A recently released Japanese style RPG made in France that came out last week after only being announced in January.
A game that caught my attention for two reasons: First, the rather overt twofold reference to Freemasonry in its title, second the surprisingly impressive production values for a debut title from a medium sized studio.
So, Ex 33 is set in a fantastical late 19th Century France. Following a calamity 67 years before the beginning of the game, the city of Lumiere, a fantasy version of Paris, has been separated from the mainland and a mysterious entity called The Paintress has set a ritual in motion that kills every member of a specific generation by having them disintegrate into a cloud of flower petals like a flashier Thanos. Each year she's painting a number onto a monolith with a gloomy expression. She's counting down from 100 and the game starts of just as the countdown for those currently 33 year old is about to start. Ever since this procedure has been set in motion, the people of Lumiere have sent a party of adventurers to put it to a stop, all of which have failed. So, as the title suggests, we follow Expedition 33 on their attempt.
It's a rather whimsical, fairy tale like premise, enforced by very dreamlike, hazy presentation that is difficult to compare to anything in particular. In parts it greatly reminiscent of American McGee's Alice: Madness Returns but if we venture outside the realm of video games it brings to mind a specific type of music video. Actually, this is gonna be a deep cut, large parts of it made me think of an obscure European fantasy christmas movie called Imaginaerum, a vanity project by Finnish metal band Nightwish. I know this won't mean anything to any of you but I think if think of you look it up you might see where I'm coming from.
It's oneiric landscapes are accompanied by a wailing, mournful soundtrack that occasionally brings to mind that of the Nier games although so far I don't think it quite measures up. And grounded by some rather morose performances on the voice actors side. Specifically on that of first party member and spitting image of Robert Pattinson Gustave.
Expedition 33, I don't mean this disparagingly, is probably second only to Death Stranding in perfecting the art of looking more expensive than it is. Again, I don't mean this as a backhanded compliment, but only very rarely can you tell that it was made by a medium sized time on a medium sized budget. Early on, during the prologue, there are a conspicuous amount of duplicate NPC's in the more crowded city streets, you can pick out quite a few stock assets but it manages to distract from those cut corners not just with its painterly environments but also its lavishly directed cutscenes with some very impressive facial animations.
The gameplay is a turn based/action hybrid, kind of similar to various Mario RPG's (or, I suppose, the South Park RPG's), turn based with quick time events for attacking, dodging and parrying. I'm not a good judge of turn based combat system but so far it's fun, if not tremendously complex. I currently have a party of three, an attacker, a mage and a swords woman with a gimmick around changing stances. There are your typical elemental weaknesses, buffs, debuffs, status effects, a somewhat tacked on free aim shooting mechanic and of course an emphasis on timing when it comes to dodging and parrying enemy attacks. Probably its most unique feature, requiring you to read telegraphs and learn the timing of different attacks in a way clearly inspired by action games like Sekiro.
Another rather out of left field influence is its From Soft inspired checkpoint system where you level up and rest at save points. As well as are given a supply of healing items you're meant to ration until you get to the next one. The individual zones are quite linear but separated by a classic world map. You know, there is something weirdly Final Fantasy 13 to the way the game blends JRPG gameplay with the pacing and design of linear, cinematic action games. Which isn't a bad thing but it is kind of interesting how some of that games experiments, despite mostly not being successful, are now being embraced by games like this one or the Final Fantasy 7 Remakes.
Otherwise level exploration and movement mechanics are pretty straight forward. There are some shooting mechanics to unlock items, there is some wall climbing, there is some of what could very generously be described as platforming. None of it is very impressive but at least it has some sense of variety to it unlike something like Final Fantasy XVI
Also, not to put too fine a point on it, but I recently mentioned somewhere else that there is something about recent asian action games that blurs together for me. I have to redact that statement as Expedition 33 shows that it doesn't just pay to asian or action games. It's just something about the Unreal 5 engine. I genuinely can't put my finger on it but between the lighting, the particle effects (and the quantity thereof) and the general animation there's just something to them that immediately sticks out, even in games with very distinct art direction.
All things considered, though, my first impressions of this are fairly positive. It's a very pretty game. A type of high fantasy that is both clearly inspired by the classics as well as bringing something unique to the table. At this point I wouldn't say I'm in love with it but I will also say that next to the FF7 Remakes, it's probably the most lavishly directed modern JRPG I've played. I know it's gotten rave reviews and seems to be doing well commercially. And you know what?
So mote it be.
A game that caught my attention for two reasons: First, the rather overt twofold reference to Freemasonry in its title, second the surprisingly impressive production values for a debut title from a medium sized studio.
So, Ex 33 is set in a fantastical late 19th Century France. Following a calamity 67 years before the beginning of the game, the city of Lumiere, a fantasy version of Paris, has been separated from the mainland and a mysterious entity called The Paintress has set a ritual in motion that kills every member of a specific generation by having them disintegrate into a cloud of flower petals like a flashier Thanos. Each year she's painting a number onto a monolith with a gloomy expression. She's counting down from 100 and the game starts of just as the countdown for those currently 33 year old is about to start. Ever since this procedure has been set in motion, the people of Lumiere have sent a party of adventurers to put it to a stop, all of which have failed. So, as the title suggests, we follow Expedition 33 on their attempt.
It's a rather whimsical, fairy tale like premise, enforced by very dreamlike, hazy presentation that is difficult to compare to anything in particular. In parts it greatly reminiscent of American McGee's Alice: Madness Returns but if we venture outside the realm of video games it brings to mind a specific type of music video. Actually, this is gonna be a deep cut, large parts of it made me think of an obscure European fantasy christmas movie called Imaginaerum, a vanity project by Finnish metal band Nightwish. I know this won't mean anything to any of you but I think if think of you look it up you might see where I'm coming from.
It's oneiric landscapes are accompanied by a wailing, mournful soundtrack that occasionally brings to mind that of the Nier games although so far I don't think it quite measures up. And grounded by some rather morose performances on the voice actors side. Specifically on that of first party member and spitting image of Robert Pattinson Gustave.
Expedition 33, I don't mean this disparagingly, is probably second only to Death Stranding in perfecting the art of looking more expensive than it is. Again, I don't mean this as a backhanded compliment, but only very rarely can you tell that it was made by a medium sized time on a medium sized budget. Early on, during the prologue, there are a conspicuous amount of duplicate NPC's in the more crowded city streets, you can pick out quite a few stock assets but it manages to distract from those cut corners not just with its painterly environments but also its lavishly directed cutscenes with some very impressive facial animations.
The gameplay is a turn based/action hybrid, kind of similar to various Mario RPG's (or, I suppose, the South Park RPG's), turn based with quick time events for attacking, dodging and parrying. I'm not a good judge of turn based combat system but so far it's fun, if not tremendously complex. I currently have a party of three, an attacker, a mage and a swords woman with a gimmick around changing stances. There are your typical elemental weaknesses, buffs, debuffs, status effects, a somewhat tacked on free aim shooting mechanic and of course an emphasis on timing when it comes to dodging and parrying enemy attacks. Probably its most unique feature, requiring you to read telegraphs and learn the timing of different attacks in a way clearly inspired by action games like Sekiro.
Another rather out of left field influence is its From Soft inspired checkpoint system where you level up and rest at save points. As well as are given a supply of healing items you're meant to ration until you get to the next one. The individual zones are quite linear but separated by a classic world map. You know, there is something weirdly Final Fantasy 13 to the way the game blends JRPG gameplay with the pacing and design of linear, cinematic action games. Which isn't a bad thing but it is kind of interesting how some of that games experiments, despite mostly not being successful, are now being embraced by games like this one or the Final Fantasy 7 Remakes.
Otherwise level exploration and movement mechanics are pretty straight forward. There are some shooting mechanics to unlock items, there is some wall climbing, there is some of what could very generously be described as platforming. None of it is very impressive but at least it has some sense of variety to it unlike something like Final Fantasy XVI
Also, not to put too fine a point on it, but I recently mentioned somewhere else that there is something about recent asian action games that blurs together for me. I have to redact that statement as Expedition 33 shows that it doesn't just pay to asian or action games. It's just something about the Unreal 5 engine. I genuinely can't put my finger on it but between the lighting, the particle effects (and the quantity thereof) and the general animation there's just something to them that immediately sticks out, even in games with very distinct art direction.
All things considered, though, my first impressions of this are fairly positive. It's a very pretty game. A type of high fantasy that is both clearly inspired by the classics as well as bringing something unique to the table. At this point I wouldn't say I'm in love with it but I will also say that next to the FF7 Remakes, it's probably the most lavishly directed modern JRPG I've played. I know it's gotten rave reviews and seems to be doing well commercially. And you know what?
So mote it be.
