Editor’s Note: This post contains minor spoilers for “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.”

In the world of “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33,” a relatively small population of people live with an inscrutable and deadly annual process called the Gommage.

67 years before the start of the game, a catastrophic event ripped the city of Lumière away from the mainland. For an uncertain reason, a massive monolith with a glowing number 100 looms beyond the sea.

Each year since, a mysterious entity known only as the Paintress subtracts one from the number displayed on that monolith, and every person aged more than that number simply vanishes into thin air.

After decades of this cycle, the game starts right before the age threshold drops from 34 to 33. In front of our eyes, we see healthy adults turn to nothing as the survivors mourn.

Despite decades and decades of this miserable experience, the survivors send out expeditions made up mostly of people who will cease to exist when the next Gommage rolls around. Every attempt to date has resulted in failure.

Nevertheless, a new group of hopefuls sail across the ocean each year. They fully expect to fail, but they are dedicated to trying to learn as much as they can during their expedition to help aid the attempts that follow them. In fact, you regularly stumble across the diaries from earlier attempts, and they help paint a clearer picture of the oddities and mounting dangers found on the continent.

“For those who come after.” -Gustave

In the real world, our predicament isn’t quite so visually distracting, but we’re facing all-but-certain doom nonetheless. Natural disasters are happening at an alarming rate thanks to climate change, the number of active wars keeps going up, and various flavors of authoritarianism are on the rise around the globe.

It’s hard to remain positive in the face of unfathomable cruelty and mass death, but we must trudge on. If we don’t fight for something better, our chances of a peaceful world that doesn’t swallow coastal cities whole are basically zero. If we get up every morning, write angry letters, protest, and organize, there is a small chance that our great grandchildren might not wake up filled with dread like we do.

Playing “Clair Obscur” brings up strong feelings of grief that involve both personal and societal loss. And even if we don’t fully know it, this game highlights how intertwined the two are. What motivates you to fight for a brighter future might be highly personal, but it can absolutely have worldwide impact.

I know so many people who dedicate hundreds of hours of their lives every year to advocate for a variety of causes here in my tiny state of Delaware. Legalizing weed, protecting abortion rights, increasing the minimum wage, and making slumlords pay for malfeasance. None of those will end fascism or reverse climate change, but they bring us one step closer to a world with significantly less pain.

“Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” is available for $49.99 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Image Credit: “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33,” Sandfall Interactive