What is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?

What is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was easily one the highlights from Summer Game Fest. It was one of those games that jumped off the screen. It was familiar and fresh at the same time. There is still a lot about the game that we don’t know, even from a basic standpoint including why the name is so long and what it means. The easiest way to discuss why you should be excited for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 before it releases in 2025 is to break things down into five categories: Title, Studio, Setting, Combat/Party System and Inspirations.

What does the title mean?

There are actually two parts to the name. The first is Clair Obscur, which is a French expression that typically refers to the contrasting elements of light and shadows or darkness in art. According to game director Guillaume Broche “it influenced the game’s artistic direction”, which you can easily see by watching the trailer and gameplay footage that Sandfall have released. There is a clear focus on beautiful, brightly coloured areas that are offset by shadows and darkness. Broche elaborated further by saying that it “also refers to the overarching world of the game”

As for the Expedition 33, this one is a little more straightforward and less interpretation. Once a year the Paintress awakens and paints a number. This year, it was the number 33, which means that at the end of that year, everyone that is 33 years old in the world will disappear. Every year a different expedition sets out to try and put and end to the paintress, but none have been successful.

Who are sandfall interactive?

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is being made by Sandfall Interactive, a small studio founded in 2020, who are based in Montpellier, France and have a team of about 30. Sandfall wants to remain small to keep the creativity and agility of smaller studios. The founder of studio and the lead programmer were previously with Ubisoft as Narrative Lead and gameplay programmers.

The art director lists Dishonored, Bioshock and The Order 1886 as his favourite games, which should give you a good indication of what lies ahead with Expedition 33.

what is belle epoque?

Clair Obscur: Expédition 33 is a turn based JRPG with an active battle system and other real time mechanics. Expedition 33 has a very strong European influence with a world inspired the Belle Epoque France, which translates to the beautiful age. This was a time in European history that lasted for about 50 years between wars that ended around the start of World War 1. This was a time where everything flourished from the innovations in science and technology as well as the arts. Combining the Belle Epoque era with a fanstascial world that we have seen in the trailers creates a very unique setting that feels original.

The world was designed so that it would be fun to explore. Whether that is through the vertical design or the tools that they have given the player to explore the non linear world like grapples, climbing hooks and ropes, in order to find additional mysteries and secrets. A lot of these tools have been left from previous expeditions, which means not only are they a way to traverse the world, but hopefully they will be used a strong plot devices.

The other part of the setting that feels unique is the Children of Men style setting, but in this case there is no old age anymore as every year the Paintress paints a number that gets lower every year. This is a world where there is no one over the age of 33, which is such an interesting concept. One of the most interesting aspects, is that members of Expedition 33 only have one year left to live and it will be neat to see how that affects the storyline. There is also the giant overarching mystery of why this all happens to begin with and why the Paintress must paint the numbers.

rpg and action inspirations

When discussing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 with the PlayStation Blog, the game director spoke about many different inspirations for the game, but they can be sorted out into two different categories: Narrative and Gameplay. The narrative was inspired mainly by a French Fantasy Novel from Alain Damasio about a group of explorers that travel the world. When listing other narrative inspiration for the game like Attack on Titan, it’s clear that Sandfall are drawn to stories about journeys in the face of insurmountable odds.

From a gameplay perspective, it all began with the studio seeing a void. “There hasn’t really be any attempt at making a turn based RPG with high fidelity graphics for a while”. Trying to push the limits of fidelity is a simple explanation for why Sandfall chose to create Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in Unreal Engine 5.

All of the classic inspirations are here that you would expect for fans of JRPG’s like Final Fantasy, Tales, Lost Oddysey and Persona, but in the words of Sandfall, “want to see something fresh done with the genre” The other gameplay inspirations were from the action genre with titles like DMC, Nier and Souls. This is where Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 tries to set itself apart and that leads us right into the next category, which is Combat system.

RE-ACTIVE TURN BASED BATTLE SYSTEM

Expedition 33 is trying something unique that they are calling a “reactive turn based battle system”. This is a system that takes the traditional turn based RPG system and infuses their love for action games and souls-likes.

During the enemies turn, you will need to reactive with dodging, jumping and parrying. In the words of the director “As soon as I finished the first prototype of the defence system, I knew it was something special”

There is a nice risk/reward scenario, where you can dodge to avoid attacks and damage completely or take a riskier approach with a smaller window for parry. The reward is that it not only negates damage but it can also trigger powerful counter attacks.

One of the most intriguing quotes about the game is that with proper mastery of this reactive system “it’s possible to do a no damage run, but that in theory, you can beat any enemy of the game at level 1”

When it comes to members of your party “each character has a distinct play style with their own unique mechanic” When you are able to alter the characters stats, gear, learnable passives and a skill tree along with deciding who will be the party leader at any time adds a level of strategy and customization that should make experiences very unique to the player in how they choose to approach their adventure.