All of us, in some way, have experienced grief.
Whether it be over the loss of a family member or friend, grief is part of the human experience.
There are many ways we can deal with this grief, both healthy and unhealthy.
Yet, I have not seen a video game explore the concept in such a profound way before as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
With many AAA games falling below the mark recently, AA studios have risen to the challenge to fill in the quality gap.
Directed by Guillaume Broche. Expedition 33 is the latest video game to fill in that gap. 

Set in an alternate universe, the island of Lumière is facing certain oblivion.
Every year, a mysterious gigantic figure, known as the Paintress, paints a number upon her monolith.
The people that age then disappear in an event known as the Gommage.
With the Paintress counting down, it will not be long before everyone in Lumière has passed on   
And so, every year, a group of expeditioners are sent out to kill the Paintress, so that the people of Lumière can hope to grow old again. 
The game follows, you guessed it, Expedition 33 on this mission.

On the journey is our main character Gustave (Charlie Cox), his adopted sister Maelle (Jennifer English), the intelligent Lune (Kirsty Rider), and the optimist Sciel (Shala Nyx).
They are also joined by a mysterious former Expeditioner named Verso (Ben Starr), his hilarious friend Monoco (Rich Kebble), and the giant friendly creature known as Esquie (Maxence Cazorla).
Together, the seven travel across the land, befriending Gestrels and fighting Nevrons in numerous fantastic battles. 
Expedition 33 is a turn-based game, and it is already one of the best in the genre if you ask me.
Every character feels unique to use with their various different skillsets.
Not only that, but the dodge and parry mechanics are riveting.
There is a lot of challenge in getting the timing down for certain bosses strikes but, when you can parry an eight-hit attack you feel like a god.

Speaking of the bosses, they are all mostly excellent, as are the soundtracks accompanying them.
This is made all the more impressive by the fact that the game’s composer, Lorien Testard, had never worked on a video game before.
This is a common theme with Expedition 33.
Many of its developers are newbies to the industry, with a lot of them having been discovered by complete chance.
This makes the existence of Expedition 33 nothing short of a miracle, and I would highly encourage you to look into the history of the game just to see how it all came to be. 
Much like the composer, the game’s main writer, Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, had also never written for a video game, and this makes the excellence of her writing all the more inspiring.
The reveal of why the Paintress does what she does is excellent and perfectly set up throughout the narrative.
That narrative also does a fantastic job of building up the characters, especially Maelle and Verso, who are already among some of the most morally complex characters in video games.

And then there are the themes.
As I stated at the beginning of this review, Expedition 33 is a game that centers around grief and what it can drive people to.
This results in multiple emotional moments, the standout of which is the ending.
No spoilers here, but it had me questioning the morality of characters in such a way that I have not experienced since the ending of the original Last of Us. 
It is an ending I have already seen multiple debates about online, arguing over which character, if any, made the right decision. 

As of right now, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is my game of the year. 
The gameplay is enthralling, the music is spectacular, and the writing delivers an emotional and beautiful message about grief.
I cannot wait to see what Sandfall Interactive does next in the gaming world.
If their future titles are anything like Expedition 33, we may have another legendary studio on our hands.