Among TV shows there is a genre called the mystery box show, represented by series like Lost or The X-Files. There is an underlying mythos, which is only hinted at at the start, and over time pieces of the puzzle are revealed, while new mysteries spring up. Being mysterious is the very purpose, and the viewer is strung along forever, with the mystery never being fully resolved, or so convoluted that nobody understands it. You can watch all 121 episodes of Lost, and then still need an "Lost ending explained" video on YouTube afterwards. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a mystery box RPG. Strong visuals and even stronger emotional moments make you want to explore the mystery of that world, but it is unlikely that the resolution at the end will actually satisfy you. Not only is the story convoluted, it also turns out to be centered around the characters that you are *not* playing, which I find problematic for a game in which you spend so much time optimizing those characters. But if you don't mind the end, and just enjoy the excellent cinematic composition, there is quite some enjoyment to be had in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

The weird and beautiful world and its mysterious inhabitants are very interesting. The downside of this style over substance approach is that the game doesn't necessarily conform to classic game design rules. The weird combat system I already talked about means that if you just time a lot of parries perfectly, you can kill bosses that are way too high level for you, and by that instantly gain lots of levels. I've seen a video of a level 5 group going up by 10 levels by parrying perfectly 300 times over 30 minutes, while doing only minimal damage per hit themselves. The turn-based part of combat works pretty well, it wouldn't have needed the quick time event part. While I do like the system of there being only very little loot in the game, which saves you a lot of hassle of inventory junk management, the lack of minimaps and weird scenery makes some essential loot sometimes hard to find. Those hard to find loot items include "recoats", which enable you to reskill; I don't really like making the option to reskill so limited, I would have liked to experiment more with builds.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a highly unusual and sometimes weird game from both the narrative and the gameplay point of view. It is worth playing for being different, for avoiding generic tropes and conventions, even if those unusual design choices sometimes leave the player a bit confused.