Look, I play every game in a way that makes most normal people rage-quit after the first hour. If I'm not pushing a game's mechanics to the absolute breaking point, I'm not having fun. So when I booted up Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for the very first time, I immediately cranked it to the highest difficulty setting, stripped my party down to a single character, and committed to a parry-only run. No dodges, no safety nets.

What I didn't expect was for the game to actually hold up to that level of punishment—and completely destroy me emotionally at the same time.

The Story Actually Hooks You
I don't care how hardcore you think you are, the beginning of this game will make you tear up. Every single time I watch that opening cinematic, it hits me like a truck. Watching the Paintress wake up to paint that number on the monolith and just erase an entire generation of people into smoke is brutal.

From minute one, I was obsessed with figuring out what was going on. My head was spinning with the same three questions the whole time: Who the hell is the Paintress? Why is she doing this? What even is this place? The writing is so incredibly tight that it forces you to care. You aren't just grinding for stats; you genuinely need to know the truth behind the Gommage.

Taking the World Record
Because the combat in this game is so flawlessly tuned, you can pull off some absolutely unhinged stuff if you have the patience and the execution. And I have the patience.

Someone out there was sitting on the actual World Record for most perfect parries in a single boss fight with 10,000. I decided that wasn't going to fly. I sat at my desk for almost 8 straight hours against a single boss, completely locked in.

Here is the final breakdown of that fight:

Damage Taken: 0

Dodges: 0

Perfect Parries: 12,315

Taking the official World Record by perfectly deflecting over twelve thousand hits in a row without a single mistake is the wildest gaming experience of my life. My hands were completely dead by the end of those eight hours, but executing that flawless 1-character, parry-only run was worth it. Every single attack thrown at me, I just stood my ground and perfectly deflected it.

The Verdict
Expedition 33 isn't just a good RPG; it is the absolute peak of the genre. Whether you're here for an incredibly well-written story that will actually make you cry, or you're a complete masochist like me who wants to spend 8 hours perfectly timing blocks to steal a world record, buy this game right now.

10/10.