Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a bona fide breakout hit of the year. Startup developer Sandfall Interactive's impressive debut game came somewhat out of left field but made a big splash with fans and critics alike. With its old-school JRPG designs filtered through more modern philosophies and a striking style, notably borrowing a bit of Soulslike elements like parrying, dodging, and countering for its hybrid of turn-based and real-time combat, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has become one of the most celebrated releases of 2025.
Since its release in April, the title has received a couple of updates and fixes, like the one that altered Maelle's Stendhal skill to make it a little less overpowered. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's latest patch (which is thought to possibly be its final one) further smooths out a few items and bugs. But one major change it introduces in particular is a blessing for those who have been tackling it on the highest difficulty level or are considering doing so.
Sandfall also previously gave out a bonus version of Clair Obscur's soundtrack for free via Steam as a way to thank fans for their support and praise.
A Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Sequel Needs Its Own 'Gommage,' But That Cat is Already Out of the Bag
A follow-up to Sandfall's hugely successful Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 would need to carefully address and balance its idea of the Gommage.
There's Never Been a Better Time to Replay Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on Higher Difficulty Levels
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's Patch 1.4.0 Adds an Array of Quality-of-Life Changes, Including Battle Replay
The 1.4.0 patch adds a layer of extra polish to the performance and environmental rendering, making what is already a gorgeous-looking game even more beautiful and run smoother. A few other changes it includes are:
- The Pictos menu now clearly displays the cost of each Lumina
- Adding an autoplay option for dialogue outside cutscenes that can be toggled in the settings and during conversations
- Audio sliders allowing the independent adjustment of volume in both exploration and combat scenarios
- Lune's Thermal Transfer no longer grants an extra turn without meeting the stain consumption requirement
- Characters will no longer gain immortality when using the Second Chance Pictos combined with the Healing Boon and Protecting Death ones
But perhaps the best and most improved feature that this patch adds is a battle retry prompt. Instead of needing to reload a save from the nearest expedition flag checkpoint, fans can now restart fights instantly upon defeat. This saves time and trouble by letting players immediately attempt combat encounters without disruption, and can be a godsend when facing off against some of Clair Obscur's most imposing enemies.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's Patch 1.4.0 Makes Taking on its Toughest Boss Battles on Higher Difficulties Much Easier
In the tradition of many RPGs, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 contains a couple of well-hidden secret and optional boss encounters, often presenting a greater challenge than anything found throughout the main campaign. Chiefly among them are two that have garnered notoriety within the fanbase, these being the Clea and Simon fights. Both of these can be true tests of patience, proper planning, and reaction timing in order to weather their range of devastating attacks and ensure victory. The battle replay allows players a convenient way to continue on should they fall in battle, which is likely to happen to even the most experienced expeditioners at some point, especially against these two figures.
For anyone doing a New Game Plus run in Clair Obscur or playing on Expert difficulty, this new retry option is incredibly helpful, at least to eliminate some of the frustrating downtime and speed up attempts at taking down the above and other harder optional bosses, like Serpenphare, which can be a grueling duel of endurance. The battle replay prompt is a most welcome inclusion that lets fans get back into the action quicker, and shows that Sandfall is committed to supporting Expedition 33 even as many look excitedly towards what the studio will do next.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 92 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- April 24, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Sandfall Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- Kepler Interactive
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based RPG, JRPG, Fantasy
