before moving melodies and hard rock is a nice blend to listen too — makes it easy to listen to the full 11 minutes!