Several of us at Aftermath are enjoying Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a very French RPG that came out last week. I’m liking it so far, though I’m struggling with it a bit. One of my challenges is wrapping my head around its combat, particularly the timing of dodges and parries. Another is how much of the game I’ve had to play as my longtime colleague Nathan Grayson.
Clair Obscur protagonist Gustave looks just like Nathan. Nathan himself doesn’t think so, a statement I am required to include in this blog for journalistic rigor. Nathan alleges that Gustave looks like actor Robert Pattinson instead, but science suggests we’re not very good at knowing what we look like, so I’d call this claim shaky when held against multiple sources (me and Luke) who disagree.
Here are the facts: The facts are that this guy is Nathan.
This is Nathan at some very dark show that takes place so far out in Brooklyn that I don't even understand where it is.
This is Nathan when he’s reporting.
This is Nathan when I ask him where his blog is.
There are certainly benefits to playing a video game as Nathan: he's taller than me, and he lives a more interesting and robust social life, and he has a very fluffy cat he gets to pet. But he is also a person who keeps his calendar in his Notes app, a horror I am not willing to abide even in a fantasy game.
If you also do not want to play as Nathan, Clair Obscur gives you a few options. One is that you can change Gustave’s haircut to something a little less reminiscent of Nathan’s real-life, as his social handles have had it, glorious curly mop. I’m still early in the game, so I only have one style, this bun:
This screenshot is Luke’s, who says of Gustave, “I gave him the alt ponytail haircut specifically because it makes him look less like Nathan.” This is a good option, though I don’t like this haircut as much as Gustave’s default. There are apparently other haircuts you can get through the game, so maybe I’ll find a different one I like down the line.
Another of Luke’s workarounds is to play exclusively as Lune, who he thinks is the coolest party member. Since you start the game as Gustave you can't do a 100% no-Nathan run, but you can switch between characters when you explore and choose who you bring with you in a fight. Playing as different party members will mean that, rather than playing as Nathan, you can instead play as me, who frequently goes “where’s Nathan?” in my editorial role of herding cats.
Or, if you’re a fan of the genre, you can just embrace the Nathan of it all and play as a version of him who gets to tramp around a fantasy countryside killing monsters and speaking French instead of managing podcasts and writing books. Maybe Clair Obscur is the first step to a Nathan simulator, which is probably some kind of Rock Band-style karaoke game that I'm sure is very fun but is set way too late at night for me.
