Review of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on PC: just a few patches away from greatness

Expedition 33 has a promising design but faces technical issues on PC, which patches could resolve.

: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, an indie game built on Unreal Engine 5, faces various technical challenges on PC, primarily concerning presentation and performance. Despite utillizing cutting-edge graphical features, issues like poor cutscene frame pacing, shader compilation stutter, and microstutter during gameplay affect user experience. Specifically, the game struggles with a limited 30fps cap for cutscenes and stuttering caused by shader compilation and camera movement, all of which can be rectified with appropriate patches. Additionally, suggestions for improvement include better shader pre-caching, adjustments to the camera's frame-rate dependence, and providing players options to adjust or disable certain graphical features that detract from the overall visual fidelity.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, developed by Sandfall Interactive and published by Kepler Interactive, is an indie game utilizing Unreal Engine 5, showcasing both its potential and its pitfalls on PC. While the game capitalizes on modern graphical features, it suffers from significant presentation issues, notably with cutscenes set at an inconsistent 30fps cap that disrupts immersion on capable hardware. Analyst Alex Battaglia from Digital Foundry notes that frame-rate issues create a discordant user experience, suggesting that players could benefit from the option to unlock frame-rates, thus enhancing performance.

Further issues arise from shader compilation stutter, a common dilemma in many Unreal Engine games, where invisible operations during chapter transitions result in gameplay interruptions. Such stuttering, which registers at a concerning 80 to 150ms when running an area initially, results in momentary pauses, detracting from the game's narrative flow and visual continuity. Expert analysis suggests pre-caching shaders could remedy this without requiring subsequent game or driver updates. Similarly, traversal and microstutters plague gameplay, notably during camera movements, due to mismatched frame-rate limiters that degrade smoothness. By detaching camera motion from arbitrary frame-rates, this issue could potentially be resolved.

Beyond technical fixes, the game could benefit from user-adjustable graphical features, particularly concerning the sharpening filter and anti-aliasing options that caricature the PC version with a pronounced aliasing effect. In comparison, console variations like the PS5 Pro utilize unique settings that balance performance and visual detail, here equated to the medium setting on PCs, optimizing foliage, and shadow quality to enhance visuals without significant performance trade-offs. The current PC version's constraints in DLAA functionalities further complicate image sharpness, rendering elements like hair terrain and variables deficient relative to its console counterparts.

Optimized settings derived from the PS5 Pro showcase potential improvement areas for PC gamers. These settings can increase overall frame rates by 57% in outdoor scenes on mid-range graphics cards like the RTX 4060. Particularly, substituting DLSS in balanced mode has demonstrated more than triple the frame-rate performance, thereby advocating for strategic setting alterations over blanket high-standard configurations across all visual domains.

Despite these technical hurdles, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 remains engaging, suggesting its foundational strengths and narrative depth surpass the interim challenges. With concentrated efforts aimed at rectifying shader issues, allowing frame-rate adjustments for cutscenes, and fine-tuning graphical filters, the game stands poised to meet—or even exceed—player expectations on the PC platform. Encouraging feedback and subsequent updates from the developers would pivot the game's standing from a curious indie endeavor to a polished, must-play title.

Sources: Eurogamer, Kepler Interactive, Sandfall Interactive, Lyall, Special K

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