By Christopher Hardy

Expedition 33 is a new game that has just been released for free on Xbox Game Pass. This game instantly grabbed my attention by its visual appearance. Expedition 33 is a turn-based game that allows the player to venture out and explore the world, with its amazing visuals and story. After playing the game for quite some time I’ve related that game’s combat mechanics to that of persona’s but done better. In this post I will be going over my thoughts and opinions on the game, to let you know if the game is right for you.

Story

For the past 67 years, the people of the island of Lumiere have been forced to go through an event called the Gommage, which is the decreasing number of the human lifespan by the Paintress. The story of the game follows one of the main characters of the game Gustave as he departs on his journey with his team expedition 33 to try and kill the Paintress and discover the mysteries of the world that they live in by following the tracks of the expeditions before them. From the moment of the game when I saw the Gommage first occur I was immediately locked in and was fully engaged wanting to see how the story would end.

Characters

So far in the game, I have only encountered four main characters of the game that were a part of the 33rd expedition. The members of the expedition included Gustave, Lune, Maelle, and Sciel. All of the characters in the game mesh well with each other even with they’re varying personalities. Gustave plays more of a fatherly/brotherly role to Maelle and has a playful personality. While Lune plays more of an authoritative character who always wants to follow the rules of the expedition. Sciel is more of a laid-back character that kind of goes with the flow in a way. Lastly, Mealle plays a younger sister in the group which everyone tries to protect.

Gameplay

Expedition 33 is an open-world game in which you can explore the world with different companions. In this game, you can attack enemies first when you see them and trigger the combat system to have an advantage, but if they hit you first then you would be at a disadvantage allowing the enemy to strike first. The gameplay mechanic is pretty much the same as Personas in which it highly encourages you to engage first. Which I enjoyed while playing the Persona games.

Combat

The combat in the game plays similarly to that of the Persona series but is done better in my opinion. The game allows you to either use a basic attack, a skill attack, or a range move when the characters turn to fight. Skills can be unlocked via the skill tree upon leveling up and getting enough points. Also what I enjoyed about the game’s combat system is the real-time parrying and blocking. Unlike other games in which you would have to leave dodging attacks to luck, Expedition 33 allows you to dodge on your own accord.

Tips

Resting

After playing the game for some time I must highlight the importance of resting whenever you get the chance after fighting multiple enemies. Resting allows you to regain your health and items by just going up to the different flags that you’d see around the world. I have been in many situations in which I would either get into a fight with no health or have low health because I had used my only heal item.

Upgrading weapons

Sometimes the game will randomly give you weapons upon defeating enemies. However, there are times when the game doesn’t give you the weapon that you need for a character. By going into your camp and talking with The Curator you’re able to upgrade your current weapons. Upgrading Maelle’s weapon helped me out because the game never gave me a new weapon for her.   

My Experience

Having played games similar to this game I found it generally easier for me to navigate through the game, especially with Its almost identical gameplay with persona. As soon as I loaded into the game I fell in love with the characters and couldn’t stop playing for the first few hours of the game. For the difficulty of the game I found learning all the different enemies’ attack styles posed as difficult for me and would take a few tries before I could be them.

Closing

When I had first started playing the game I never would’ve thought that it would be as fun as it had been. Its breathtaking storyline and soundtrack able to keep the player engaged with the game is what really made this game stand out for me compared to other games. Overall I’ve had so much fun playing this game so far and would recommend you to check it out.

Comment down below your thoughts on the game if you’ve played before or are willing to check it out.