And that’s only fair, because it absolutely rips.
Sandfall Interactive has created an RPG that will soon cement itself as a modern classic.
And itissad, like The Last of Us, but not bleak.
There’s a smiling-through-the-tears feeling to the intro that I can’t remember ever getting from a game before.
Clair Obscur ismelancholy, and that’s a descriptor I would rarely give to a new game.
It tends to be a feeling I associate with revisiting old ones.
For Gustave, that’s Sophie, his ex-girlfriend, who is preparing to face the Gommage.
Someone asks Sophie if they’re back together, and she says, “Maybe for now.”
These two people who have meant so much to each other get to spend these final bittersweet moments together.
I’m not one to cry during games.
Even the games that have deeply affected me (like both TLOU games) have never made me cry.
Gustave isn’t destroyed by losing Sophie.
It’s sad, but hopeful.
It’s an emotion that still feels rare in games.
I hope Clair Obscur is successful enough to make melancholy cool.
It’s the other 2025 game with the number 33 in the title.
