Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett

DB
1 day ago
3 min read

Artful ambition meets galactic grit — and not everything sticks the landing.

Sciel (Shala Nyx), Maelle (Jennifer English) and Lune (Kirsty Rider) fly the flag of Expedition 33 - from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Here's what I've been playing and watching over the last seven days...

MOVIES

Aliens (Extended Edition)

Forty years old this year and still rates as one of the best action movies (best sci-fi action?) ever made.

GAMES

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Game summary: Lead the members of Expedition 33 on their quest to destroy the Paintress so that she can never paint death again. (Steam)

Considering that the last turn-based RPG I played was Baldur's Gate 3 - which I loved - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was always going to suffer heavily in comparison.

To be fair, there is still quite a lot to like here: the art direction is fantastic, the different way you can set up your characters allows for some really different-feeling playstyles and the music...

I'll be honest, this game might just have the best score of any game I've ever played in my life - a lot of my favourite games may have had a few standout pieces of music, but Expedition 33 has classic after classic after classic.

Unfortunately - especially so for an RPG - the characters and story just didn't land for me at all, and that definitely hurt the overall experience.

It felt to me like the story about what was really going on was being dished out too slowly to properly engage with, affecting how I imagine later reveals were supposed to hit.

As an example (and very, very light spoilers), there's a false epilogue at the end of Act II that has some huge ramifications, but I'd already somewhat checked out of the story - I wasn't apathetic, but not far off.

And while I didn't love the characters, that doesn't mean they were bad - I particularly like Sciel and Lune: their designs, how they played in combat, the voice actors' performances; I would've quite happily had their roles beefed up.

I guess Expedition 33 just really didn't live up to expectations, or even come close to it - it's not a bad game by any measure and there's a lot of good here; just not enough for it to be a truly memorable experience.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 turned out to be a decent experience in the end, but I can say with complete confidence that I'll never bother playing it again - I might buy the score though... [6/10]

TV

Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett

Show summary: Bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand navigate the underworld when they return to Tatooine to claim Jabba the Hutt's old turf. (IMDb)

Episode 1: “Stranger in a Strange Land”

A bit of a mess, although seeing footage from Attack of the Clones and showing how Fett escaped the Sarlacc were both pretty fun moments.

Episode 2: “The Tribes of Tatooine”

I liked the idea of the train heist and appreciated the intent to flesh out the Tuskens, but it all felt very flat, with what I imagine were intended as big moments just passing by.

Episode 3: "The Streets of Mos Espa”

Lots of stuff happens, most of it badly acted and directed, including one of the worst chase sequences I’ve ever seen.

Episode 4: "The Gathering Storm”

Another so-so episode that’s still lacking that spark to ignite genuine investment in what’s happening – and now we’re into the back half of the season, I don’t see things improving any time soon.

Episode 5: "Return of the Mandalorian”

Much better – in fact, probably the best episode of the season because it’s just another episode of The Mandalorian, where he helps re-build and test fly a Naboo fighter.

That’s it, and it’s much better than anything else so far…

Episode 6: "From the Desert Comes a Stranger”

Still better than most episodes but really reminded me of the Clone Wars series where an episode would be used up spending time making sure people were in the right places.

Episode 7: “In the Name of Honor”

Probably a better finale than the show deserved overall, albeit mainly due to how it tied in to The Mandalorian and helped set up season 3 of that show…

Unfortunately, The Book of Boba Fett can't really be described as anything other than a major let-down, with pretty much all the best parts relating to a different Star Wars show. [3/10]