Clair - Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn - based role - playing game developed by Sandfall Interactive and published by Kepler Interactive. It will be launched on Xbox and PC platforms in 2025 and will be included in XGP. IGN China had the honor to experience the game content in advance and bring you the latest preview.

The game is set in a unique world created by a mysterious being called "the Mother of Paintings". Every year, the Mother of Paintings wakes up on the Chronicle Stone and creates a new painting. People whose age is equal to or greater than the number on the painting will disappear. As the number decreases year by year, the number of survivors becomes scarcer. When the Mother of Paintings wakes up with the number "33", the members of the 33rd Expedition Team, whom the player controls, shoulder the mission of eliminating the Mother of Paintings and ending the disaster. During this desperate journey, the player will fight side by side with team members such as Gustav and Maël, challenge the death cycle brought by the Mother of Paintings, and at the same time explore the history and fate of other expedition teams.

The most unique feature of Clair - Obscur: Expedition 33 is the integration of the instant - reaction mechanism into the turn - based combat, creating an extremely fresh experience. The combat unfolds based on the action order bar determined by the agility attribute. Both the player's side and the enemy's side take turns to act. Players can choose to attack, shoot, use skills, or use items to restore resources. Action points are the core resources. Releasing skills and aiming for shooting both consume action points, and players need to continuously obtain them through combat actions.

The defense part is crucial. Players need to accurately press the dodge or block button to avoid damage when the enemy attacks. The dodge has a large tolerance window and is suitable for testing the waters. The block has a small judgment window, but if successful, not only can the player gain 1 action point, but also counter - attack. The counter - attack damage is considerable and can directly eliminate a full - health small monster or severely damage an elite enemy. In combat, an enemy's one - round attack can cause about one - quarter of the player's character's health damage. Therefore, mastering defense skills is the key to clearing the level. Players can judge the attack timing by observing the enemy's starting actions, but the reaction window is small, and even if they are familiar with the routine, it is easy to make mistakes. The combat is highly challenging. Later, the enemy will also have special mechanisms, such as having to jump and dodge to counter - attack, increasing the difficulty further.

Instant interaction elements are also integrated into skill release. When a character releases a skill, a QTE event will occur. Players need to press the button at the appropriate time to increase the number of combos and skill damage. There is a progress bar in the button area, and pressing within the yellow area enhances the effect. Although the QTE in the offensive round is less important than that in the defensive round, it has a significant impact on the number of attacks and power. Players can turn on the QTE automatic function in the settings to reduce the combat pressure, but dodging and blocking still require manual operation.

The free - aiming system in the game allows players to manually control the crosshairs to shoot at the enemy. Hitting the vital part can cause a large amount of damage, while missing will waste action points and result in mediocre damage. Currently, this system has strategic value in specific scenarios, but the operation mode may cause a break in the combat rhythm.

In the trial play, three characters, Gustav, Lune, and Maël, can be experienced, and their combat mechanisms are different. Gustav charges his mechanical arm by attacking, blocking, or using specific skills. When the charge level is high enough, he can use the "Overload" skill to cause a large amount of damage. Lune's skills have an element - heterochromia mechanism. Different skills produce different element heterochromias, which can affect each other to increase damage and form a reaction chain. Maël can switch combat stances through skills. The defensive stance reduces damage and increases the acquisition of action points. The offensive stance increases damage while bringing a vulnerability effect. The master stance greatly increases damage. Players need to grasp the offensive and defensive rhythm to give full play to his abilities.

To enhance the strategic nature, players need to master the enemy's elemental resistance. There are elements such as fire, frost, lightning, and earth in the game. The enemy has different reactions to different elements, including resistance differences, element elimination, and absorption, preventing players from mindlessly outputting. There are also fourteen statuses in combat, such as burning，as well as buffs and debuffs, constructing a relatively complete status system.

When a character levels up, they can obtain attribute points and skill points, which are allocated at the expedition team flag. There are five attributes for enhancement: vitality, strength, agility, defense, and luck, corresponding to health, attack power, speed, defense, and critical hit rate. The skill tree is designed according to the character's core mechanism. For example, Lune can learn fire - based, electricity - based, healing, and other skill branches. Each character can configure up to 6 active skills and can reset the skill points by consuming specific items. The equipment system consists of weapons, runes, and auras. Weapons can be upgraded, and runes and auras provide passive effects. Players need to make reasonable combinations. However, in the current trial play, the building system has few expandable combinations and the content is relatively lightweight.

The game exploration is linear. There are regular enemies in the wild scenes, as well as collectibles, special NPCs, and scene puzzles. For example, the NPC requires players to find glowing items, and later, delivering flammable materials can obtain rewards. The "Painting Cage" mini - game requires players to shoot nodes to break the seal and open the treasure chest. However, the side - quest content has limited level of fun，and players can choose whether to experience it on their own.

Clair - Obscur: Expedition 33, with its innovative combat system, deeply integrates instant reaction and turn - based gameplay, bringing players a high - interaction and high - challenge combat experience. The character combat mechanisms are rich and diverse, with sufficient strategic depth. Although the character building system and exploration content seem rather ordinary at present, the unique combat gameplay is already enough to attract players to look forward to the official version. It is believed that after the game is officially launched, it will bring new vitality and surprises to the turn - based role - playing game field.