This is not often a novel IP address of games attracts my attention from the debut, becomes more and more exhilarating with every disclosure, and then realizes noise. Clear unclear: Expedition 33 It is one of these uncommon games, which is even more impressive, considering that this jewel of adventure was created by a team of about 30 people.
Turn RPG and the debut title of the French studio Sandfall Interactive completely gives the promise of refreshing the genre, deriving inspiration from games from the past and the era of the French history Belle époque to create a pretty, tragic and unforgettable impressions that will probably fall as one of the best games from 2025.
How the image comes alive
Expedition 33 The world is alive, wonderful and haunted pretty, just like its story. The concept is obscure, but straightforward: a mysterious, gigantic enemy known only as a side wakes up once a year and paints a number on a gigantic monolith that can be seen all over the world. And every year everyone who is at this age dies in an amazing, painful way in the so -called Gommage (which is apparently a French word, which means “erasing” or “rubbing”) as all painted to death and disappearing forever.
The game starts with The Gommage for 34-year-olds, illustrating how disturbing and gloomy feels when world citizens gather together to celebrate the lives of those who are going to die, say goodbye to them, and then prepare another trip to try to take off the pain, regardless of how in vain.
Along with painting images (Bright It is translated into Chiaroscuro, which is the “art technique used in visual arts to represent light and shadow when they define three -dimensional objects”), one of the topics of history in history Expedition 33 He learns from the past, without repeating mistakes, and the mantra “tomorrow is coming”.
In the case of dozens of expeditions that appeared before 33, and your playable heroes – such as Gustave, Lune and Maelle – it’s about taking what he learned earlier and acting when the trip is heading towards Bolarka to try to employ the teaching of dead experts before them to come up with something. Quote z Metal gear solid 2“Building the future and keeping the past alive is one and the same,” he immediately came to my mind while playing. Actually, it was my quote from high school, so this topic resonates a lot with me.
The topic moves with the fight; You will have to study the movements of the enemy and the time of their attacks to avoid them properly, learn the memory of buttons pressure, and ultimately parry to get more injuries to stay alive and push forward in the group. You will quickly learn that the parquet parquet, although challenging to master, will become necessary for many more challenging battles of the game.
“When it falls, we continue,” say experts. The inhabitants of this world expected death and failure, pushing forward in fruitless attempts to defeat the asp and its principles of death over them. But “for those who come” continue. And it seems to me that there is a real lesson in this mood.
Turn -based evolution
Even with a voice cast boasting of Hollywood talent, real attraction Expedition 33 It’s a fight and everything that goes to the game. Injection Final Fantasy-RPGu RPG fighting Qtes, avoiding, evaporating, and even a little aiming and shooting at faint points, creates one of the more engaging institutions that I have enjoyed for a long time.
Each battle throughout the entire over 30 hours of history and several dozen others through the side quests and exploration is a joy, keeping you in every fight with every pleasant excellent Dodge or destructive parry. Grotesque Nevron enemies require full attention, including both before and after the battle.
In the most challenging parts, Expedition 33 It requires planning, strategy and construction for each playable figure of the game, rewarding those who devote time to promotion, unlocking skills and combine them between party members to destroy enemies.
A few fights take many cloths and restarts to really master the time of enemies and their various attacks. Changing the term of the speed of the attack reminds you of the fights of the bosses of software in games such as Elden Ring Or Dark SoulsSo you have to be ready all the time.
As a fan of turn -based games, with early Final Fantasy Titles are some of my favorites, it seems that it must be a norm for turn -based titles. I know that Sandfall did not invent a mechanic in this RPG style, but he was controlled here.
Character committees can be fun and versatile, enabling unique skill combinations, which after proper employ are extremely satisfying when it comes to the implementation of the game plan against a friend of the enemy or the fight against the boss, which collected you before coal.
Like time-honored games in this genre, Expedition 33 It also does not contain much when it comes to tracking tasks around the world. Sometimes NPC recalls something to you once and that’s all you have to continue. There is no way to track tasks and I often forgot that I was progressing in one and I had to talk to someone else, but it did not escape too much of the general experience. But this makes discovering the open world, fight his twisted creatures and meet novel capricious friends much more worth.
All stars
One of the biggest initial sales points for Expedition 33 He was his cast. The game contains Charlie Cox’s voice talents (Marvel’s Daredevil), Jennifer English (Shadowheart In Baldur gate 3), Ben Starr (Clive In Final Fantasy XVI) and Andy Serkis (Smeagol w Lord of the RingsKeys in Avengers: Age of UltronAnd much more) to develop the world at the highest level.
But in the end I felt so absorbed in the world Expedition 33 That I stopped hearing Matt Murdock, Smegol and Shadowheart, and instead I felt that I invested in the characters and their seemingly hopeless journey, everything on the star soundtrack at the top of everything else that was playing. And it covers really amusing moments in all fear.
I felt forced to examine as much as possible in the game with the game, and I will do it more now when my review is completed, but Expedition 33 In the past, the world map resembles classic RPGs. As the story develops, you can explore more, encountering high and powerful enemies as part of more and more challenging fights, as well as the charm of finding everything that is hidden in a visual feast of the map while traveling with a party and companions.
Unfortunately, a certain number of stories and exhibitions of the characters takes place in optional film cutscenes during the camp, but I think that it is necessary to further develop the world to learn how gloomy life is for those who know exactly when they die when the deduction of pain lasts every year. I would suggest that players make sure that they are exhausted by all dialogue options to get everything out of these characters and their world, because the main story does not add enough world building and the moments of the characters themselves.
The constant mystery of Bolarka, her works and the expanding cast of the character, develops more with every battle and a break, like Expedition 33 It is built on Crescendo and solidifies as one of the more unforgettable, unique and exhilarating RPGs in the latest memory.
And when it comes to what he brings tomorrow, from Sandfall Interactive at the helm, I think RPG fans are in good hands.
