If you want my TLDR I think Everyone should try the first hour (prologue) and if that doesn’t hook you then I can understand putting the game down. Game for me is a CLEAR 10/10 and my current GOTY nominee.

(This review will stay pretty spoiler free for the story and the world)

After completing my first playthrough of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 I am at a loss of words to describe how perfect this game is. Before purchasing and playing I was hearing great things and I wrote it off as just some new game with a little hype that wouldn’t be that crazy. Then a few weeks went by and I was still hearing good things so I had gotten the game. Am I glad I did. This has exceeded EVERY expectation I had for it and will sit with me for a long time to come. I had not had this much fun playing through and exploring a world since Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3. Every character was so great and lovable, The villains' motives made sense and you could sympathise and understand them. The world concept and idea is so genius and delivered well to the player that can be seen so early on and make you wonder but as you get closer and closer you connect the dots pretty well before they paint a grand picture of what is actually happening.

I feel bad a lot of people are going to skip this game just because they see turn based combat - as it TRULY is a work of art for games. It doesn’t even feel like a classical turn based game which is great imo, I didn’t like the rhythm in other turn based games where it was up to chance if you hit or got hit and shielding, buffing and healing was required and could make some fights take ages. In this game the only fights that took forever were the ones I was super weak for (some side quests stuff I wanted to do early) but it was still possible through their genius parry and dodge mechanics. Shielding, Buffing and healing is still in the game and very viable but it isn’t a requirement. On top of the combat gameplay the explorating was well designed and rewarding, You have this outer map that you can explore and do fights and has plenty of secrets but then you enter a “zone” and it's like a level out of any other action/adventure/rpg game with secrets nestled away and even some you will have to come back to later. Finally to round out the gameplay the build variety and character kits have so much depth with what would seem on the surface as pretty simple systems. It’s the idea of “easy to learn, hard to master” that has fun ideas that it leans in to. Usually in a Turn Based RPG I pick 1-2 characters I really like and I use them and everyone else is buffers, healers or pack mules. I started this game the same way up until the end of act 1. After that when entering act 2 I started to try different characters and found myself really enjoying their kits way more then my original write off of them. I would swap them up all the time and create so many different builds based off some new skill I just leveled up and unlocked.

I won’t go into detail on the story - I wish everyone to experience it spoiler free but DAMN is the writing so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good. There was a scene super early in the game (maybe 2nd hour) that really let me know I was going to love this game because the characters felt real. They had emotions that weren't just told but showed in the facial expressions and body language that was more realistic from this studio of 30 members then almost every triple A studio. Every character had such emotional depth that made connecting and understanding with them so easy. The ONLY bad thing I have to say is sometimes the lip synching wasn’t perfect in some side quest stuff

The music in this game is ACTUALLY PEAK the BEST OST of all time hands down. I had never heard of Lorien testard until playing this game and holy - the music sold every scene and fight and encounter down to the wire. It is so moving and perfect I am usually not one to gush over music in games I usually just enjoy a few good soundtracks to compliment the bosses but the soundtrack TOOK the spotlight from time to time with how good it was and hyped me up for great moments and assisted in the tears of the sad lows. It is the only OST I get stuck in my head and listen to outside of the game because the songs are just that good.

This game IS a masterpiece and I encourage all of my friends and people who read this to give it an HOUR of your time at the least. If after an hour or 2 it doesn’t hook you then you can move on but I can almost certainly say that opening will hook you. I have not felt this passionate about a piece of fiction in a LONG time. Sandfall has made a near perfect experience and I cannot wait for their next work in the future. It shows how great things can be when people put their passion and love into it. As an enjoyer of the arts this game is an easy 10/10.


---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☑ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☑ 10

Overview:

After 167.5 Hours I can finally say i have beaten my first play-through, and this game is really good. The game exceeded any and all expectations I had for it. From software as truly cracked the formula for a really good and fun open world Rpg game. so if you came just to see my rating, its a 10/10.

Story:

The story is classic From Software Story, The story takes place in The lands between where you are a Tarnished Seeking the Elden Ring (The SIngle Most Powerful Item In the realm) and without spoilers its not a crazy Overarching story that makes you deeply thing on anything, But its not bad either. It's Further complimented by all the side quests that build upon this story and flesh it out.

World & Atmosphere:

The world of Elden Ring is massive, and its not just big for the sake of being Large either its is packed full of things to do throughout the whole map. Lots of secret Dungeons or bosses or unique loot and npc quests to take on. I can say i think 90% of the content in this game is optional and it might be the best content in the game. I give From software a lot of respect for putting multiple elongated side quests with great story and even better rewards out of the main boss path for you to go and discover. Furthermore all the different regions feel unique from one another and that made them a joy to explore through, going from rolling hills and forests of Limgrave to the Swampy waters of Lunaria and the Red stricken rot of Caelid and many other places made it refreshing and you could kind of get a sense for the bosses and enemies in that region.

Npc's & Quests:

The Npc's and their respective quests are fantastic. I don't believe i completed all of them on my first play-through so I do need to lap back on journey 2 or a new character and hit the ones i missed but for the ones i did do, they were phenomenal. Ranni's quest in particular was enjoyable as it had built upon other characters i had met in the world and intertwined them and their personal goals to the goals of ranni and the main story at hand, giving me a second perspective on "The Shattering". The best part was it rewarded me with some great and interesting loot.

Bosses:

The bosses are fun and enjoyable. They have a nice mix of move sets across the 80+ bosses in the game and they never felt too unfair.. Well most. IF you ever had got stuck you could also use your bell to summon a companion to fight or use a furgcalling finger (Cheeto Dust) to call a friend to help you tag team the boss. Because of both of these and the fact you could walk away and come back to the boss later when you had more levels, better weapons and armor and more experience under your belt made the difficulty of bosses dependent on you. For me i was more stubborn so if i found a boss it was my next boss i would be killing but that made the victory even more satisfying.

Weapons & Play Styles:

There is so many ways to play this game. My first character was a Strength/Vigor/Endurance Giga chad who used 2 Handed Great and Colossal Swords or a 1 Handed Sword and Shield for my run. if for whatever reason i wanted to change that run you can! once you get through a good portion of the game one of the bigger main bosses rewards you with the ability to respec at the cost of a finite resources you find throughout the game. This lets you try multiple play styles and builds across the same character enriching more New Game+ runs and that first initial play-through.

Issues:

I personally had no performance issues playing on PC with a 3080Ti and I7 12700k, but that doesn't mean on release others didn't experience performance hiccups, so that is something i have to note. I also occasionally had a bug where i would be stuck mid air unable to move and the game would kill me after sometime like i fell off the map. the last bug i encountered was one of the dragons later into the game getting bugged and not moving allowing me to just wail on him without him defending. These all can be Ironed out but nothing too major for me at least.

Final Verdict:

I give this game a 10/10 I think anyone who enjoys souls games are going to love this but also casual players who enjoy open world RPG games are going to fall in love with this game. my only advice is to not give up, you can beat this game. These games are designed to be beaten but not be too reflex intensive so everyone can beat it. It's just taking your time, learning patters and how you react to them then putting it to practice. Plus with all the other mechanics to allow aid to yourself don't be discouraged if you get stuck on a boss to call for help or even using summons in this game. They are tools made to make the experience more accessible.