We’re Living In The Era Of Pretty-Em-Ups, But Clair Obscur Isn't One

Many triple-A games are too pretty for their own good. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't one of them — though it is very pretty.

Big-budget games are facing many problems right now, from the rise of generative AI, out-of-control budgets, swollen schedules, and a lack of a clear path forward on monetization. But the biggest creative problem facing triple-A games is that many feel like theme park rides you're guided through, not worlds you're free to explore. Let's tentatively call these games Pretty-Em-Ups.

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The Pretty-Em-Up Problem

In games like God of War Ragnarok, The Callisto Protocol, Final Fantasy 16, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, there is one route through a level with little or no flexibility in how you proceed. You're funneled along until you reach a combat encounter or puzzle or fallen tree to lift with a companion, and then you hop right back into the funnel. The level doesn't exist to be explored; it exists to shuttle you from objective to objective.

I don't dislike all of these games. God of War Ragnarok made my GOTY list in 2022, after all. But they represent a worrying trend in game design. It's the endpoint of the pursuit of graphics as an end in itself. Instead of serving up interesting levels with interesting objectives, they give players a narrow track to run along with the occasional hurdle in the form of combat. The only thing they have to offer is nice scenery.

Linear Games Have Changed

There are different forms of linearity, and linearity, in and of itself, isn't a bad thing. A game like the original Doom is linear in the sense that it has a sequence of levels that you must complete to finish its campaign. But inside those levels, you have a great degree of freedom in where you go first and which secrets you find or whether you find them at all. Similarly, Super Mario 64 is linear in the sense that there are gates that prevent you from advancing further until you collect the proper number of stars.

But any given level is open-ended, dropping you in and letting you run around to your heart's content. And you can play the levels in each subsection in whatever order you want. That's radically different from many modern games, which offer little to do but run in between combat encounters.

I've Been Too Spoiled By Open-World Games

I can see that (one) piece of treasure, it’s like five feet away. Can I just grab that real fast? No, remember to come back after like ten hours?

Clair Obscur Clears Most Linear Triple-A Games

At first, I worried that Clair Obscur might feel the same. It's certainly very pretty and story-focused, a hallmark of pretty-em-ups. The pre-release footage of the game had a lot of shots of the demoers walking through canyon-like areas while sweeping the camera across the sky.

But once I actually got to explore, I realized that it was possible to get lost in its world. Paths twist and double back. You might need to go up through a tunnel in a mountain, or down along a low path. I was especially pleased when, in an early area, I thought I had reached the next checkpoint only to realize I had gotten turned around and was actually back where I started.

Add in the fact that combat feels both strategic and active, that there's a world map to navigate, that spending skill points actually seems to mean something, that boss fights will kick your butt if you're not prepared, and that enemies respawn every time you rest at a campsite and you've got a game that is far more interesting than the hyperlinear games I'm tired of playing.

Clair Obscur has an incredibly specific world, and its opening makes you eager to explore it. On-rails levels kill that feeling, so I'm glad Clair Obscur gives me freedom to see how pretty it is on my terms.

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