Summary
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33has been a monumental success for Sandfall Interactive and its publisher, Kepler Interactive. Clair Obscur currently has the highest score on Metacritic of games released in 2025, andone of the highest user scores of all time. Despite releasing day one on Game Pass and in the shadow of the shadow-dropped Oblivion Remastered, Clair Obscur surpassedhalf a million salesjust over a day from release.
The success of Clair Obscur has not gone unnoticed. David Gaider, lead writer on Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, recently heaped praise on the turn-based RPG, comparing the status of Clair Obscur with that ofBaldur’s Gate 3in their respective subgenres.
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“I’ve been playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and wow,” writes Gaider. “So far, it’s kind of to JRPGs what Baldur’s Gate 3 was to CRPGs. It’s beautiful and polished and well-written, and the turn-based combat is so fun!”
A fan replied to the post, praising the tonal range of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The game’s narrative can be heart-wrenching, but this heartbreak is broken up by lighthearted moments between party members. The presence of goofier characters like Esquie and the gestrals also offers some comedic reprieve from the harsh realities of the continent.
Gaiderconcurs with the fan’s assessment, writing, “To me, that’s the way to do it. In order for the lows to have meaning, you need the highs. Too much of either and it would become unbearable.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 is described by many as the quintessential CRPG, a genre that has seen somewhat of a renaissance over the last decade after falling out of vogue in the mid 2000s. The fantastic CRPGs never stopped—Pillars of Eternity 2 is a masterpiece—but Baldur’s Gate 3’s commercial success could be instrumental. We won’t know for a few years, but if we begin to see a glut of high-budget CRPGs over the next ten years, then we’ll know which game sparked the increased interest in the genre.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was developed in France, but the game embodies its Japanese inspirations so deeply and wholly that you can’t describe it as anything but a JRPG. It’s unclear if Gaider is highlighting the commercial success of Clair Obscur—JRPGs are popular, but can be niche outside the very well-known series'—or if he’s referring to the astounding quality of the game. Either way, any positive comparison to Baldur’s Gate 3 is high praise.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. It is currently available on Game Pass.
