Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has to be one of the oddest names for a video game; it is so unmarketable. What it lacks in clickbait value, it more than makes up for in gameplay. It is as polished as any JRPG you will see from a veteran Japanese company like Square Enix, except it is made by a relatively unknown and small French company called Sandfall Interactive. This is their first game, and it is beyond insane how they managed to pull this off. 

The story is set in this alternate world where everyone above a certain age perishes when a human-like creature changes the number on a structure located on a distant island called the Paintress. The whole thing has been happening for 67 years at the start of the game. You get to witness the Paintress changing the date from 34 to 33, and watch as people around you disintegrate into petals and ash. It’s a sombre premise and fits the overall horror-like aesthetic of the game. However, people of Lumiere are not just going to let this fly without taking some action. So, every year, an expedition is sent to reach the island where the Paintress lives, in an attempt to kill her and stop the culling. However, no one in the past decades has completed their mission. You play characters from the 33rd mission, and your objective is obviously to end the Paintress and save the world.