Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

The Gavler Review.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review: 2025's Runaway Game of the Year

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sits at number one on our Best Games of 2025 list with a 9.4, and it earned that spot the hard way — as a debut from Sandfall Interactive, a small French studio nobody was tracking a year ago. This is the rare game that critics and players agree on almost perfectly: a 92 critic aggregate against a 93 community rating, an unusually tight consensus for any release, let alone a first game. Buy it if you have any tolerance for turn-based RPGs and want to see the genre pushed somewhere new; the only real caution is time — this is a 30-to-40-hour commitment, not a weekend game. For nearly everyone who plays RPGs, it is the easiest recommendation of the year.

What it actually is

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG set in a Belle Époque-inspired world under a singular, brutal premise: each year, a mysterious Paintress paints a number on a monolith, and everyone who has reached that age turns to ash. The game follows Expedition 33 — the latest in a long line of doomed missions to reach the Paintress and stop the cycle — as they travel through a surreal, crumbling continent built from that grief.

It is a single-player, story-driven RPG released April 24, 2025 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows, published by Kepler Interactive. There's no multiplayer, no live-service structure, no seasonal content treadmill — just a complete, authored story told across dozens of hours, at a $49.99 price that undercuts most full-price releases in its genre.

In use

The headline mechanic is the combat, and it's the reason this game broke out the way it did. On the surface it's a classic turn-based system: you queue up attacks, skills, and items from a menu, same as any JRPG you grew up with. But every incoming enemy attack demands a real-time response — a dodge timed to a tell, a parry that requires precision, or an aimed counter — layered directly onto that turn-based frame. Miss the timing and you eat full damage; nail it and you can turn a boss's own combo against it. The result is a battle system that never lets you tune out, which is the single biggest problem with most turn-based RPGs solved in one clean idea.

Equipment customization runs through Pictos and Lumina — equippable passives that let each party member's stats and abilities bend toward distinct builds, so the same roster can be played several different ways across a playthrough. It's a system with real depth without demanding a spreadsheet to use it.

The world matches the mechanical ambition. The Belle Époque art direction — ornate, melancholic, shot through with painterly light — gives the Paintress's yearly culling a visual and emotional weight that a lesser art style couldn't carry. Metacritic's aggregate summary captures the consensus well: "One of the defining games of 2025 — polished gameplay, emotional storytelling, and lush visuals." That's not hyperbole from a marketing sheet; it's the critic aggregate talking, and the 93 community score backs it up almost note for note.

Where it shines

• Combat that demands attention every fight. The dodge/parry/timed-input layer on top of turn-based commands is what separates this from a hundred other menu-driven RPGs. It rewards skill without abandoning the strategic clarity that makes turn-based combat readable in the first place.
• A story with real emotional stakes. The Paintress's annual culling isn't a background lore hook — it's the mechanism the entire plot and cast are built around, and it gives every character relationship a ticking clock that most RPGs never earn.
• Value at the price. $49.99 for a 30-to-40-hour, fully authored, single-player RPG with this level of polish is well below what comparable AAA releases charge, and it shipped complete — no early-access caveats, no day-one DLC gate.
• A debut studio operating at a level most veterans don't reach. Twelve Game Awards nominations for a first game from Sandfall Interactive is the kind of number that doesn't happen by accident.

The trade-offs — who should skip it

This is close to a consensus pick, but it isn't for everyone, and the honest caveats are specific:

• You want pure action combat. Even with the real-time dodge layer, this is fundamentally a turn-based RPG — you're still selecting commands from menus between reaction windows. If you want a game that plays like a character-action title from start to finish, this isn't that.
• You don't have 30-plus hours to give it. This is a full-length story RPG with a real time commitment. It isn't padded, but it also isn't short, and the narrative rewards sitting with it rather than rushing through.
• The M rating matters for your household. The tone is heavy — mortality is the entire premise — and the ESRB Mature 17+ rating reflects that. It's not a game for younger players.

How it compares

On its own list, Clair Obscur sits just above two other 2025 heavyweights. Hollow Knight: Silksong at number two is the genre contrast worth knowing: a metroidvania with a 92 critic aggregate of its own, built on twitch platforming and combat rather than turn-based tactics — the pick if you want something faster and more physically demanding. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II at number three is the closer RPG cross-shop: a grounded, systems-driven medieval RPG with no magic and real consequences, for players who want realism over Clair Obscur's painterly surrealism.

None of the three are really competing for the same moment — they're the three different flavors of "best RPG-adjacent game of 2025" — but if you're choosing one to start with, Clair Obscur's combination of approachable turn-based structure and genuine narrative ambition makes it the easiest entry point of the three.

The Gavler verdict

A 9.4, and the number reflects something rare: near-total agreement between critics and players on a debut game. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 didn't win 2025 by being the safest choice — it won by taking a well-worn genre and finding a genuinely new idea inside it, then wrapping that idea in a story with real stakes and a look nothing else on the list matches. If you play one RPG from 2025, this is the one. The only real qualifier is time: clear a real chunk of your calendar, because you won't want to rush the ending.

Common Questions

Is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 worth it in 2026?

Yes, unreservedly. It sits at number one on Gavler's Best Games of 2025 list with a 9.4, backed by a 92 critic aggregate and a 93 community rating — an unusually tight consensus for a debut game from a studio nobody had heard of before 2025. At $49.99 for a story-rich, tens-of-hours RPG, it is one of the best-value releases of the year regardless of genre.

Is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 turn-based or real-time combat?

Both, deliberately. The battle system is built on a classic turn-based frame — you select commands from a menu — but every enemy attack requires a real-time dodge, parry, or timed input to avoid or reduce damage. That hybrid is the game's single biggest design achievement: it keeps the tactical clarity of turn-based RPGs while demanding the reflexes of an action game, so fights never turn into passive menu-clicking.

How long is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?

A single story playthrough runs in the 30-to-40-hour range for most players, longer if you chase side content and optional bosses. It is a full-length RPG, not a short prestige title, so budget real time for it — the pacing rewards that investment rather than padding it out.

What platforms is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on?

PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows. It carries an ESRB M (Mature 17+) rating, and it is a single-player-only experience — there is no co-op or multiplayer mode.