Expedition 33 is what happens when a final fantasy story doesn't work

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was relentlessly compared to Final Fantasyand rightfully so. Not only was it designed to resemble the tone and world-building of classic JRPGs, but it intentionally channels the spirit of those games in both turn-based combat and character-driven story. Final Fantasy 10in particular, he was often cited as a close cousin Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for its cast, emotional storytelling, PS2-era JRPG feel, and even minigames. However, despite the shameless digging of roots Final Fantasy, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 commits to something many stories from Square Enix's beloved franchise have feared.

Final Fantasy He's never been a stranger to tragedy, but in his modern day he has considerable trouble committing to some of his most tragic story beats. He can still reach for loss, sacrifice, or death as emotional turning points, but he tends to play the Uno Reverse card and redeem those moments by either resurrecting the deceased characters or softening their departure in some way. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33in contrast, it involves finitude in some way Final Fantasy it was getting harder to do. Rather than reversing the tragedy, he asks his players and characters to sit back and accept it, let the sadness fade, and insert the period into its most heartfelt plots.

Final Fantasy struggled with the heaviest narrative beats

Final Fantasy has never been afraid to let characters die or go away, but he's also shown to be afraid to let them stay away. Either way, it seems Final Fantasy characters are often resurrected or brought back, or their deaths are at least tempered by ambiguity. One of the most recent examples is Aerith in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

In the original Final Fantasy VIIAerith is dying and her death is final. After Sephiroth kills her, the party mourns her loss and is no longer a playable character from that point on. However, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthsecond game in Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, softens the blow of her death by clouding it in ambiguity. Instead of leaving players with a moment of finality after her death, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth it briefly presents a version of events in which Cloud appears to save Aerith, and then refracts the moment across overlapping realities and perceptions. Afterwards, Cloud continues to see and talk to her even as the rest of the group mourns, creating a feeling that Aerith is gone and not completely gone at the same time. It's not the same as her resurrection, but it makes her death less painful – one of the defining features of the original game.

Final Fantasy 16's story is another recent example of this. After witnessing his father's death, Joshua Rosfield awakens as the Phoenix and begins to indiscriminately attack those around him. In response, his brother Clive Rosfield awakens as Ifrit to defeat Phoenix, not knowing at the time that he is his brother. In the encounter, Ifrit appears to kill the Phoenix, eventually leading Clive to believe that he is responsible for his brother's death. However, the twist is that Phoenix's nature actually allows Joshua to survive the encounter. It is later revealed that Joshua's body was discarded by a secretive group called the Undying, and he later regains consciousness years after the Phoenix Gate, so he is not truly dead despite the appearance of the fight.

It wasn't just like that Final Fantasy's latest games that have followed the trend of resurrecting either, as Final Fantasy 10 and 10-2 did the same from 2001 to 2003. In Final Fantasy 10Tidus effectively “dies” at the end of the game's story, as he ceases to exist in the world of Spira after the final battle due to the way his existence is connected to Fayth's dream and the summoning of Dream Zanarkand. After the group defeats Yu Yevon and ends Sin's cycle, Fayth stops dreaming the Dream Zanarkand, meaning Tidus's existence in Spira collapses as well. That is, in the original Final Fantasy 10 story, Tidus' disappearance is essentially his “death” or permanent departure from the world that Yuna and her friends inhabit after Sin's defeat.

Then he came Final Fantasy 10-2 with the apparent goal of somehow bringing Tidus back. Final Fantasy 10-2 begins after the events 10, with Yuna still haunted by Tidus' disappearance. As she and her friends hunt for orbs and uncover more of Spiro's history, they encounter clues and memories of him, suggesting the possibility of his return. If players meet certain conditions, Final Fantasy 10-2A perfect ending takes place in which the Fayth decide to grant Yuna's wish to see Tidus again and he returns to Spira as a living presence instead of a dream. Here, Tidus is reunited with Yuna and they even go to the place where Tidus first arrived in Spira to confirm that he doesn't immediately disappear, suggesting that he has become real in a way that he wasn't before.

Final Fantasy Games that revive fallen characters

• Final Fantasy 2 – Characters who die in the main game story are listed as playable in the optional Soul of Rebirth bonus scenario
• Final Fantasy 4: The After Years – Characters believed to be permanently gone in the original (like Kain and others). FF4 return
• Final Fantasy 10-2 – Tidus
• Final Fantasy 13-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13 – Several characters return after apparent death or near-death throughout the sequel, including Lightning, Serah, Vanille, and Fang
• Final Fantasy 16 – Joshua Rosfield
• Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth – Aerith Gainsborough

What this “resurrection trend” will ultimately cause Final Fantasy stories dilute the power of their most emotionally charged moments. When a death or departure can later be returned or reversed, these moments lose their impact and begin to feel more provisional. Tragedy becomes something the series gestures towards rather than something it fully commits to, so players have to expect that no loss is truly permanent and no parting is quite final.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Kills Off Gustave and Sticks to It

Unlike many Final Fantasy games, however, one of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33The most painful passages of the story happen, and the game never apologizes for it, nor does it ever try to undo it. That pause is none other than the moment Gustave is killed by Renoir at the end of Act 1, and it's a moment no one saw coming because the play not only hides it well, but once it's done, it's done. Almost expertly, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 it leaves the player in denial throughout the game as he even gave Gustav a skill tree that was larger than his lifespan. This created the illusion that the beloved character would eventually return, but that never happened. Just as Aline Dessendre is expected to accept the death of her son and Alicia (Maelle), her brother, the players will also be expected to accept the death of Gustavo.

What causes Gustav's death? Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 the work is precisely that it refuses to alleviate the discomfort it creates. More than 35 years Final Fantasy conditioning has taught players to expect an escape hatch, whether through resurrection, revelation, or reinterpretation, so the game deliberately leaves room for denial and then never fills it. Gustave does not return in another timeline; his death is not undone, and there is no later twist to mitigate the loss or leave it in ambiguity. By forcing players to accept his absence, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 makes death final in a way that many Final Fantasy stories to avoid. He trusts his players to endure grief without needing to reverse it, proving that finality can be more fulfilling than resurrection.

Released

April 24, 2025

ESRB

Older 17+ / Blood and gore, violent language, obscene themes, violence

Developers

Sandfall Interactive

Publishers

Interactive Kepler