00:00Clare Obscure Expedition 33 might be my personal game of the year. I genuinely fell in love
00:06with this tough skill based parry system. But here at PC Gamer we're a wild mix of
00:11different voices, opinions and obsessions. So while our official review landed at 70%
00:17I knew I couldn't be the only one completely hooked on this combat. I pulled a few colleagues
00:21to break down what makes Clare Obscure so compelling and why it grabbed us in different ways.
00:39So parrying is meant to be an elegant mix of patience, timing and feeling like an absolute
00:46badass. But it's a skill I've never learned. I can't parry for sh**. For years I've had friends
00:52rave about their life-changing moments in Sekiro and how perfect the parrying window is and how
00:58electric it feels to shut down a major enemy with one clean tap. So when Clare Obscure pushed me,
01:05no forced me to learn how to parry, it was somehow liberating. For the first time I felt like I
01:12was
01:13the man. The voice actor behind Cyberpunk 2077's Mr Hands, Alex Jordan said it best.
01:20Listen, I can't parry for my life but I'm learning in this game and every time I do I just
01:26feel so
01:26special. The key to parrying though is to ignore what's happening on screen and just listen.
01:30Pay attention to the sounds. Like literally there are moments now where I go up against certain enemies
01:34and I will like close my eyes and just listen to the sound. Parrying games isn't new of course.
01:40You've got the huge timing windows in Assassin's Creed, the tighter timing in Stellar Blade
01:47and the why am I even alive brutality of Dark Souls. I've always avoided parrying like the plague,
01:58convinced I didn't have the reaction time or honestly the confidence.
02:05The combat in Expedition 33 genuinely surprised me. I found it super fun. Yes, I'm a massive RPG fan
02:15so maybe the turn-based structure is what finally helped me learn the fundamentals instead of panicking
02:20through every fight. Every enemy type has its own parry window and its own timing cues that signal when
02:27they're about to take a chunk out of your health bar. Attacks feel weighty, enemies swing with a Conan the
02:34Barbarian energy and if you miss a parry even slightly the game punishes you calling out that you were too
02:42fast or too slow. So why parry at all when you can dodge? Dodging is way more forgiving but here's
02:49the
02:49thing. Parrying isn't about blocking an attack, it's about shutting it down. Simple in theory,
02:57not simple in practice but Expedition 33 is the first game that genuinely made it click for me.
03:04It's not just because of the wonderful animations or the criss-crunchy sounds
03:12or even the AP you regain. It's because Expedition 33 doesn't let you half commit. If an enemy launches
03:20a chain of attacks, three, sometimes four hits you have to parry every single one, each with its own
03:27timing and if you nail them all you trigger a powerful counter. This is where the game hooked me.
03:34The massive damage spike, the satisfaction of mastering multiple parries in a roll, the pure
03:40disrespect of annihilation of an enemy's health bar is absolutely music to my ears.
03:51I really wanted to like Sekiro but its parrying system proved to be the rhythm game of my nightmares.
03:58Think less Dance Dance Revolution and more Panic Panic Rage Quit.
04:03Then insta-shades clair-obscure Expedition 33 with its stripped-back, just-the-basics, parrying system
04:11and I'm honestly thinking perhaps it's time to give FromSoftware's Avra another go.
04:17Rather than having to carefully line up my strong silent shinobi in order to weather a big bad's
04:22onslaught, Expedition 33 takes positioning completely out of the equation. Instead, parrying is used to
04:29disrupt the flow and raise the stakes of a tried and true turn-based combat structure. It whips!
04:35Having to only worry about timing and pattern memorization, parrying finally became a mechanic
04:42I could properly engage with. Alas, I've had to hold off on clair-obscure's meatiest bosses,
04:48as 60 plus hours of hoovering up every combat encounter I could get my bloodthirsty little mitts on
04:53gave me a repetitive strain injury in my index finger. However, having since rested right up,
05:01I'm more eager than ever to dive back in for a new game plus. Gotta hoover up all of those
05:07baguette
05:07weapons sometime, am I right? But besides that, clair-obscure scratches the long-dormant,
05:14still very much Shadow Hearts and Final Fantasy X-obsessed part of my brain,
05:18and I'm looking forward to parrying its toughest bosses into submission. Now, if you'll excuse me...
05:27Come here, Simon, and show me what you're made of! Oh, great heavens!
05:37So, here's the thing. If you, like Midas, have gotten a taste of parrying through clair-obscure,
05:43I've got good news. There's an entire world of top-tier action games you've just unlocked for yourself.
05:50There is, of course, the OG Sekiro Shadows Die Twice, which has the best boss battles From
05:56Software has ever made, don't at me, but I'm also giving you the following homework.
06:02Go play Nine Souls.
06:11Go play Lies of P and Lies of P Overture.
06:16Heck, play Star Wars Fallen Order and Survivor with the difficulty turned up,
06:20because you've already overcome the hardest part of parry-based games, learning how to feel the rhythm,
06:27instead of just mashing dodge. You've got your feet wet, and now you get to reap the rewards.
06:33Clare Obscure Expedition 33 is a stellar RPG, but it isn't actually the best example of why parrying can
06:40work. See, games with an emphasis on timed blocks are actually rhythm games. Dance Dance Revolution
06:47wearing an action game skinsuit. In Clare Obscure, the parry mostly solves every problem. In Sekiro,
06:56it's but one of the tools in your belt, the cornerstone of a lethal game of Simon Says that
07:01feels so good to pull off. You might need to time your blocks, sure, but you also need to stomp
07:06on blades,
07:07leap into the air to redirect lightning. Other games like Nine Souls and Lies of P have their own tricks
07:13that are tasty to learn. If anything, Clare Obscure is more of a tutorial to these games,
07:21something to give you a little taste of just how good parry-based combat can be. You are ready for
07:27more, I promise you, and everything Midas said he liked is present in those games, and then some.
07:35I'm still missing some parry windows in Expedition 33, and sometimes I can't figure out if it's me or
07:41the game, but for the first time, I'm actually getting good. But this new parry confidence hasn't
07:47pushed me into full-on Soulsborne territory just yet. But I have been taking it for a spin in more
07:53straightforward action games like AC Shadows, and honestly, it feels amazing to finally trust my timing.
08:00And if unlike me, you were born with actual parry skills, you should definitely check out our review
08:07of Elden Ring Night Reign, it'll be right up your alley. If you enjoyed this video, hit that thumbs up,
08:13and let me know in the comments below what is your personal game of the year for 2025,
08:17and are you going to be playing a drinking game every single time I say parry? Be kind,
08:22have fun playing games, and have a wonderful Christmas holiday.
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