For Those Who Come After
December 12, at around 6 PM CST, my 24 hour Game Day marathon kicks off with an attempt to beat Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (in New Game+ mode) within 24 hours. Crowd Control screen disrupts will be enabled. There will be a death tax. There will be a penalty for failing to finish in time. There will be plenty of silly French things to keep the mood light for such a serious game.
Expedition 33 is hands down my game of the year, this decade, and one of my favorites now all-time. It's a game about death, fighting fate, family, friendship, and finding hope in the face of impossible odds.
The game is set in Lumière, a city that looks something like a post-apocalyptic Paris. Across the sea, a glowing number sits etched in a mountainside. The number decreases annually via an entity known only as the Paintress. When the number changes, everyone in Lumière whose age is above that number, dies, simply disappearing in what is now called the Gommage (French for "erase").
After the annual Gommage, a group of Lumière citizens, usually of the age of the next Gommage victims, dedicate themselves to going across the sea to defeat the Paintress. None have ever succeeded. Barely anything is known about their fates. All that is known is that, even if the next Expedition ends up a suicide mission, they are to do whatever they can "for those that come after."
The game opens on the day of Gommage 34 and follows the journey of Expedition 33.
The ethos of the Expeditions in the game remind me much of my Extra Life efforts. Aven has long passed. There are other children that have lost battles to pediatric cancer. Yet I persist, focusing on the children that will continue to come after. The need never ceases.
I hope you join me on this journey as I share this incredibly well-written story and sound track. Next week, I'll get a full list of all the special donation incentives and milestones ready.
I will fire up streams once again on Thursdays, potentially adding Tuesday to the mix as well so I can close out Assassin' Creed: Brotherhood before Game Day!
