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If I decided to judge Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 based on aesthetics, artistry, and the narrative alone, this would be a 10 out of 10 game. It’s hauntingly beautiful and left me feeling for all of the individuals I followed on the journey. While the general execution is fine and the gameplay can be quite fun, I found a few things got in the way of truly being captivated and immersed in the experience.

The Paintress is a haunting and ever-present figure for the people living in Lumiere. Each year, she wakes up and paints a number on a wall beside her. When she does, everyone who is at or over that age ceases to exist. They disappear. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 begins right as this is about to happen again. The menace is about to awake and doom everyone who is 33 or older. We watch as Gustav, a scholar and warrior destined to be part of the 33rd expedition that will leave after this event in an attempt to stop her, witnesses this brutal dismissal. Then he, alongside his much younger adopted sister Maelle and fellow squates like Lune, undergo the voyage to the Paintress’ island to face her forces and (hopefully) her in the latest attempt to end this cycle.

It’s a fascinating and touching story, to be certain. I found that I genuinely came to feel for these people and understand their desperation. All of the people we leave Lumiere with are living on borrowed time. They’re next, eventually. They know that for the last 67 years, nobody’s been successful in defeating the Paintress. So many people left and never returned. Hell, we come across the journals of those who went before us and see the often ominous or heartbreaking s of their journeys. Sandfall Interactive isn’t afraid to show actions have consequences and this is a life or death situation, and I ire that.

I adore Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s character and environmental design. This is such a beautiful game. Sandfall Interactive worked some real magic. So many cutscenes feel monumental. Whether it’s because something actually important happened, or just the cinematic direction and design of the people and places are so well-executed. Truly, it’s a masterpieces of its own in many ways.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 also sounds phenomenal. The casting is impeccable. Everyone is perfectly suited for their role and completely commits to their character. It’s wonderful to watch. However, the artistry behind the soundtrack is also so impressive and expressive. The themes are so apt and accentuate the situations. This is truly a cinematic experience. 

I just wish the gameplay always felt as pitch perfect and flawless as its aesthetics and story. In many ways it is fine and a totally enjoyable turn-based RPG! But there are also some annoyances that keep coming up and getting in the way of my appreciating the actions as much as I did the overall experience. 

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 feels like a standard, turn-based RPG until you actually get into a fight. Characters can roam an overworld map to find specific locations to explore as they head toward the Paintress and learn more about her, her forces, the Gestrals living on the island, and various truths. When in a location, you might find items or the journals from past teams. When you level up at past expedition’s flags, you can rest, apply skill points earned by leveling up, learn new skills, respec if you have the right item, and fast travel. Enemies will roam on both the world map and in locations, with bosses being scripted encounters when you reach certain spots. All this is handled well, and every spot we visit feels unique.

While the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 battles are turn-based, a number of elements keep them from feeling traditional. For instance, some opponents may have visible weak spots or be flying. You need to swap to the character’s ranged weapon to exploit that or even damage them. There’s a standard attack, of course, as well as learned skills. Quick-time events are tied to assaults with skills and come up each time, though these can be automated in the options menu. Enemy attacks can be dodged or parried, in some cases even with a jump when the whole party is targeted. If you parry or jump, there can even be an option for a powerful counter either by the single individual or whole party. I appreciate how strategic it all feels, especially since hitting weaknesses feels meaningful, characters all have a unique fighting style, like how Lune can inflict “stains” to increase damage or add effects, and it felt like I had a little more influence on encounters.

However, I will it that after about five hours, I grew a bit tired of the constant QTEs and turned them off in the accessibility options. You can do this for the attack-based ones, but can't for dodging and blocking. The issue is that the tells for attacks in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 occasionally aren’t clear, and a few notable fights could use a bit of balancing. Sometimes, the moment will last too long, which makes it difficult to tell when to parry. Others times, that window might be too short or you might not realize how many hits there will be. With general enemies you’ll face often, it isn’t an issue. By the second or third encounter, you’ll figure it out. But it may prove an issue with some bosses you only face once, especially since there can be an occasional difficulty spike at some later points. The thing with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the most effective method of dealing damage to any opponent tends to be parrying and countering an attack, so you need to catch on quick.

Another issue I have with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 involves the fact that it doesn’t involve any maps. You can’t check and see where you are. Which struck me as a bit weird, as this is a group on an expedition. Gustav and other characters reference leaving things for those who come after them and make a point of looking for signs from past expeditions. So why couldn’t any of these people leave a map of what they’d seen so far? In most locations, it’s a rather straightforward run and easy to get from point A to point B. But a handful of spots did get me a bit turned around. I’m not asking for strict handholding, but even a vague map of the space that didn’t track our actual locations would do for the few more involved dungeons. Fortunately, spots in areas where we can camp are fast travel points and tend to be near important locations, so that helps. But again, since many locations are straightforward, it isn't the biggest deal.

Speaking of which, I noticed that while some of these places look really great and feature fun points of interest to, there’s not a lot to actually interact with along the way. We find past expedition flags where we can build our characters after gaining experience from fights. Maybe we’ll occasionally see some currency or an item to grab. We’ll happen upon a journal from a past expedition. I would have loved more reasons to poke around the places I’d go or more excuses to take things in. This isn't to say there isn't a lot to do, and I plan to poke around to take on some additional challenges now that I beat it. But it is quite straightforward and there aren't many things to do besides fight.

I absolutely recommend Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and think it’s a gorgeous game. I loved the story it told and the characters I encountered. I just feel like some design choices keep it from being absolutely perfect. I’d have loved more incentives to really explore levels and maps that would make it easier to get around and find secrets. The game is absolutely worth your time, especially if you love detailed characters and a fun story.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will come to the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on April 24, 2025. 

The post Review: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Embraces Its Premise appeared first on Siliconera.

At a glance, it’s not hard to recognize some of the popular JRPG titles that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is drawing from and paying homage to. While many developers have attempted to recreate the nostalgia of the genre during the 90s and early aughts, it’s unusual for a game to catch my attention with such strength. And after roughly 4 hours playing an early build of the game, my interest has only grown.

The main conceit in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is simple. The Paintress is an entity with the ability to kill any person below a given age when painting a number in the sky. After decades of trying to fight back, it is the turn of Expedition 33 (named after the number in the sky) to embark on a journey to kill the Paintress. This build of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 that I played skipped past the introduction in the city of Lumière and jumps straight to the action. It showed a summary of the events leading up to it, which involved an old man attacking the Expedition and causing protagonists Gustave, Lune, and Maelle to disband. I was immediately invested and hooked by the mystery. How come an old man is here, considering there are no people over the age of 33 alive?

After the intro, I jumped into the thick of it. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG that takes inspiration from many classic and modern RPG and JRPG games. From what I played, navigating and exploring the environments is simple. There are some very light platforming elements and many detours that lead to powerful enemies guarding useful equipment and items. The two environments I could explore in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for this preview were considerably big, but I never felt fatigued exploring. The two main areas I explored are stunning and the art direction is fantastic. The first one looked a ravine set atop a mountain or hill, with ruined buildings straight out of early 20th century stranded in between rock formations. The second area, aptly called the Flying Waters, looked like a coral reef sitting at the bottom of the sea, with fish and marine creatures roaming around. Except the entire area was in the surface of the continent, in what looked like a mountain .

In between these two zones, I was allowed to traverse a small version of the world map which was featured in a recent trailer. I was immediately reminded of how uncommon it is to see a good ol’ world map in an RPG nowadays, and I loved every second I spent exploring it. While the main areas are visually breathtaking, the world map had a different beauty all on its own, with all the bizarre constructions and ruins inspired by the French Belle Époque floating around the continent, reminiscent of a diorama. The combination of French architecture and impossible fantastic elements is captivating and results in a unique looking game.

It was on the world map where I was able to set up camp to rest and save my progress, and got a cutscene between Gustave and Lune, my only party at the time. While there were other cutscenes before that point, it was during this event and the one preceding it that I was sold on the performances. Charlie Cox lends a theatrical quality to Gustave that clicks with the atmosphere of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but Kirsty Rider as Lune was the standout performance for me. The duo’s dynamic and clash on how to proceed after a harrowing experience was delivered succinctly, and the dialogue was punctuated with the characters talking over each other, overcome with bouts of anger and anguish. Jennifer English as Maelle also does a great job and I have a soft spot for her character already. What also complements the aesthetic and performances is the music. The various songs in the demo were beautiful, and I was particularly surprised at the battle music changing between areas, with the battle theme in the Flying Waters being a highlight.

However, the main focus of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is in its combat, which puts great emphasis in creating combo opportunities between characters in the party. The max party size seems to be 3 which felt perfectly balanced. As part of the demo, I was able to play as Gustave, Lune, and eventually Maelle. Gustave is a frontliner that fights with a sword and pistol. He has a mechanical arm that can store energy and unleash it with an ability that scales off of it, dealing massive amounts of damage. Almost every action that Gustave takes gives him a charge of his arm. Meanwhile, Luna is a magic adept character that can store up to 4 elemental “stains” obtained from the skills she casts. Each skill can in turn be powered or have its effects changed with stains, making for a very flexible casting system that rewards smart use of skills, but never punishes you for not being the most optimal.

Maelle s on the later part of the demo, and she is a duelist that changes between 3 different stances with the use of her skills, capable of linking them in order to deliver powerful combos. In my experience, Maelle was the character with the most consistent high damage, and setting up combos to make her deliver devastating damage was incredibly fun and rewarding. However, I could say the same about Gustave’s more straightforward overcharge mechanic, or Lune’s stains.

Beating enemies will grant experience, which in turn gives players stats points to freely allocate, and skill points to use on each character’s upgrade tree. The game lets you fully customize your characters in many different ways, and it seems like the final version will allow to respect to try other builds. Different weapons scale off of different attributes, like vitality or agility, and leveling them up will unlock different ive effects. While I couldn’t try these ives in the demo, it looks like flexibility and free-form customization will be a big focus in the final version. Even with what was available in this version of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, I was reminded of so many JRPG and RPG classics with crunchy systems that allow for some ridiculously fun set ups, and with only four hours I was capable of getting some impressive combos that got my blood pumping.

One of these upgrade systems were the Pictos, a type of equipment that grant stats as well as substantial ive upgrades. Each character can equip up to 3 Pictos, and after completing 4 battles with a new Picto equipped, characters can freely equip the ive upgrade if they have enough Lumina points. With these, I was able to set up some really fun combos, such as gaining extra Action Points (or AP, used to cast skills) per enemy kill. I would then use the free aim projectile every character has (which spend AP charges without ending my turn) to hit enemies in their weak spot for massive damage, finish them off with one or two more shots, regain my AP, and continue onto the next enemy, wiping them all in quick succession.

Unlike other RPGs and JRPG games, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 doesn’t seem to have normal consumables, instead having only three types of items you can use in combat; a healing potion, an item to replenish your Action Points (used to cast skills,) and a reviving potion. At first, I chafed against this system, but as I started getting shards that expand the uses of each consumable, I started to really appreciate the idea. The flags of previous Expeditions are set around the various environments in the game, which lets you upgrade your characters or rest to recover all your HP and resources, which also makes enemies respawn. Being able to use items in combat knowing I could easily replenish them put me in a different mindset than having to purchase them or getting drops. Merchants exist in the world of Clair Obscur. The one I encountered sold really useful upgrade materials, as well as a secret Picto that I had to gain the right to see by challenging the merchant do a 1vs1 duel.

So far, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is shaping up to be a memorable time. The game feels old school and brand new at the same time. Despite all the recognizable inspirations, the demo left me with a very strong impression, with the different gameplay systems involved harmonizing to make a very crunchy and flexible experience. The mystery of the Paintress and the fate of Lumière are enticing hooks, and I am eager to see where it goes. All of this is ed by a wonderful artistic department that blend fantasy with a uniquely French aesthetic.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will come out on April 24, 2025 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam.

The post Preview: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Paints a Promising Picture appeared first on Siliconera.

2024 has been a decent year for indie horror games. From abandoned theme parks full of monsters to Eldritch beings at sea, there has been something for everyone’s tastes. So if you’re looking for a smaller horror game to sink your teeth into this Halloween, these six games have you covered.

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While the Silent Hill 2 remake has proven to be remarkably successful at capturing the feeling of the PS2 original, for those looking for a more accurate gameplay experience it may be a letdown. This is where Hollowbody comes in, which sticks more closely to the fixed camera angles and awkward combat of PS2-era survival horror.

Set in a dilapidated Britain in a vaguely cyberpunk near-future, you play as a black-market smuggler whose partner has disappeared into an exclusion zone. You’ll be exploring the ruins of an abandoned town, complete with monsters around every corner. However, there’s a creeping dread that even beyond the beasts, this is not a pleasant place to be. Hollowbody does have some noticeable flaws, but it’s one of the best indie horror games to recreate that early 2000s feel.

Hollowbody is available for PC.

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War is a common setting for video games. Whether it’s dense strategy games recreating historical battles or gung-ho shooters about fighting for freedom, it’s been heavily covered. Where war doesn’t feature that often is horror, which is a surprise when the setting is so ripe for it. War is a miserable, terrifying experience for those who fight in it, after all.

This is where Conscript comes in. It uses the damp, rat-infested trenches of World War I as its setting and it’s incredibly effective. The tight spaces and poor lighting make it hard to see threats around each corner, while damaged supply lines force item management to the forefront. It’s very Resident Evil in its structure, but the horrors here are much more human. By marrying the mechanics of horror games to the harsh realities of combat, Conscript is an effective reminder that war is hell.

Conscript is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.

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While not strictly a horror game in many people’s definitions, Pacific Drive meets the criteria of being one of the best indie horror games of 2024 in many ways. Supernatural threats you’re mostly powerless against? Check. A tense, foreboding atmosphere that persists everywhere you explore? Check. Jump scares? If mannequins appearing ominously behind you without you noticing count, then absolutely check.

Pacific Drive sends you out into an exclusion zone in America’s spookiest region (the Pacific Northwest) where science has unleashed horrors upon the landscape. Also your only protection is a beaten-up 1970s station wagon. Half survival roguelike, half car maintenance simulator, Pacific Drive manages to evoke horror through the random nature of its anomalous threats and with a landscape that becomes increasingly alien as you progress through the game.

Pacific Drive is available for PC and PS5.

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Isolated locations are the perfect locations for horror, and where is more isolated than an oil rig in the middle of the ocean? Still Wakes the Deep sees you playing as a rig worker as the crew drills into something terrible in the ocean that should have been left alone. The game that follows is a desperate rush to escape from this unknowable horror while trapped by your surroundings.

Developed by The Chinese Room, Still Wakes the Deep evokes the same horror as their previous work Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. Plenty of tense atmosphere, a monster that could be anywhere as it cracks and breaks the rig around itself, and a cast of excellent voice actors that sell the terror make the game one of the best indie horror games of 2024.

Still Wakes the Deep is available for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

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Mouthwashing is a game that seemingly came out of nowhere this year, and quickly shot right to the top of many players’ lists. The premise is that a spaceship crew is stranded following a crash that may have been caused by the captain. As the game progresses, the truth is revealed through a series of surreal flashbacks told out of order, revealing a rapid decline in sanity across the whole crew.

Mouthwashing uses low poly aesthetics to great effect, crafting a cast of characters who are generally unpleasant to look at and an environment that’s oppressive even before things begin to collapse. It’s a game that’s left a huge impression on its players, one that’s unlikely to be shaken any time soon.

Mouthwashing is available for PC.

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The low-poly PS1 aesthetic works wonders for horror. The shifting textures, static faces and awkward shapes and movements add an uncanny pleasantness that can be put to great work when it comes to making people uneasy. Crow Country embraces the PS1 horror aesthetic to its fullest, in a way you’d likely not expect from the developers of Snipperclips.

You play as Mara Forest, a special agent investigating Crow Country, an abandoned theme park, whose owner has disappeared. The game is a classic survival horror game, with limited resources, obtuse puzzles and an array of creepy monsters wandering around. However, while the gameplay evokes Resident Evil and Silent Hill, the visuals owe a greater debt to Final Fantasy VII, right down to the chibi character models.

Crow Country is a fantastic horror game all round. The story is a true mystery, full of twists and turns. The gameplay is full of inventive puzzles. And the theme park is dripping with atmosphere, with the feeling that more horrors are lurking around the corners you can’t see. It’s an essential game for any horror fan, and easily one of the best indie horrors of 2024.

Crow Country is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.

Let us know what your favorite indie horror game of 2024 is in the comments below!

The post Best Indie Horror Games of 2024 appeared first on Siliconera.

A new content update for Pacific Drive has added a ton of new settings allowing players to tweak the experience. New DLC cosmetics are also available as part of the new update.

The new settings added to Pacific Drive will allow players to customize the game experience how they choose. Seven new presets have been added that change the gameplay experience. Some of these presets will lower the challenge while others add extra brutal difficulty. Scenic Tour removes player death, lowers crafting requirements and nerfs hazards, while Joyride keeps hazard difficulty at the base game level while keeping crafting requirements low. On the other end, Nuclear Journey increases radiation on all maps, while Mechanic’s Road Trip makes the car more susceptible to damage. For the ultimate challenge, Iron Wagon deletes your save file if you die. The Pacific Drive difficulty will allow you to keep the experience exactly as it was originally.

If these new settings are not to your liking, the Pacific Drive content update will allow you to tweak the individual elements to create your own custom difficulty. There are now 50 settings to play around with, allowing full customization of the experience. These include off-road handling difficulty, flat tire severity, storm speed, crafting requirements, and more. You can even make accidentally closing the trunk on your head kill you instantly if you wish.

Other new features added in the Pacific Drive content update include new cosmetics and the ability to paint all surfaces of the car, including the wheels. There is also paid DLC content adding cosmetics based on the game’s various anomalies, allowing you to equip a sawblade hood ornament and a steering wheel that looks like an Anchor, among others. Finally, the content update will allow PC players to implement custom soundtracks using local audio files.

Pacific Drive is out now for PC and PS5. The new content update has also just released for the game.

The post Pacific Drive Content Update Includes a Casual Scenic Tour Mode appeared first on Siliconera.

Cat Quest 3 is the latest in a series of adorable little action RPGs that have attracted a small but loyal audience. For the third game, the typical medieval setting has been ditched in favor of one based on pirates. And this high seas swashbuckler is one that you’ll want to get your paws on.

In Cat Quest 3, you play as an unnamed young cat pirate heading out on his first adventure with the ghost of veteran pirate Captain Cappey. Your adventure starts on a small island in the Purribean where you steal a ship and set off to find the mysterious North Star Treasure. Along the way, you have to deal with rival pirate captains all with their own plans for the booty.

This start sets a great impression. You’re immediately introduced to the various aspects of combat, which mainly consists of a melee weapon, a ranged weapon and a spell. Then you get a ship and can head off into the world after breaking the flimsy barrier between you and freedom. And I do mean freedom, as the world is fully explorable from the start of the game, although certain corners of the map will likely stomp you into a fur rug without a little levelling.

The Purribean Sea of Cat Quest 3 is small but dense. It’s an assortment of islands dotted around the ocean, all containing their own secrets and treasures. The ability to sail around all these places right out the gate offers a huge amount of freedom. Even within the story, you never fully feel like you’re being funneled into a specific direction. While there is a direct line of events that need to be followed, many of your objectives branch off into multiple locations that can tackled in any order, whether that’s collecting keys for a tower or defeating different pirate captains.

Tucked away between these main objectives are a ton of additional side stories, such as a lovelorn rat whose ghost still haunts his castle or a convoluted mail delivery chain that involves a wedding and a deep-seated rivalry. These side stories make exploring the world of Cat Quest 3 a joy. While you’re journeying to find where the game wants you to go, you’ll trip over countless side activities along the way. There is never a dull moment here.

The game is also determined to immerse you in its map, avoiding a lot of the tedium and bloat that can sometimes infect the open world genre. While your objectives will be marked on your map in the menu, the main game has no non-diegetic markers aside from an optional one you can place yourself. This forces you to use the environment around you to navigate, which I’m always a fan of. It helps that the map is small enough to become familiar without feeling too limited.

It manages to introduce the world to you without holding your hand too much. Your initial guides around the world are star towers that point vaguely where you need to go, but you have to triangulate with multiple towers to find your objective. In the process, you quickly become aware of which islands are where, and soon navigating this map becomes second nature. It happens to organically that I didn’t notice how little I was using the map for navigation until about halfway through the game. I simply headed off in whatever felt the natural direction at the time.

Combat in Cat Quest 3 is something you’ll find yourself spending a lot of time doing. It’s simple action-adventure fare, with a single attack button, a weapon switch and some optional spells, but the way these elements are brought together is surprisingly deep. There are multiple types of melee and ranged weapon, creating a range of combinations. You can attack with a sword, a shield or claws. The shield is slow and heavy, but offers more defense, while the claws are risky but speedy.

Meanwhile, ranged weapons include guns and wands, which offer different combat styles. Equipping the Meowchine Gun will give you weaker damage per shot but a massive clip, while the blunderbuss type weapons are powerful but can only fire a couple of shots before needing to be reloaded. Clothing and other equipment also adds a wide range of additional abilities, such as the ability to heal while attacking. The result of this is a combat system with a heavy amount of customization, making it suitable for anyone’s play style.

Combat also offers plenty of challenge. It’s not Dark Souls by any means, but there will be times where boss encounters will cause you some difficulties. Some fights might crush you unless you swap out your equipment to combat elemental damage, while others require alertness and liberal use of the dodge mechanic. This goes for ship combat too, especially as you get to more unique ships within the Meowtallica and Captain Takomeowki fleets. Ship combat against the captains’ flagships is especially stressful, as some of them can become slow-moving bullet hells. And every single one of these fights is a lot of fun, even when you’re beaten.

The story adds to the fun too. Cat Quest 3 has a simple plot, where you are racing against other pirates for a vague treasure that hides secrets, but the execution is fantastic. This is not a game that takes itself too seriously, most obvious in how many puns are baked into the game’s writing. Your enemies are actually called “pi-rats” and “meow” and “purr” are tossed liberally into any sentence that will fit them (and even a few that don’t). Every character you meet is goofy and charming, often with absurd quirks. But there’s also heart here too, as your protagonist and Captain Cappey develop a close friendship. You’ll fall in love with every single member of this cast.

Visually, Cat Quest 3 has a lot going for it too. It’s reminiscent of Square Enix’s HD-2D style, with layered 2D sprites mixed with 3D models in a diorama-style view. The characters sprites are adorable, especially the main character. He’s got a happy little face on him and seems to be having the time of his life in every animation. Even the save animation, where he hops into an immediate nap for recovery, is aggressively cute.

Cat Quest 3 is an excellent game, so much so that I’m scrambling to find criticism of it. It could maybe benefit from a fast travel system or a method to improve the speed of your ship. It could be seen as a little too short, clocking in at around ten hours if you really explore the world. The cat puns may become a little excessive at times. And that’s really all I can find to criticise it. Even then, many of these aren’t an issue for me, as the game’s density of content makes up for the length, the lack of fast travel may contribute to how intuitive the world is and the cat puns were all part of the charm.

I loved my time with Cat Quest 3. Exploration is joyful, combat is a lot of fun and the story is silly and charming in all the right ways. If you want a small but dense pirate adventure full of good humor, Cat Quest 3 is for you.

Cat Quest 3 is out now for PC, PS5, PS4, Switch, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One.

The post Review: Cat Quest 3 is a Purr-Fect Pirate Adventure appeared first on Siliconera.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was announced at the Xbox Games Showcase. It's a new turn-based RPG from developers Sandfall Interactive, set for release in 2025.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is set in a world cursed by someone known as the Paintress. Every year she paints a number on a monolith, and everyone of that age instantly turns to dust and dies. The game stars Gustave, an Expeditioner who is determined to put a stop to the Paintress's curse.

The game features turn-based combat with timed combo attacks. Parries, dodges and counters can also be input in real time. The game also features an art style inspired by French art and architecture. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is being developed by Sandfall Interactive, a new team founded by veterans from Ubisoft.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is set to release in 2025 for PC, Xbox Series X/S and PS5.

The post New Turn-Based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Announced appeared first on Siliconera.

Pacific Drive is a game that understands the joys of a road trip, like the open road, the freedom, and the adventure. However, this open road is one that’s determined to destroy you at every turn, so you better come prepared.

Pacific Drive has a simple premise. You play as a delivery driver who finds themselves sucked into a quarantine zone in the Pacific Northwest. Here, science went terribly wrong and unleashed a significant amount of instability on the area, causing reality to shift and warp. You need to get out, and the only help you have are three mysterious people on a radio and a car you commandeered upon entering the Zone.

This premise is wrapped around a survival roguelike driving game. If that feels like someone picked random genres out of a hat and then decided to make a game around it, it kind of is. However, Pacific Drive manages to make all these disparate elements work together in a way that managed to win me over, despite my general skepticism of at least two of those three elements.

Pacific Drive is best thought of as a game of two halves. In the first half, you are pushing your way through the deadly Olympic Exclusion Zone, trying to survive as best you can. In the second half, you are meticulously caring for your vehicle like a dad who bought a 1950s muscle car.

Let’s talk about the survival aspect. Your goal is to venture deeper into the Exclusion Zone, seeking a way to escape. This is a harsh wilderness, an area that once housed small towns and research stations, now home to an environment that hates all human life. This is not a wilderness where you have to fear the wildlife, it’s the ground, the trees, and the atmosphere that is actively hunting you down.

Each journey you take through the Zone sees you traveling through a series of nodes, each one a different region. Due to the constantly warping reality, each region changes its layout whenever you visit, much like you’d see in any given roguelike. Along the way, you’ll find abandoned bits of civilization that can be raided for essential supplies. There are no signs of human life, as it is replaced only by the anomalies.

These anomalies come in many forms. Some are pockets of dangerous energy, such as domes of free-floating electricity or radiation. Others like to throw your car around, such as floating rocks that act like a mushroom from Mario Kart or pockets of anti-gravity that launch you into the sky. Others cause more direct damage, such as pillars of earth that violently punch out of the ground, gigantic saw blades tearing through the landscape, or machines that will drag you screaming into the nearest tree.

Surviving all this is not easy. The only protection you have is your car, which is fragile at the best of times. It’s a standard family sedan with a look that suggests it was new around 1978. Its ignition is temperamental, the parking brake occasionally crunches, and its top speed varies depending on its mood. In its default state, its doors and s feel like they’re made of paper and attached by wishes alone. It’s doing its best, but you are not getting out of an average run unscathed.

There’s a huge amount of tension in any given run of Pacific Drive. Heading into the Zone is a tense game of resource management, careful handling and balancing risk and reward. There is a pitch perfect atmosphere, where I constantly rushed around in a panicked state while out of the car. Everything feels like a calculated risk, where you’re constantly doing micro-calculations of whether to stay in an area and gather supplies or get out as quickly as possible.

Even heading back to safety is a risky game. The only way to return to your safe haven, an Auto Shop in a stable pocket, is to rip a hole in reality. You have to collect balls of energy, known as anchors, within the Zone, then use this energy to open a Gateway that leads you out. Problem is, this also summons a Fortnite-style storm that rapidly encloses the entire area, so you have to gun it to the exit before you’re eaten by a wall of red. It’s a tense moment but one that feels extremely satisfying when you hit that scary light pillar.

This is where the second half of the game comes in. When you limp back into the Auto Shop, you now have the opportunity to improve your car using whatever supplies you were able to scavenge. Although usually you first have to replace a few wheels and charge the battery because your headlights died on you at the last minute.

Something beautiful happens in this moment though. Hanging around the Auto Shop, crafting new parts and inspecting the car for any sudden faults is a weirdly meditative experience. The tension of the rest of the game drops away and you’re able to plan out your next moves. It becomes a strategy and management game, as you figure out how to improve your car while planning your next route. Do I need to do a resource run next, or do I want to push further into the Zone and continue the story?

Early in the story of Pacific Drive, your unseen radio helpers discuss the nature of the car as a Remnant, a supernatural object that causes its owner to become obsessed with it. Weirdly, this bled from lore into gameplay. I became incredibly attached to my car, much like the assorted bits of scrap I was strapping to the doors so it could absorb lightning strikes better. When its battery started draining, I was worried about it like a sick child. I felt like I was giving it a rewarding treat every time I gave it a new upgrade. I have enjoyed plenty of driving games in my life, but none of them have done this good a job of making me deeply care for a vehicle.

Despite all this, Pacific Drive is a bit messy. It is often frustrating in ways that feel unfair. The random nature of its environments mean you’ll often end up in maps where escape is hindered by a gauntlet of mountains. Progress can sometimes be stalled simply because the materials you need for certain components are refusing to spawn. Some of the anomalies are annoying rather than challenging or frightening – I’m looking at you, Bunnies. Finally, as you delve deeper into the Mid Zone and Deep Zone, some of the environments are just downright mean. None of this is enough to completely ruin the experience but it did make the game feel a little unbalanced at times.

Pacific Drive is a weird game. If you want to be swept into story of science gone horribly wrong, enjoy unique twists on the survival genre or have the capacity to fall in love with a car, there’s something here for you. However, its randomness and weird difficulty spikes are likely to be off-putting for others.

Pacific Drive is out now on PS5 and PC.

The post Review: Pacific Drive Is a Great Ride with Some Rusty Parts appeared first on Siliconera.

Tchia is a freeform sort of open-world game, which means it can sometimes be difficult to find where you’re supposed to go next. For example, after heading to the city in chapter two, you’ll be told to go to the campfire to rest after trying to meet Meavora. In case you’re having trouble finding it, here’s where the campfire near Aemoon is in Tchia.

The campfire you want to use in Tchia is on the shoreline southeast of Aemoon, nearly outside of the city. Head directly south from the secretary and office, until you hit the park. Then, turn left and head straight ahead, as though you’re going toward Xupi Macii on the map. Walk south along the shoreline and you’ll happen upon the campfire.

As a reminder, while at a campfire in Tchia a player can do multiple things. Someone can change her outfit. This involves her clothing, hairstyle face paint, and accessories. They can play her ukelele. You can sleep to advance time. It is also possible to eat to restore Tchia’s strength.

After resting at the campfire near Aemoon, you’ll learn about the Soul Throw mechanic, the story will advance, and the game will automatically send you toward Tchia’s next destination.

Tchia is available for the PS4, PS5, and PC. It is also on PlayStation Plus Extra and .

The post How to Find the Campfire Near Aemoon in Tchia appeared first on Siliconera.

In chapter two of Tchia, players will learn about the Soul Melody feature after taking part in the Rock Balancing minigame with Tre. However, the game doesn’t teach you how to access her ukulele or begin playing instruments. It isn't like you can open her backpack and select the instrument. So you don’t need to check menus, here’s how it works.

When standing around, press right on the controller’s directional pad. This will bring up the Soul Melody feature in Tchia, as well as show you the ones you learned so far. Taking part in that first minigame with Tre will net you four songs of the 14 Tchia can eventually learn. You’ll pick up Time: Dawn, Time: Noon, Time: Dusk, and Time: Midnight.

The first Soul Melody you’ll need to play in Tchia is Time: Midnight. The earlier rhythm minigame introduced you how playing a ukulele works. Hold the left analog stick in the direction of the correct note, then press X on your controller to play it. To play Time: Midnight, you will need to hit B, E, E, D.

Tchia is available for the PS4, PS5, and PC. It is also on PlayStation Plus Extra and .

The post How to Learn and Play a Soul Melody in Tchia appeared first on Siliconera.

At the beginning of chapter two in Tchia, the first quest is to find two pearls for Tre for coutume to show appreciation for his help. However, you’re on a home floating in the middle of the ocean and, if you didn’t pick up the stamina-increase near Tchia’s home island, you might have drowned trying to find these items. While it can be a bit tricky, since the game doesn’t tell you how to find them, it isn’t too difficult.

You want to have Tchia jump into the ocean and dive to get the pearls for coutume. When she’s in the water, press X to descend and hold it until you reach the bottom. You’re looking for a big, pink clam. One is under Tre’s house, in the middle of the ocean floor. When you get close, you’ll see a white, circular indicator. The name “Clam Pearl” will also show up above it. Press the square button on a PS4 or PS5 controller to get it.

However, be careful! Tchia runs out of stamina quite quickly when diving underwater for pearls. You want to have at least six or seven stamina for your ascent back to the surface, or she will drown. She can float on the top of the water and swim without using stamina, so take advantage of that.

For the second clam pearl, swim a bit outward and you should find additional ones nearby.
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Tchia is available for the PS4, PS5, and PC. It is also on PlayStation Plus Extra and .

The post How to Get 2 Pearls for the Coutume in Tchia appeared first on Siliconera.

The February 2023 PlayStation State of Play broadcast unveiled Tchia, a new island-based adventure title headed for the platform next month. Players will be able to get their hands on the game on PC or PlayStation 4 and 5 when it launches on March 21, 2023. However, PSN s with subscriptions to PS Plus Extra or will have Tchia added to their game catalog on launch day.

Sony also showed off a release date trailer for Tchia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbuZbzO5ghU

Tchia is inspired by the  game is inspired by the real-life Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia. It was colonized by the French in the 19th century, but is the home of the indigenous Kanak people. Developer Awaceb infused the game with "all aspects of New Caledonian culture." It includes recreations of iconic landmarks, local wildlife, and all characters are voiced by local talent and in languages.

The story of the game follows its titular heroine, Tchia, an islander whose father was taken by the evil ruler Meavora. Cloth-like creatures called the Maano have invaded her home and threaten the peace of the populace. Tchia must explore the islands, sur challenges, and rescue her father while putting and end to the threat posed by the Maano and Meavora.

The gameplay consists of players exploring the islands with various powers. The game is structured like a free-roaming adventure, with various activities and other challenges scattered about. Tchia demonstrates the ability to "possess" and control certain objects, like a small gas lamp, which she sends flying into an enemy's face.

The game will also have a special edition that includes various DLC outfits. The outfits will be inspired by characters from games published by Kepler Interactive, including Sifu, Scorn, Flintlock: siege of Dawn, and Cat Quest. They'll change the designs of Tchia's clothes, boat, musical instrument, and more.

Tchia arrives on the PC, PS4, and PS5 on March 21, 2023. The PS Plus games for March 2023 also includes titles like Code Vein.

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