Five minutes. That’s how long it took for the ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – A Painted Symphony’ show in London to sell out. My love for the game can’t be overstated. It was my top pick for the 2025 Game of the Year (and I was right), and I even have a tattoo dedicated to it. I knew I had to get tickets for the live concert. I waited in the queue with bated breath, and secured tickets before the show sold out. All of that took five minutes.
Two hours. That’s how long the show lasted, and those two hours were some of the best of my life. I’ve been to a lot of concerts and I’ve had the privilege of seeing some of my favorite artists live — including Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters. And the only other concert to have matched how I felt listening to Waters live was the A Painted Symphony show.
In my opinion, Expedition 33 has the best game soundtrack of all time — and hearing it live made me not just believe that even more, but made me want to dive back in for a third playthrough. Expedition 33 is a masterclass in conveying a range of emotions spanning anger, grief, denial, sorrow through music. And if, for some reason, you still haven’t played the game, the music is one of the primary reasons to do so.
The power of music
Music is a powerful tool, and a song doesn’t necessarily have to be in a language you’re familiar with for you to feel it in your soul. Expedition 33 is a French game and its soundtrack — spanning nearly 10 hours — is predominantly in French, barring a couple of songs. If you understand French, you’ll probably be able to decipher the spoilers many of the songs relay. But if you don’t, like myself, you’ll be none the wiser.
Expedition 33’s music serves as a backbone to the game. It’s a storyteller and a combat mechanic — whether that’s a power ballad signifying the chaotic nature of one of the game’s main bosses or audio cues that you must rely on to parry. The music is designed to be reactive and emotive. I remember the first time I booted up the game and heard ‘Maelle’ playing during the menu selection. I was moved, and instantly sucked into the world.
The violins working harmoniously with the flutes, drums and of course, Alice Duport-Percier’s ethereal vocals, deliver a genre-bending soundtrack that starts as neoclassical opera but suddenly pivots into heavy metal or jazz. I’ve seen multiple videos on TikTok where gamers and streamers react to ‘Une vie à t’aimer’ playing during a pivotal boss fight, and each gamer is instantly blown away. It’s unexpected and done in the best way possible.
A canvas come to life
Expedition 33’s soundtrack, to me, is the star of the game, alongside the brilliant storytelling of course, but not for a second did I feel like the music wasn’t adding heaps and heaps to any given moment in the game. And that’s why I needed to hear it live. ‘A Painted Symphony’ was first announced towards the tail-end of last year, and it features the game’s composer, Lorien Testard, vocalist Alice Duport-Percier, and the CURIEUX orchestra.
Alice’s vocal control is some of the best I’ve heard, and her voice is haunting and enchanting at the same time, to the point that you’re fixated and can’t look away from the stage — all while Lorien is shredding on the guitar. I found myself in a trance as the entire concert hall was also stunned into silence. There were no phones in sight and as someone who loves recording short clips of gigs I go to, all I wanted to do was remain in that moment — so all I got was this one short moment towards the end.
Something the live show uses really well, perhaps just as well as the game, is melancholy as a mechanic. Expedition 33’s OST doesn’t shy away from sadness and instead, leans into it, moving you to tears on multiple occasions Transitioning between the evocative ‘Alicia’ and the rock-heavy ‘Taking Down the Paintress’ gave me whiplash in the best way possible.
The use of lamps lighting up at different moments during ‘Lampmaster’s Theme’ was ingenuous, and took right me back to the boss fight that humbled me and my then-poor parry timing. The sound of Renoir’s cane at the end of the live track echoed through the concert hall and sent chills down my spine, because we all know what happens after that in the game.
Nothing more beautiful than human art
But while most people who haven’t played Expedition 33 might think that the game is just sad, there’s plenty of whimsy to enjoy too. The Gestrals, as we all know, are funny and silly, and they have equally silly music to accompany their on-screen existence. Listening to ‘Monoco’ played live on the saxophone had everyone in the concert hall clapping, as did ‘In Lumière’s Name’ which, of course, plays during the mime battles.
Three encores and four standing ovations, the concert came to an end, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. As I stood up to clap and the lights came back on, all I could see was a sea of red berets and all I could hear was thunderous applause, unlike any I’ve heard before.
In that moment, I knew two things for certain. One, Expedition 33 does, to me, have the best game soundtrack of all time, and the concert only solidified that further. Two, the scale of human labor that goes into creating what you can call digital magic shouldn’t be overlooked. The CURIEUX orchestra, made of up of so many talented people, alongside Alice and Lorien managed to create something beautiful, and seeing their craft live was a profound lesson in the importance of human art’s existence.
Now then, I’m off to listen to the soundtrack on repeat once again while I reminisce about one of the greatest concerts of my life and before I dive into my third playthrough of Expedition 33. Sounds like outstanding weekend plans to me.
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