Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

[J4MES OX4D 10,207]

This game is becoming massively popular and is currently sitting at 92 on Metacritic. It's made by just 30 developers - mostly ex-Ubisoft who broke away from the corporate regime of churning out regurgitated shit annually. It's a bit of a travesty that it got threw under the bus somewhat by the shadow drop of Oblivion Remastered but it's becoming so popular that it is not actually too far behind now and the gap is closing. 

 

[J4MES OX4D 10,207]

Currently 99,000 in-game on Steam which has overtaken Oblivion at 98k! It's also one of the few UE5 games that doesn't feel like asset slop and it apparently runs really well. The art style looks incredible and the combat seems very refreshing for a turn-based title. Probably the biggest success story of the generation so far. Can see the popularity of it soaring further in the coming weeks. 

[J4MES OX4D 10,207]

I've played about 12 hours so far and I can comfortably say this is one of the best games of the generation so far. The world design is stunning, the story is intriguing, the characters and voice acting is top tier and the writing is fantastic.  Even the music is stunningly beautiful. The combat is great fun as it combines what you'd normally see in a JRPG, but with interactive QTE moments enabling you to dodge, parry and counterattack, rather than let the computer and RNG determine it for you. You have to learn enemy move-sets like you would typically in the likes of Sekiro and this can be a challenge in itself along with timing the inputs perfectly within the small window available.

 

The game is pretty linear at its core but this is good as it cuts out all the open world crap that plagues modern games. There's no filler here - everything flows incredibly well and you are constantly engaged especially with the characters and the remarkable story. To think just 30 people made this using Unreal 5 and it's only just over 50gb is absolutely crazy! Expedition 33 is just so far ahead of what any other AAA developer can churn out now, it is quite frankly embarrassing for the likes of Ubisoft and BioWare. It'll be a huge wake-up call for Final Fantasy too. It's games like this that make actually save the industry. The fact it's only £30-40 when AAA games are to be pushing £75-80 makes this an essential purchase. 

 

I'm also glad the shadow-release of Oblivion Remastered hasn't hampered its success - 2m copies sold in 12 days and it's the fastest selling game of its kind even ahead of Final Fantasy, Persona and Yakuza. 

[J4MES OX4D 10,207]

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's soundtrack tops Billboard's Classical Album Chart with 18 million streams since launch | PC Gamer

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Give this soundtrack all of the awards.