At Friday’s Xbox Developer Direct, the small but passionate team at Sandfall Interactive revealed new details, and the release date, for their RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It’s coming on April 24th!
It’s set to be a dark and mature story with flawed, adult characters, that have different perspectives on what needs to be done to save their world.
Every year in the land of Lumière, the paintress awakens to paint a new number, and every year people of that specific age crumble away, as if Thanos just snapped his fingers. Ticking down each year, it’s a race against time to break the curse and reclaim their future.
The game promises a lot of build variation between characters, each one with their own unique mechanics and custom skill trees. Maelle can switch stances to boost defense or offence, you could play her as a protector, a glass cannon or something in-between. There’s also hundreds of passive effects, called Lumia, that can be equipped to enhance each character.
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We’re introduced to a new playable character Monoco, the bloodthirsty philosopher, one of the Gestral, who view combat as a sort of meditation. It looks as if he might bring some comic relief with his monkey-like appearance and clumsy nature.
Monoco can turn into then enemies he defeats, in the trailer we see him pull a whole foot off a monster, and then transform into the defeated foe! The Gestral village will also be an important location in the game, acting as an early waypoint and place to take a breather.
The developers revealed that they’ve brought back the classic overworld map from JRPGs of old, which will be completely 3D and explorable. It’ll also be really, really big, so you’ll need the help of Esquie who’ll serve as your mount. Modelled after a giant inflatable balloon, Esquie can roll, swim and even fly around the map. You can also bring him special stones to upgrade his power and unlock new areas of the world, where secret levels and the toughest boss battles of the game are hidden.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will launch on April 24th for Xbox Series X|S, PS5 and PC. It’ll also be on Game Pass day one!
You can check out the release date trailer here, and watch full developer video and the rest of the developer direct below.
