Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launches April 24

Turn-based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store on April 24, publisher Kepler Interactive and developer Sandfall Interactive announced. Pre-orders are now available. It will also be available via Game Pass.

Get the latest details below.

In today’s presentation, Sandfall Interactive shared details about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s development origins, plus several new gameplay features sure to intrigue fans looking forward to the game’s upcoming release. Filmed on location at Sandfall Interactive’s studio in Montpellier, France, several members of the development team shared more detail on the game’s emotional story, stunning art direction inspired by Belle Epoque France, and its innovative reactive turn-based combat gameplay, which infuses traditional RPG mechanics with real-time defensive and offensive abilities.

Additionally, the team revealed brand-new characters players will encounter during their adventure: the friendly, yet bloodthirsty, Monoco (voiced by Rich Keeble) and the larger-than-life Esquie (voiced by Maxence Cazorla). Monoco the Gestral joins the Expedition as a fully playable character, bringing his own unique playstyle to battles by transforming himself into the enemies the party encounters and using their abilities against them, while Esquie is an altogether more unusual character that players will befriend and use to discover the game’s explorable world. Throughout the game, players will unlock more abilities with Esquie, letting the Expedition climb aboard and traverse, swim, and soar across the game’s newly revealed overworld map.

Reminiscent of classic RPGs that inspired Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s turn-based gameplay, the world map gives players freedom to explore various new locations and secrets on their path to destroy the Paintress. Outside of rich level-based environments like Ancient Sanctuary and the Gestral Village, the overworld has unique discoverable caves and bespoke locations hosting challenging optional battles and side quests, providing extensive opportunities for players to test their mettle and master the game’s deep and rewarding character building mechanics. Players will also be able to set up camp on the overworld, taking time to reinforce their character weapons and builds, listen to the game’s stunning original score via an in-game record player, and have conversations with their teammates to learn more about their stories and motivations on their path to destroy the Paintress.