The discharge date of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was revealed on the 2025 Xbox Developer Direct, together with extra particulars about its story and gameplay. Closely impressed by basic RPGs, Darkish Clair is a turn-based, narrative-focused sport set in a darkish fantasy model of Belle Époque France. Developed by a small crew, Darkish Clair makes an attempt to revive the high-quality, high-production-value turn-based RPG, a style that has fallen by the wayside in recent times in favor of extra action-oriented video games. And up to now, it appears to be doing a very good job.
First introduced in June 2024, extra particulars on Darkish Clair have been revealed throughout a deep dive into their improvement offered throughout Xbox's 2025 Developer Direct. It was one among 4 video games offered, alongside Ninja Gaiden, Midnight Southand Doom: The Darkish Agesall coming to PC and/or Xbox quickly. The Direct gave viewers a extra detailed take a look at the gameplay, tales and improvement processes of all the above. Right here's all the pieces you must know Clair Obscur: Expedition 33primarily based on the latest data out there.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will probably be launched on April 24, 2025
Clair Obscur launch date and platforms
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will probably be launched on April 24, 2025on all platforms the place it's out there. It is going to price $49.99 to buy as a standalone title. At launch, it is going to be playable on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Collection X/S. observe that Darkish Clair will probably be a day one Recreation Move launchwhich means PC and Final tier subscribers can entry it on launch day for no extra payment. It is going to even be out there for cloud streaming on units that may entry Recreation Move cloud providers.
For PS5 gamers, or those that favor to personal the sport straight away, Darkish Clair is at present out there for pre-order throughout all main digital platforms. A bodily version can be out there, unique to GameStop within the US. A Digital Deluxe Version can be out there, together with some in-game costumes, for $59.99; the Lumiere version contains this, a metal case, and an artwork e book; and the Collector's Version contains all the above plus a Monolith figurine.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Characters and Historical past
A darkish fantasy journey
Once more, Darkish Clair is about in a darkish fantasy reimagining of Belle Époque France, centered on a city referred to as Lumière. It's set in a world by which humanity lives and dies by the desire of the Paintera mysterious and divine entity. Yearly, she paints a quantity on her monolith within the sky, and yearly, individuals die as quickly as they attain that age. And in recent times, the numbers have been lowering.
Humanity responds by sending a collection of expeditions, every with a single objective: to kill the Painter and finish her reign. The participant controls members of Expedition 33 - named after the monolith quantity. Expedition 33 begins as a gaggle of 4. The primary trailers seem to place Gustave, an engineer looking for to guard his hometown, and his youthful adopted sister, Maelle, orphaned at age three, as the sport's foremost protagonists. They are going to be accompanied by Lune, a mage extra concerned with understanding the Painter than killing her, and Sciel, a jovial warrior with a darkish previous.
Alongside the way in which, they are going to make mates and enemies. The pleasant Gestral Monoco surprises the expedition together with his capacity to speak with people and his unimaginable prowess in fight. The all-powerful however lazy Esquie, the topic of the parable in Lumière, helps them cross the oceans and fly via the skies. They can even be tracked by Verso, a mysterious stranger, and face Renoir, a particularly loyal household man.
As Expedition 33 approaches its objective, bonds will probably be shaped, ties will probably be damaged, and truths will probably be revealed. There's prone to be some large secret behind the Painter simply ready to be revealed, however in fact, all of this should wait till the sport comes out.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Trailer and Gameplay Particulars
Clair Obscur's fight defined
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 options turn-based fight with a mode impressed by basic RPGs. Every social gathering member has a task and a novel set of abilities - Sciel could be targeted on bodily assault, Lune on magic and standing results, and Gustave or Maelle on therapeutic. Actions are taken in a strict order, possible decided by a velocity stat. This implies gamers may have time to be extra strategic with their Darkish Clair battles, creating highly effective synergies between social gathering members to take down their enemies.
Darkish Clairthe builders in contrast its fight to that of Remaining fantasy or Particular person. This implies specializing in hitting weak factors and growing highly effective assaults. FF and Particular person These could also be legitimate comparisons, however from what's been proven within the trailers up to now, it appears to attract closely from video games like Tremendous Mario RPG and Like a dragon additionally. That's as a result of Darkish Clair makes use of timed inputs; Gamers might need to press a sure button inside a restricted period of time after launching a particular assault. Hitting him on the good time could cause additional injury, whereas getting him flawed could cause him to do much less injury - and even miss solely.
This data typically provides a way of urgency to turn-based battles and could be very satisfying when finished effectively. Through the Developer Direct, members of Sandfall Interactive revealed that its testers initially discovered the entries timed at Darkish Clair very tough; they've gone via a very good stability between from time to time, and can hopefully discover a good stability between accessibility and problem.
Between battles, gamers will discover huge and delightful fantasy maps, together with populated cities and open fields. It isn't recognized whether or not Darkish Clair will use an older fashion of random encounters or incorporate seen enemies on the map. Appears to make use of lots FF- and Dragon Questimpressed world, by which gamers unlock new areas of the map by discovering new strategies of transportation; for instance, a ship (or Skie, stuffed with air) might help them cross the ocean, and a aircraft (or Skie, stuffed with helium) might help them cross a mountain vary.
Darkish Clair has set lofty objectives for himself and clearly wears his much-vaunted inspirations on his sleeve. Up to now, followers have been impressed by its splendidly evocative artwork fashion, its flashy turn-based fight, and its intriguingly darkish fantasy world. If Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Does it dwell as much as these expectations is a query that should wait till after launch.
Supply: Interactive Sandfall/YouTube