Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.

Overwhelmingly PositiveOverwhelmingly Positive · 95%2025

The verdict

A gorgeous, emotional JRPG with a superb soundtrack and parry-based combat. Skip it if you dislike real-time QTE parrying in turn-based fights or Act 3's story turn.

Great for

Story-driven RPG fans who love music, art direction and active parry/dodge combat

Main risk

Repetitive parry-dependent combat and a divisive Act 3 twist can sour the experience

What players love

Emotional, memorable story and characters

Mentioned in ~1 in 2 positive reviews

“The single most emotional and compelling story I've ever experienced in a videogame.”
Steam review · 202.1 h played ↗

“the story is amazing and the characters stick with you for life.”
Steam review · 63.5 h played ↗

“The game made me cry, thank you. Very strong story, cool setting, it will be remembered for a long time.”
Steam review · translated · 37.1 h played ↗

Outstanding soundtrack

Mentioned in ~1 in 2 positive reviews

“10/10 game with probably the best soundtrack ever in a videogame.”
Steam review · 27.4 h played ↗

“Every time I got into a new area, new boss, new enemies, a new track played. And man, were those tracks great to hear.”
Steam review · 39.4 h played ↗

Stunning art direction and visuals

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews

“Every environment looks like a painting come to life.”
Steam review · 30.6 h played ↗

“More like walking through an art gallery or an artist’s studio, it was incredible.”
Steam review · 170.1 h played ↗

Fresh, engaging parry-based combat

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews

“The timing system for attacking and defending is very engaging and is really rewarding as you get better and better at it.”
Steam review · 38.5 h played ↗

“the combat feels FRESH & STYLISH, and GENUINELY FUN!”
Steam review · 23.4 h played ↗

Made with passion, beats typical AAA

Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews

“It's been a long time I haven't seen a game made with passion.”
Steam review · 43.4 h played ↗

“Honestly better game than most AAA releases.”
Steam review · 55.4 h played ↗

What players complain about

Repetitive parry/QTE combat lacking strategy

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews

“It took all strategy out of a turn based combat system and turned it into a "press the same buttons at the right time" game.”
Steam review · 2.6 h played ↗

“What's the point of buffing defense if you can simply not take damage?”
Steam review · translated · 32 h played ↗

“This isn't "smart combat" this isn't "fluid combat" this is "hahaha screw you"”
Steam review · 9.5 h played ↗

Act 3 and story twist disappoint

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews

“Act 3 is so bad it's ruining the game. The 2 first acts were so high quality, I couldn't stop playing.”
Steam review · 79.6 h played ↗

“The story was outstanding up until the end of act 2 at which point they basically throw the story away”
Steam review · 38.3 h played ↗

“I still don't understand how a story about the inevitable doom of the world turned into petty squabbles inside one family.”
Steam review · translated · 30.3 h played ↗

Overhyped, too cutscene-heavy

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews

“too cutscene heavy, i'm not here to watch a movie”
Steam review · 2.2 h played ↗

“this would have been much better as a movie or TV series”
Steam review · 55.4 h played ↗

Linear, empty world and clunky exploration

Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews

“Most areas felt like one corridor after another with enemies standing in your way”
Steam review · 41.2 h played ↗

“I cannot believe this game, inspired by so many digital role-playing games, doesn't include any sort of map”
Steam review · 4.7 h played ↗

Crashes and technical problems on PC

Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews

“Trying to leave on the expedition always crashes the game upon trying to load the second cutscene.”
Steam review · 1.7 h played ↗

“Keeps crashing with a Fatal Error! I can't figure out how to prevent it.”
Steam review · 1 h played ↗

Steam Deck verification misleading

Mentioned in ~1 in 75 negative reviews

“It runs like ♥♥♥♥ on the steam deck no matter how you configure. The verified status is a complete lie”
Steam review · 0.8 h played ↗

System requirements

From the Steam store page

Steam Deck: Verified

Minimum

OSWindows 10

ProcessorIntel Core i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 1600X

Memory8 GB RAM

GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB / AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6 GB / Intel Arc A380 6 GB

Storage55 GB available space

Recommended

OSWindows 11

ProcessorIntel Core i7-12700K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X

Memory16 GB RAM

GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB / AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB

Storage55 GB available space

OSWindows 10

ProcessorIntel Core i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 1600X

Memory8 GB RAM

GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB / AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6 GB / Intel Arc A380 6 GB

Storage55 GB available space

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