At one of the Geoffcons, there was a trailer for a game called Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive). Ben Starr (the biggest VA darling at the moment) was narrating a sober story about the Paintress who paints a painting every year during the gommage. Everyone who is a certain age crumbles into dust while she is painting. And every year, an expedition goes out to find a way to stop her. The game is about Expedition 33, and it’s led by Gustave, voiced by Charlie Cox.
The trailer, which I have included below, was stylish, slick, and full of feeling. People were buzzing about it, but weren’t really sure what it was about. The only thing that people were wary about was the combat–not because of the combat because of all the BIG NUMBERS flashing during the combat. Oh, and it was turn-based, which caused a few eyebrows to raise.
If it’s not apparent by the name, it’s done by a French company, a very small company, who are passionate about the game. The main voice actors are Charlie Cox, Jennifer English, Kirsty Rider, and Ben Starr. Andy Serkis is in it as well. I have only met the first three so far, and they are excellent. Normally, I would play in the language of the game and have English subtitles, but this time, I decided to have the voices in English to make it easier on me. There is a lot of dialogue, and I don’t want to miss it by reading while I’m trying to explore or doing combat.
We learned more about the game. It was a soulslike that was enamored with Sekiro.
Sigh.
Big sigh.
I think I’ve expounded on my dislike of Sekiro‘s strict adherence to the deflect. If this game was going to be at completely reliant on the parry, there was no point in me trying it. Ian reminded me that not all parries were like Dark Souls, which is true. However, any game that touted its parry and said how much they (the devs) admired Sekiro most certainly would have a difficult parry. That’s Sekiro‘s whole thing.
The game is on Game Pass, and I decided to give it a whirl. Almost everyone who has played it has loved it, and it’s already being talked about as a Game of the Year contender. I liked what I saw, story-wise, but I was still not sure about the combat. There was a story mode which Jennifer English said they put in because she asked for it. It doesn’t make negate the need to parry and dodge, though–it jsut lowers the damage taken, I think.
Also, there are quick time events during the fights to maximize the damage you can do. I am not a fan of this at all because I can’t get the timing for the life of me. Even though you don’t have to do it quickly, you do have to hit the button as soon as the symbol flashes on screen. My brain does not register that very quickly. There is an option to toggle it off, which I might avail myself of if I keep missing more than I hit.
I spent an hour in the prologue and still missed stuff. I know because I looked something up and discovered that I missed an NPC in the opening area. Not someone important, but they would have given me a collectible. I had an impulse to start over, but I resisted. I pushed on, and I have to say that the whole prologue and the beginning of the first act are really powerful. I was moved by it in a way I haven’t been in most games that aren’t indie cozy games.
The voice acting is exquisite. I am not one to ever be taken in by acting (meaning, I never get completely lost in the story), but the acting in this game really moved me. Even though I knew it was not real and the story’s premise is very contrived, I still had a tear in my eye when the peak of the prologue happened. And early in the first act when Gustave was about to do an act of desperation because of his despair.
And Kirsty Rider as Lune is magical. She is Japanese-British, and the mage in the party. I adore her, and I love that I can float around as her (how she ‘walks’). Any time I can be her, I take it. I also like Gustave. He does tortured man so well. Charlie Cox has chosen to go understated with the role, which is a great choice.
I will say that the little I’ve heard of Maelle (Jennifer English) (not from my gameplay, but from watching others play), I’m not a fan thus far. She’s sixteen, I think, and they lean heavily into her being a grumpy teenager. Jennifer English is really good, but that’s one of my least-favorite tropes in popular media, the sulky, petulant, sarcastic teenager.
I have no idea who Ben Starr is or when he shows up.
I have found I can only play an hour at a time. I’m not quite sure why. Most games, when I get obsessed with them, I can’t stop playing them. For whatever reason, with this game, I feel drained and unwilling to play past an hour/hour-and-a-half. I think part of the reason is beacuse they throw so many systems at you without fully explaining them. I mean, yes, FromSoft does that, too, but not to this extent. It’s overwheleming, if Im honest. And I’m already getting a bit tired of encountering three-enemy battles every five steps or so.
You can heal the party once in the field between bonfires, which is not much at all. For the first three hours or so, that party was Lune and Gustave. We have found Maelle and added her to the party.
I am not a turn-based person, but it works really well in this game. I appreciate that I can think what I want to do with each person in my party without feeling rushed.
I have to say, though, I am really frustrated with the combat. I cannot for the life of me time the parries. The dodge? I can get it maybe a bit over half the time. And the combat really relies on not taking damage as I can be two-shot by many of the creatures. There’s one creature that does a double attack I can’t even see as it’s doing it. I have no chance at parrying, and very little chance at dodging.
I have mostly been concentrating on dodging because I think it’d be better to get one down than flounder between the two. However, you have no chance of doing a counter with the dodge–only with the parry.
One of my biggest complaints is that I cannot tell where I’m going. I have gotten hopelessly lost so many times. They do subtly light the main path, but it’s so subtle, I can’t see it sometimes. Blessing from Kinda Funny Games has said the same thing, so I’m relieved to know it’s not completely me. He said that the devs needed to find a way to better mark the different paths, and I agree.
The level design is clunky. Every path looks the same. The environments are gorgeous, but I would do with a little less beauty and a little more clarity. And a way to mark where I’ve gone. Prism stones (Dark Souls reference) would be very helpful. Or the ability to set waypoints.
Also, there is a map now, but it’s mostly an overview map. It’s not actually a ‘get around the confusing areas’ map. You can warp from bonfire to bonfire, which is nice. But you have to be at a bonfire to warp. Oh, and it’s not actually called a bonfire, but that’s what I call all saving points that reset the enemies and lets you level up. There are bonfires in the game, but they are called campfires. You can interact with them (when you camp), but there are limited options so far.
I have to say that the more I play the game, the less enamored of it I become. I reached the manor where we found Maelle, and it’s empty except her and an NPC who will be helpful along the way, I assume. There are several doors, but they are all locked. It’s called a manor, and it’s similar to Hotel Krat in Lies of P.
I have more to say about the game, but I’ll end it for now and continue tomorrow.