- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 got a deep dive during the Xbox Developer_Direct 2025.
- Fans were given a closer look at the game's story writing, gameplay, and world.
- Additionally, Sandfall Interactive revealed that it's coming out on April 24, 2025.
During Microsoft's annual Xbox Developer Direct 2025 showcase, the firm gave fans a closer look at Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — an upcoming JRPG from developer Sandfall Interactive that's headed to Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, PS5, and the Xbox Game Pass service later this year. Specifically, it's been revealed that it has a release date of April 24, 2025, with the studio highlighting this alongside its approach to storytelling and worldbuilding in a new deep dive.
Expedition 33 is set in a vibrant, but dangerous fantasy world that's heavily inspired by the Belle Époque era of French history, and its plot revolves around an antagonistic entity known only as the Paintress. Every year, she uses her magics to paint a number, and anyone with the same age of that number is erased from existence; the story follows a group of "Expeditioner" adventurers as they journey to stop her before she paints the number 33, hence the game's title.
Sandfall's presentation largely focused on Expedition's character writing and emphasized that the studio is striving to focus on deeper, more nuanced conflicts instead of simple "good versus evil" themes. To that end, the studio has strived to make the game's cast feel like "adult characters who feel like real people with real experiences."
The themes at the heart of the narrative are "overcoming an existential thread while struggling with loss and grief," and we even got a brief look at the beliefs and motivations of several members of Expedition 33. Gustave and Lune are often at odds with one another, though both are "deeply invested" in Expedition 33 since its success or failure is directly tied to the fate of their family and their core identities. Sciel, on the other hand, is already going through the grief of her "darkest days," while Maelle has chosen to prioritize making the most of the time she has over simply trying to extend her lifespan.
Naturally, the story is quite dark, though there is some comic relief to balance things out. Much of it comes from two other characters you'll meet; one is a "friendly but kinda bloodthirsty philosopher" called Monoco you can play as that has the ability to transform into enemies he defeats, and the other is Esquie, an ancient, powerful creature that acts as your mount and adds plenty of lighthearted whimsy to your adventure.
In terms of gameplay, Expedition 33 aims to stand out from other turn-based JRPGs by integrating real-time actions into its turns. Dodges, parries, and counters can be performed reactively, and you'll be able to use the aiming system to target enemy weak spots during your moves. Along with these mechanics, you'll have traditional RPG systems like gearing, character stats, skills, and synergies between the companions you can bring along in your party. There will also be a special 3D world map that encourages widespread exploration, with players able to access more of it as they bring Esquie special stones that grant him new powers.
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Overall, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 looks to be one of this year's most interesting new games, and will also likely be one of its most beautiful based on what we've seen of its Unreal Engine 5 visuals thus far. It could very well be one of the best Xbox games and best PC games of 2025 in general, and thanks to the fact it's releasing day one on Game Pass, you'll have the option of checking it out at launch without making a full purchase.
Notably, preorders for Expedition 33 are not live yet, but you can wishlist the game on Xbox, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. South of Midnight — one of the other three games shown at the Developer_Direct — does have preorders available, and there's the Ninja Gaiden 2 Black shadow drop that came after the Ninja Gaiden 4 reveal, too. For a full overview of the show, don't miss our roundup of everything Xbox announced during the Developer_Direct.
