I first saw Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in action last August at Gamescom and within seconds knew I was the intended target audience. Now, having played the first three hours of the game, I’m certain we’re in for something special. It’s the kind of feast of imagination, nostalgia, and technical wizardry that comes along once, maybe twice in a generation.

This is a visually resplendent steampunk fantasy that mixes together everything from Jean-Pierre Jeunet to Georges Méliès via Belgian comic book masters and a helping of Jules Verne. As a game, it’s as if someone took the wildest parts of Final Fantasy, Metaphor ReFantazio, and The Lost Odyssey together.

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The setup is grimly fantastical. In the city of Lumiere (see what they did there?), the world awaits with terror as The Paintress, an unknown entity with the power to reshape life itself, paints a number on a cursed monolith, wiping out everyone of that age. Gustave (Charlie Cox), our hero, has just bid farewell to his partner, aged 34. His year is next. But he won’t go quietly, and others like him share the same fury. Together, they set out on the eponymous Expedition 33 to find The Paintress and take the fight to her. What have they got to lose?

The demo I played begins a few hours into the story, with Gustave waking alone in a forest, uncertain of how he got there and what happened to the rest of the expedition. Based off the mountains of corpses scattered about the forest, it can’t be anything good.

There’s a constant sense of melancholy in the game. It is, after all, a story about the inevitability of death and what we do with the little time given to us. The world is in varying states of decay, and the juxtaposition between the Belle Epoque romanticization of French history and steampunk influences stand out beautifully.

Gameplay itself is linear in classic Final Fantasy style. Open areas allow for a certain amount of exploration, but it’s clear that this is an adventure you take part in — not something the player dictates. After years of open world games, I’m more than happy to have a carefully written and curated story before me.

Soon, Gustave and surviving friends encounter the forces of The Paintress, who inhabit the intoxicatingly beautiful, but deadly island. Here, the Metaphor and Final Fantasy -influenced combat comes into play, and it’s a fast-paced joy to experience.

While turn-based, every minute of battle requires attention. Characters can parry enemy attacks, inflict higher damage with quick button presses, and overcharge their abilities for devastating team attacks. At first, there’s a lot happening on the screen, and it does feel a little overwhelming for the first hour. Especially as Expedition 33 throws you right into the deep end with some of the mechanics.

But give it a moment, and it’s fascinating how smartly tuned the big picture is. Developer Sandfall Interactive has clearly spent a good deal of time observing classics of the genre and imbuing elements from them into Expedition 33. Cynically, you could argue that it’s a mosaic of other games, but that would be reductive, too.

Instead, Expedition 33 feels like an evolution of the genre. Familiar, yet new. The mechanics take what works from the past, but throw in new angles and speed into the mix. As a result, my three hours flew by once I realized everything I could do with the core gameplay. I can’t wait to see how challenging the final product is, especially as Sandfall Interactive has promised a bevy of hidden encounters.

One thing that does worry me is accessibility. The demo has almost no options on this front, and Expedition 33 is a busy title visually. The menus are all askew, there’s an endless barrage of VFX, and the camera moves around like it’s in a Michael Bay movie. In every way the cut scenes are timeless and classy in presentation, the gameplay feels hectic and almost chaotic.

A part of that worry is because Sandfall Interactive is a small studio. Expedition 33 might look like a massive project, but it’s actually the work of an indie group under 100 people. Part of the wonder is how they got everything to look this amazing.

But that also means there’s little chance of truly great accessibility settings. How it shakes out remains to be seen, but I’ll be keeping an eye out on this if I get a chance to review Expedition 33 before its release later in April.

Having said that, I think Expedition 33 is going to be something special. It already has the backing of some major voice acting royalty, including Jennifer English, Kirsty Rider, Shala Nyx, Andy Serkis, and Ben Starr. Based off the demo, the acting sounds fantastic, and the cut scenes especially stand out with their inspirations worn openly on their sleeve. A film adaptation is already in the works, which should surprise no one.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will be released on April 24th. Look for a review closer to the release date.