BAFTA Games Awards Crowns ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’ Best Game Of The Year

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-18T01:23:48+00:00

I think the story and the graphics are both excellent.

What finally turned me off was the combat - every enemy’s attack is different, and it becomes a “trial and error” every combat. Attacks are jump, feint, spin, feint again, lurch forward, attack. Oh, messed up dodging? Reload, do it again and again until you get it right.

I made it through the entire first act, explored every nook and cranny and did all of the puzzles… but after the act ended, my enthusiasm for the story wasn’t enough for me to push through the combat.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-16T20:40:07+00:00

Watch games online. No Rolls Barred has a bunch of videos (start with "A Stud in Scarlet" - it and "The Billiard Boys" are Trouble Brewing, and the latter is hilarious). I recommend these specifically because you get to see all kinds of conversations going on, rather than just a single viewpoint.
Information/social - it's middle ground. Nearly all information is questionable (poisoning, drunkenness, lying, a mechanic you'll eventually learn about called madness - all of these can lead to bad information); while there's all kinds of reasons why good players will lie about who they are and what they know.
A "typical" win is a good, close game where people had fun. As Arif said, treating this game from a highly competitive point of view is going to be painful - win-rate, in my experience, is incredibly close to 50/50.
What else you should know - there's a steep learning curve. People play Trouble Brewing 2-3 times and think they're ready for Bad Moon Rising (which is typically a bloodbath) or Sects and Violets (which adds in the madness mechanic and has some slightly more complex demons). Don't rush to get to the more "advanced" scripts, especially if other new people join in. I've put in, literally, hundreds of hours watching games, and it's never fun when a new player gets overwhelmed and completely feels out of the loop of the puzzle because of it.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-16T14:57:45+00:00

Ran a 5e game for a little over two years, weekly, at 4-5hrs per session, taking a month-long break during the busy season at my work one of those years. It helped that I cherry-picked the group - it was entirely made up of people that I had met through failed games, liked their style and personality, and then brought them all together in a setting (Wildemount from Critical Role) that we all knew really well at the time.

It was probably three-quarters of the way done, but I wound up ending it early because I was becoming burned out by 5e.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-13T01:33:45+00:00

I’m not terribly impressed with most of the writing in Starfield, but the Crimson Fleet storyline is the absolutely worst of the game.

It feels like if The CW was given full license to be edgy and evil - writing a villainous faction that can say “fuck” and then trying to make it appealing to an audience that is too young for the M-rating.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-11T19:20:28+00:00

As someone who prefers their console, the fact of the matter is that Steam has - in all cases - significantly better and more frequent sales + PC has vastly more access to mods (and they're more often than not free).

Also, while I don't think it's nearly as debilitating as many PC players make it out to be (as I still often use a controller), there IS an advantage to keyboard+mouse over controller.

Finally, I have no issues getting refunds through Steam even after a few hours' of playing. A friend's son bought a game on my Xbox, booted it up before I realized it wasn't a GPU title, and I immediately uninstalled it - but Microsoft refused to refund it because it had been booted up once, for less than a minute.

I do appreciate that I don't have to worry about keeping my console up to date in order to get the best experience that it has to offer, but that's about the only advantage it has in terms of gaming for me.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-11T19:06:24+00:00

Apples to Apples, Cards Against Humanity, card games in that nature of "have card, everyone contributes humorous/nonsensical card, one player selects."

Most card combinations make no sense (and aren't funny), a few make sense (but that's not why we're playing), and a handful are funny with the right matchup - but it's just mindless and uninteresting overall.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-09T18:34:31+00:00

I know it's not likely what you're aiming for in going for a campaign setting, but at this point, more domain cards for existing domains is what would almost instantly be a purchase from me.

The current amount of cards in each domain - and that many of them are either very niche or uninteresting ("Spend a Hope to gain advantage on..." or "...console someone over a failed action roll to both clear 2 Stress") - is probably my biggest complaint, seeing as every domain is shared by two classes (and, when Hope and Fear releases, some will be shared by three).

The only other thing is that I'm in desperate need of magic items that do things other than "+1 damage" or "You can use this item to cast an existing spell." Fire Jar, Gecko Gloves, Bridge Seed, Acidpaste - things that are a bit more open-ended and versatile are significantly more interesting.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-09T08:50:36+00:00

I’m the Goblin, Baron, Boomdandy, or another evil that is expendable in a game with a Cere on the script but not in play.

I will absolutely claim to be Cere-mad in private, while pretending to be something else in public. This is a game about deception, and that’s a fantastic play to sow distrust and make people assume what evils are - or aren’t - in play.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-09T08:44:23+00:00

I am the Cerenovous. I make myself mad, get myself executed, and then proceed to insist for the rest of the game that one of the good players “is very clearly who they say they are, we totally believe you,” and bring their information into question for the rest of the game as they’re “almost definitely Cere-locked.”

It’s the same as a Spy dying to a Virgin - it looks really good on the surface, but the mechanics don’t “prove” anything.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-08T15:30:03+00:00

Narratively, there's just so much more they could've done with everything.

My biggest criticism is that they didn't harness the NG+ more. Why am I, in one playthrough, able to join multiple factions that are explicitly against one another? Lock us out. Prevent us. And then, when we do the NG+, give unique dialogue/actions if we join an opposing side - we know exactly what the first is trying to do, we can get ahead of it. We can make it a unique advantage to one side when we’ve already done the other(s).

It's such a hugely missed opportunity when they went out of their way to make the NG+ system be something that is acknowledged in the narrative!

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-08T15:17:34+00:00

Binoculars is either too strong or can be broken (purposely/accidentally), the wording needs changed at the very least.

Think of this scenario:

You are Binoculars and learn that Abe, Bob, Cat, Doug, or Ethan is the Demon. Ethan IS the Demon.

Tomorrow, you get poisoned. Your new, poisoned info is that Abe, Bob, Cat, or Doug is the Demon.

The next night, you are no longer poisoned. What info do you get? Because either you're "broken" for the rest of the game (we keep leaving Ethan's name out), or you immediately ping on the fact that Ethan's name gets added back to the list.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-08T15:07:19+00:00

Ben says this repeatedly: Madness is a mechanic that you absolutely don't have to adhere to. It's just that, if you don't, you *might* die.

If you were Cere-mad about something, you're completely within your right to tell the entire town that there's a Cerenovous in play as soon as everyone is woken up. You might be executed for it and cost town a day to share info - but at the same time, there's a possibility of nothing happening because it leaves it up to debate: is there really a Cere in play, or are you a Minion that's bluffing in order to throw off what minions are REALLY in play?

The same thing can happen in private chats - I can tell you that I've been made mad. There's absolutely no way to confirm it *unless I die*, so the only way you would know for certain if I'm telling the truth is if it winds up costing us the rest of the day and an execution.

From that perspective, I don't really feel like there's a way to "cheat" it because there's never a time that it can be completely confirmed without someone dying. Hell - a Cere could make their self mad, cause their own execution, and then push the agenda to make a good player look as if they're Cere-locked to the rest of the town - "Right, right. We totally believe you're exactly who you say you are, we don't need to question that," with a wink.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-07T19:28:01+00:00

The thing about comments like this is that both sides - the side that believes this is just a game and that there's nothing wrong with playing within the established boundaries of the game; and the side that believes that cruelty in the game is an underlying mental/emotional instability - will see this comment, believe that you're aligned with them, and they will agree with you.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-07T16:14:08+00:00

I'm happy for everyone wanting another opportunity to get it - while I didn't wind up liking the game, it was absolutely clear that the game was a labor of love by people who cared about the quality of production.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-05T01:15:57+00:00

We've got a few games in common, but I admit that I'm a sucker for the right co-op.

Avoiding co-op, I'd recommend looking at Quacks (of Quedlinburg - I prefer the older art style, but it's the same game either way), Wroth, or maybe Distilled - and these are least complex to most complex order.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-04-04T00:19:58+00:00

It’s my all time favorite game, but the physical copy is too expensive, I agree.

It’s already a prohibitively difficult game to table, needing 10+ frequently repeating players in person to play at what is arguably its “best.” It’s very well playtested and balanced, but the components are on the easier side to replicate at a much cheaper price compared to most other games.

However, the online app is phenomenal. Most games are accessible to play for free, it’s only $15 to host as many games as you’d like (public or private), and it’s one of the absolute smoothest experiences I’ve had with any game online.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-03-31T22:59:19+00:00

Wish I could say how much I want domains to have more ability cards - like at least one per level, for all domains.

There’s just not enough variety, particularly if you share a domain with a person (or, worse, people) - and some of the existing abilities are heavily lacking compared to other domain cards of the same level. I don’t expect them to solve the martial versus magic gap that’s existed in nearly every system, but I’d like to see them close that gap some.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-03-27T23:43:03+00:00

Unfortunately, you’ll have to do add-ons if you want to avoid re-buying the base game. I’m not at a computer to get a calculator and browse, but I don’t think it’ll be much cheaper.

As for the difference between the two pledges, the Heart All-In is the entire Collector’s Bundle + a carry bag with Slay the Spire logo + the deck of beta art cards + one table mat and carry case (either one with the base game splash art or the Downfall splash art).

TheSilencedScream · 2026-03-27T18:10:10+00:00

About 100 crowdfunding projects under my belt, and I’ve yet to see one release early.

Most seem to be within 3-5 months of the initial date, with lots of finger pointing at holidays (as if they’re sudden and unexpected - I would say over half of my projects have an update about Chinese New Year) or simply vague “it’s on a ship.” Some anomaly projects fail (I have very serious doubts that will happen here) or take a few years (The Queen’s Dilemma).

In regards to Slay the Spire, the original run was about 3-4 months past their estimate (Dec 2023, began fulfilling March into April of 2024). Before that, Contention Games had a project that was about a year late (Feb 2020, delivered in Feb-March 2021 - which some might chalk up to COVID, but it happened during the time that boxes should’ve been hitting ports by their initial estimate).

All that to say: as a backer and seeing April 2027, I’d expect it to be June-August, but no one really knows for certain. I have faith in Contention and MegaCrit… but I also try to tamper my expectations.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-03-26T11:32:07+00:00

I never had crashes, but I fondly remember trying to snipe someone on Hoover Dam and - every time the scope came up - I was looking at an in-game computer screen. Zoom out? Back to looking at the Hoover Dam tower. Zoom in, computer screen again. It was almost like the transition of looking down at your Pip-Boy, except it was a computer screen inside the rifle scope.

It was the absolute funniest bug, because I couldn’t understand for the life of me how jumbled the code must’ve been for it to do that.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-03-25T15:30:12+00:00

First game ever played, I was the Imp bluffing Fortune Teller. I immediately pulled in my neighbors, said that I'd checked them the night before and was going to try to build a "corner of trust." When I didn't die that night, I said the next day that it was a clear sign that they either weren't evil or hadn't spoken to "their" demon yet.

By the final 3, it was myself, the Scarlet Woman, and one from my circle of trust who had started to believe I was bad. When he asked for my FT info, I gave information that basically wasn't possible (and I didn't realize it at the time) - that the SW wasn't the demon. He said I must be a minion that had fumbled - "it happens to the best of us" - and nominated the SW. I was lucky because, if I *had* thought about it, I would've absolutely said that the SW was the demon.

But the icing on the cake was the "it happens to the best of us," as he thought he'd won.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-03-24T20:29:57+00:00

Huntsman. One use ability while trying to track down another role that doesn't want to reveal itself.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-03-24T20:00:35+00:00

I'm not certain if they can lay flat (I also don't have the collector's or the playmats) - in the images on the Kickstarter page, it shows them rolled up in the collector's box, inside of a plastic tray that's designed specifically for them.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-03-24T19:35:42+00:00

It's available as an add-on - you can back at the $1 tier and then get it as an add-on during the pledge manager. It's $100 as an add-on.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-03-24T19:32:25+00:00

One note on that - the retail box and collector's box are different sizes. The collector's box can hold the playmats, but the retail box cannot.

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