I rarely buy games in the first week/month of launch... in fact, I now rarely buy games in the first year or two! Most of that is due to the mammoth backlog of games that I have... and I can't really justify purchasing a game that I likely won't play for a while... or that pushes the backlog back even further. And things keep showing up on Humble Bundles sooner or later... or at the very least, a Steam sale that is significantly cheaper than the launch window pricing!

Plus, being a father does meant that the money isn't only for me anymore...

... but every now and then... I do treat myself to something special... and it does have to be quite special. Now, I had been following the launch of Clair Obscur for quite some time now... and I was sort of up in the air about it... it was billed as a turn-based RPG which is totally my thing, but it was pretty clear that it was more of a JRPG-style... which is much less my sort of thing. But being made by a studio in France, and that might have just enough "western" tastes to offset the things that I dislike about JRPGs in general. Still... I have to keep reminding myself to get back in the Final Fantasy series... they are cinematic and pretty looking, and that is something... even if the actual battle stuff and grinding gets a touch annoying after a while.

Anyway, after the flurry of super reviews that came out for Clair Obscur... I decided that I would just treat myself and pick it up! Sorry Mechwarrior Clans, you will have to be just bumped down a notch for a while... but I was stuck on a particular mission anyway, so I will come back to it with a fresh take...

... And I've just finished the tutorial, prologue, and just landed in ACT 1. And first impressions... wow... wow... wow... there are some games that you just play, and others where you just DRINK IN EVERYTHING... savouring every interaction and detail. Clair Obscur is the latter... the characters are great, the setting is beautiful, the music score and performances are just stunning (and I say this as a musician!!!)...

... this studio can really craft some serious emotional moments in their cutscenes! And I mean, immersive and the sort that just draw you into the world and the moment!

At the moment, I am still struggling a bit with the QTE dodge/block mechanic... but I'm starting to get there. But I'm still face-planting most of the attacks... and I'm starting to get the hang of the attack QTEs... less terrible, but not great. But that is a me problem, and not so much the game... I like that they are quite tricky to pull off, as that adds something to the JRPG turn based mechanic.

So, far... it does still smack a bit of console game... lots of fencing and walling the player in, but that might just be the prologue section.. it might open out a bit now that I'm in the first proper section.

However, that little niggle aside... this is shaping up to be an amazing game that I'm so happy to have bought in the launch window. Definitely worth it! I'm hoping that the QTE doesn't become too onerous... or that the absurd numbers of damage doesn't devolve into grinding mechanics... but so far, so good!

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