Clair Obscur: Expedition 33was a surprise success, especially considering it was a brand-new series from a new team of developers. It was so successful that it had reactionaries claiming that ‘turn-based games are finally back’, but turn-based games never went anywhere. There’s been a consistent stream of fantastic turn-based games released every year, so what was it about Expedition 33 that made it stand out above all those games?
While Clair Obscur is certainly a turn-based game, it shifts plenty of genre conventions to feel like a distinct product, so what lessons can other turn-based games learn from Expedition 33’s success?
8Shorter Stories
Pick Up The Pace
While it’s not true of all turn-based games, most turn-based games, especially if they’re RPGs, tend to be massive. If you’ve got a sizable backlog of games you want to tackle, while you might be tempted by a turn-based RPG, the average runtime might put you off, especially if you may’t guarantee you’ll actually end up enjoying it.
Even though Expedition 33 contains multitudes of side content, for a completely satisfying journey through the fantastic main story, you’ll only need about 30 hours. 30 hours isn’t short by any means, but it’s much shorter than the majority of turn-based titles, and its pacing means that it’s a pretty fast-feeling 30 hours too.
7More Mystery
Keep Us In The Dark
Thanks to its haunting premise of a post-apocalyptic world where the maximum life expectancy is cut by one year, every year, the world of Clair Obscur is immediately engaging and full of mystery. World-building is effective, and you’re left searching for clues about how this society works and the truth behind its more obscure details.
Even though there isn’t a shortage of turn-based games that keep their cards close for most of the story, there’s a line of distinction between not knowing something and actually being interested in the mystery. Instead of paragraphs upon paragraphs of obtuse exposition, gradual and efficient world-building and intriguing central mysteries make for a much more inviting narrative.
6Linear Party Member Growth
Stay In Your Lane
With turn-based RPGs, combat can turn into a bit of a numbers game upon further examination, and that’s why some titles will pat themselves on the back by providing fully customizable party members, to let you mold and grind your team into the most effective damage-dealing unit possible. However, with fully customizable party members, sometimes the individual members start to lose their identity and just become a unique distribution of stats, and maybe a few signature skills.
While there is room for customization in Clair Obscur, each of its party members has a unique central mechanic, and there is no chance you may mix any of them up. Havingdistinct party membersthat transcend genre expectations for different classes helps make the team in Expedition 33 stand out.
5Don’t Be Scared To Incorporate Other Genres
Free Yourself From Tradition
If you squint, the gameplay of turn-based titles can start to blend together. As one of the longest-standing subgenres in gaming, the gameplay loop of standardized exploration and encounters has become an expected unbroken wheel that there istechnicallyno reason to fix.
Even if it’s not the first turn-based game tolend from other genres, you may tell when playing Clair Obscur that there were no constraints on sticking to a previously established structure, and it makes playing through it feel like a wholly unique experience. Whether it’s platforming for exploration and minigames, or the distinct incorporation of action mechanics to add a more active element to combat - it all helps give Clair Obscur the X factor needed to feel unique.
4Unapologetically Inspired
French Representation
This is not an attempt to paint Expedition 33 as the only turn-based game with inspiration. That would be a gross misrepresentation; rather, it’s an observation that Clair Obscur successfully leans fully into its inspirations to create a one-of-a-kind style and aesthetic.
With some turn-based games, the style can feel like a hodge-podge of genre staples and ends up feeling bland. Comparatively, Clair Obscur’s dedication to its fusion of the French Belle Époque era with classic RPG traditions ensures that the imagery of the game will stick with you.
3Commit To Changing The Formula
Call To Action
While you will often find turn-based games that take steps to incorporate new mechanics or unique features that make their gameplay stand out during marketing, upon actually playing the games, you might end up being disappointed by how little these new features actually impact the gameplay.
The action mechanics included within Expedition 33’s turn-based combat drastically alter how combat feels compared to other turn-based games, and mastery of these mechanics takes effort, effort which will be rewarded. If you want to include unique mechanics, ensure that they’re refined, impactful, and not just tacked on.
2Don’t Require Grinding
Artificial Difficulty Free
Working through the story of Clair Obscur is well-paced, partially because of its below-average length when compared to its fellow turn-based titles, but also because of how little you’re required to grind. It feels almost like a standard of turn-based games, that even on a standard difficulty, there will be periods of gameplay where the progression will grind to a halt, and you’ll need to grind for experience.
If you learn Expedition 33’s mechanics, you won’t ever need to grind to complete the main story, and if you’re going out of your way to complete side content, you might even end up trivializing some of the challenges. While challenging turn-based games are not inherently bad, having to kill the pacing to grind shouldn’t be seen as standard, even if it’s a genre tradition.
1Older Cast
No More Teenage Dreams
It shouldn’t be as refreshing as it is, but the majority of the party members in Expedition 33, being in their 30s, genuinely helps it stand out from a massive portion of turn-based titles. While it’s understandable that there is a plethora of teenage protagonists and party members throughout the history of RPGs, it gets to a point where it feels like you need to actively search to find a cast of characters that aren’t mostly high-school age.
Themore mature castof Clair Obscur helps enforce the more serious tone of its narrative, and it also helps the party members just feel like the type of people we (unluckily) don’t get to see that often in gaming.
