Dragon Age creator says Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is ‘kind of to JRPGs what Baldur’s Gate 3 was to CRPGs’

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has done rather well for itself—going blow-for-blow with bigger budget competition in the JRPG space, a genre title that has now fully detached from the country in its acronym because ol’ 33 is rather French, but I digress. One million sales in under a week, rave reviews, and heavyweight Steam concurrents despite being on Game Pass.

David Gaider, creator of the Dragon Age series, has also given it a solid two thumbs up, writing on Bluesky: “I’ve been playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and wow… 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!”

I’m glad Gaider’s enjoying himself—I’ve sunk about 50 hours into Clair Obscur and I’ve had a blast, too. It’s an ambitious blend of genres, choosing and swapping out parts of the JRPG formula I find tedious (such as MP and inventory management) for things I actively enjoy. I am unequivocally in the Venn diagram of sickos who like a good party-based fantasy adventure and being tricked into playing rhythm games.

I also don’t want to interrogate a throwaway social media post too much, but Gaider is an industry figure—and I can see a dreaded discourse looming on the horizon like a distant tidal wave. Larian’s landmark CRPG is no stranger to this sort of thing, attracting exhausting industry debates on the regular. ‘Who cares?’ you might ask. Me, me cares, because videogame commentary is part of my job.

I think Clair Obscur is fantastic, and it might make it into my personal shortlist for Harvey’s game of the year (we get personal picks at PC Gamer). But I don’t think it’s the BG3 of JRPGs. For starters, part of what makes it so good is the fact that it is using its JRPG trappings very competently—Baldur’s Gate 3, meanwhile, set a completely new standard for its genre.

What was once the domain of text boxes became fully mo-capped and acted performances. What was once a cosy multiple-choice storybook became a maddening, spinning web of cause and consequence that took years to fully unravel. A genre that would often bind you to a TTRPG-styled ruleset by rote broke its shackles and said hey, wanna skip a fortress by building a tower of crates? Go for it, who cares.

And while all of these things had been done in part before, Baldur’s Gate 3 did them all, did them all well, and packaged them into a game that had universal appeal enough to send Hasbro into a confused frenzy of how to capitalise on it. It also, as mentioned, launched a whole industry debate about new standards in RPGs.

The best thing about Clair Obscur, however, is how lovingly and whole-heartedly it embraces its inspirations, rather than expanding upon or evolving them. Its snappy, stylish combat is very clearly inspired by Persona. Its brain-melting plot twists and all-timer soundtrack takes notes from Nier. And, yes, its parry system is all Sekiro (dare I say it’s also a little Paper Mario by technicality).

The reason it’s good is because you can tell it was made by people who played a lot of really, really good JRPGs before, and wanted to make their own—then did exactly that. It’s a mosaic love letter that understands the adage “good artists borrow, great artists steal” and I adore it.

In terms of moving the needle forward as a genre? I’m not sure it’s in the same weight class as Baldur’s Gate 3, and that’s not an insult—the biggest invention Clair Obscur does is bring a more snappy and cinematic storytelling style to a genre often dominated by hours of cutscenes, exhaustive worldbuilding, and deep conversations.

But here’s the thing: That’s not an objective improvement, that’s a matter of taste. I like the realistic conversational pace and cinematographic flare of Clair Obscur, and I like the textured worldbuilding, chunky hours of cutscenes, and full-bodied character arcs of Metaphor: ReFantazio. Doing away with a certain kind of storytelling isn’t an innovation, it’s just putting on a different hat.

Anyway, poor Gaider probably doesn’t deserve this sort of interrogation—and neither does Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I think it’s an exceptional videogame that completely devoured my week off: I just don’t think we should say the wheel’s been reinvented when, in truth, someone just made a really really good wheel.