Jennifer Allen
By Jennifer Allen
“Men trip not on mountains; they stumble upon stones.” ~ Esquie
Warning of light spoilers for early points of the game
Imagine the excitement of starting up a brand-new game for the first time.
You find yourself at the start screen and after fiddling through some preliminary game settings, you click New Game.
A black screen wistfully graced with a few sparse flower petals gradually fades away to reveal the sounds of gulls and ocean waves to complement an array of peculiar statues and buildings. In fact, one of the very first things you can’t help but notice is the vast number of objects seemingly suspended in place.
It’s a tiny detail portrayed within a world that immediately expresses an explosion of wild imagination. Across each of the game’s explorable areas, there is this unnatural pause of seemingly impending destruction which lies just above a surface of bold color and life. It’s a subtle way to communicate that something about this world is… not allowed to fully resolve.
The more I continued to play this game, the more I felt absolutely spellbound by these seemingly whimsical yet disturbing imperfections.
The opening area is the small town of Lumière, and almost immediately you as the player are free to scurry around and take in the sights as you play both Gustave and Sophie, a pair for whom it becomes apparent very quickly they still love each other despite a falling out 4 years prior.
The style of the town is reminiscent of La Belle Époque; a time roughly between 1870 and 1920 often regarded as Europe’s “Golden Age.” With Paris, France as its center, this became a time of bustling construction, technological innovation, and advancements in the arts. It was during this period that the Eiffel Tower was completed, and you can even see this structure in the background yet in a similar state of interrupted decay as the top drips to one side like a half-burnt candle.
Moving about the town you then catch a brilliant contrast between two popular art styles of the period. The freeform softness and color of Art Nouveau appears to be in constant battle with the hard lines and geometric balance associated with Art Deco.
Yet another contrasting style is brilliantly foreshadowed in the game’s own title. Clair Obscur is a play on an art style popularized during the Italian Renaissance known as Chiaroscuro.
This method utilizes a stark contrast of light and dark to add dramatic depth and volume to its subjects and environment.
This is most notable in a scene near the end of the prologue where we’re introduced to this enigmatic figure known simply as The Paintress. The people of Lumière are at the mercy of this strange colossus in the distance who every year paints a new number and then returns to her sorrowful retreat at the base of that distant monolith. On this day, known as “The Gommage,” residents who have reached the age shown on this monolith will then cease to exist.
“I never faulted you for wanting to believe. You’re fighting. To change things. I understand, I just… in a “different world” right?” ~ Sophie
“We’ll break the cycle. So she can’t steal anyone else’s future.” ~ Gustave
From this point, the story shifts to the proclaimed Expedition 33: a selection of volunteers who plan to set out across the sea to confront The Paintress and cease her annual transgressions if only to save the remaining residents of Lumière from further suffering.
As you travel with the Expeditioners, you experience right along with them the progress of each previous attempt. The influence of these people is presented in such a way that their past endeavors paved the way for future generations to build upon and overcome.
Each is imagined as a group of living souls leaving small footprints upon on a path humanity is traversing to earn its right to exist. There is a beautiful yet macabre sense of camaraderie in this combined effort, and that the dream we all aspire to is greater than any one of us.
“We lay the trail for those who come after…” ~ motto passed down by past Expeditioners
The environment itself seems to mirror this… as everything on the continent feels like a rich cacophony of contrasting visuals, sounds, and perspectives. These experiences are but another subtle nod to the ever-present itch at the back of your thoughts that this world is not quite right.
Even the music, composed by Lorien Testard and featuring vocals by soprano Alice Duport-Percier, will transgress between gentle piano and strings in one scene to a succinctly punctuated electronica theme in another. This is a celebration of France’s music evolution from impressionist composers like Claude Debussy to modern dance artists such as Daft Punk.
With so much said in the game’s marvelously crafted subtext, it absolutely devastated me when the first half suddenly throws all of these wonderful things away to make way for the second half. The free and colorful longing of fantasy must needs make room for the sharp angled truth of reality… and this twist is only one of many the spiraling narrative will expose both you and the characters to for the remainder of the game.
Clair Obscur’s creative team sought to create a game which, much like its story, celebrates the influences of the past while simultaneously crafting something truly unique for others to build upon in the future.
Even the fight sequences are clearly inspired by some popular Japanese games released in the 1990s and early 2000s. Its characters are just as full of contradictions as the environment they traverse.
The game ultimately doesn’t patronize you with a neat little ‘happily ever after’ bow on top. It makes it painfully clear that no one is distinctly light or dark, but instead a magnificent Chiaroscuro we must learn to understand and accept.
And in that way… we are all able to observe all those tiny little footprints along the path and continue forward.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, developed by Sandfall Interactive and published by Kepler Interactive is available now to experience on both PC and Console.
Jennifer Allen works at Saathee and is also a Podcaster, Blogger, Photographer, Graphic Artist, Gamer, Martial Arts Practitioner, and an all around Pop Culture Geek. You can reach her at saathee@saathee.com
