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Warning! Heavy Spoilers Ahead.
Expedition 33 is one of the greatest storytelling achievements I have ever witnessed. The game currently sits at the very top of the Metacritic scoreboard, sitting at a 9.7 average user score. This places Expedition 33 as the highest-rated video game ever created. However, this is more than just a great game. It is a wonderfully dark piece of art that reaches deep into your soul and crushes what little bit of hope you still have left.
At its heart, Expedition 33 is a Lovecraftian fantasy that explores the true meaning of loss and despair. It would be too difficult to even attempt to explain how to story unfolds here, it is something that must be experienced in person. However, the narrative lead, Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, and the game director, Guillaume Broche, started with a fairly simple concept.
Inspired by a painting that Broche enjoyed and a poem Svedberg-Yen was working on, the two wanted to create a story about an artist who entered her canvas. Thus, Expedition 33 was born. While the idea was still in its infancy, the two creators got help from Broche’s mother.
“He asked her, ‘What is the worst thing that could happen to you?’ And she said, ‘to lose you’ or to lose any of her children. And so that became our catalyst.”
To give you an idea of how this took shape, here is an oversimplified version of Expedition 33. After the death of her son, a mother enters the canvas he painted as a boy. This canvas still retains a piece of his soul. She recreates her family in this canvas and spends her days developing this fantasy world.
However, each day that she spends in the canvas saps her energy, slowly killing her in the real world. To prevent this, her husband enters the canvas to remove her. He then plans to destroy the canvas and the last piece of his son, to save his wife. The two engage in a melancholic war for decades, with no clear winner prevailing.
“For Those Who Come After”
What follows is possibly the most heart-wrenching story ever told. Expedition 33 is horror in its highest form. There is no end to the amount of death, despair, and hopelessness found in this story. For anyone looking for “elevated” horror, this is the finest example you can ask for. As for those seeking fantasy, the world of Expedition 33 is filled with rich lore, fantastical creatures, and some of the most beautiful imagery ever seen.
At the end of the day, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 does what art is supposed to do. It makes us feel. We experience the character’s fear and dread. We empathize with their pain and embrace their joy. As tragic as the story of Expedition 33 is, the strongest sense of sadness I felt was knowing I would never be able to experience it for the first time again.
However, the game development team, Sandfall Interactive, isn’t ready to lay down their swords just yet. According to Svedberg-Yen, the team is willing to create some DLC for Expedition 33, but it may take some time.
“We were not expecting such a strong reception, and we want to keep the momentum going, so we’re very focused on user experience right now. When the dust settles, we will start thinking about DLC, but it’s probably not going to be for a while.”
For now, just enjoy the story as it is written. There is so much to enjoy and experience in the world of Expedition 33, it is easy to get lost in the tale. Just make sure to follow the game’s main piece of advice. Work hard to make sure that the world is better for those who come after you.
