Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - A Passion Project

[HiddenX]

The BBC checked out the development of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33:

Clair Obscur: How a passion project became 2025's most talked-about game

In 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, Guillaume Broche was like millions of others around the world.

"Bored in their job and wanting to do something different."

Working for French gaming giant Ubisoft at the time, he had an idea for his own project - a role-playing game inspired by one of his childhood favourites, the classic Japanese series Final Fantasy.

That would become Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 which, five years later, has become a sensation.

It sold one million copies in just three days, topped Spotify viral charts with its soundtrack, and even won praise from French President Emmanuel Macron.

But one of the most remarkable things about it is the story of how it was made - a tale of random Reddit messages, "massive luck" and an unusual approach to game development.

Expedition 33 is set in Lumiere, a fictional world overshadowed by a huge monolith bearing a glowing numeral on its face.

Each year an entity known as The Paintress emerges and lowers the number by one, causing everyone of that age to vanish, and the game follows a group on a quest to destroy the mysterious being.

It's an intriguing set-up for an epic tale, but the game's aesthetic, inspired by 19th-Century France, and its old-school turn-based battles also set it apart.

But the conventional wisdom when Guillaume began was that players didn't want something like that.

So, five years ago, he started to recruit people for his passion project, firing out messages on Reddit and online forums to potential colleagues.

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

More information.

 

[HiddenX]

Wccftech reports that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Is Selling 2x as fast as any other JRPG on Steam.

 

[JFarrell71]

Wccftech reports that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Is Selling 2x as fast as any other JRPG on Steam.

No major JPRG has come out recently, so that's meaningless. It's also not Japanese, but whatever.

 

[Vaelith]

It took me a while to realize that the voice actor for Maelle is Jennifer English aka Shadowheart, and the whole voice acting cast is stellar in general. I'm very inclined to think that one of the "secrets" of the amazing success of these RPGs has to do with the passion that some of these amazing actors put into making their characters feel alive.

I used to be one to prefer text-based games, but the quality of voice acting in games used to be abysmal, now with the quality standards rising, I've completely changed my mind on the topic.

 

[JFarrell71]

I've only just started, but (among other things) the voice acting is indeed top notch, as is the facial motion capture, which goes a long way to making us care about the characters. I also like the writing so far.

I think I'm going to like this game a lot. I like the active aspect of the combat, though it makes me nervous. ~2 hours in, I haven't found any healing items, and if this truly was a JRPG I'd have 17 of them already.

 

[Vaelith]

You'll find plenty of ways to heal later on, especially between encounters you'll be able to keep your party ready for the next fight pretty easily due to party healing potions and rest sites.

In-combat healing potions are also a thing but I find them to be not so great, at least in the hard difficulty, they require you to sacrifice a lot of momentum just to barely hang on and hope the next turn you will do better; the real worthwhile healing comes from picto and skill synergies that trigger when you do things right, like perfect parry/counters, or killing enemies; those will carry you through the toughest boss fights so long you keep a good performance. The game rewards you very well when you're doing well and is pretty unforgiving when you're not. I imagine it doesn't matter that much in story mode though.

 

[JFarrell71]

I imagine it doesn't matter that much in story mode though.

I'm on the default. "Expeditionary", I think it's called?

That's what I meant by the "active" part of combat. Getting the timing of enemy attacks down and parrying or dodging them seems very important.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1919701863491838316

View: https://x.com/expedition33/status/1919701863491838316?s=46&t=C7l0yZ3RTCU5iCaYTkD1ZQ


12 days since release and they cross 2 million copies sold. nice

 

[txa1265]

It took me a while to realize that the voice actor for Maelle is Jennifer English aka Shadowheart, and the whole voice acting cast is stellar in general.

Totally agree - I looked up the voice acting after the prologue and was stunned by the talent. And of course a huge fan of Jennifer English after spending a few hundred hours together the last 1.5 years or so!

 

[Lucky Day]

Lots of buzz about this game with the small team and that they simply focused on making a good game that they wanted to play in the traditional manner.

 

[JFarrell71]

I don't know what you mean by "traditional manner", but though Expedition borrows/adapts mechanics from a wide variety of games and genres, it's very much its own thing. It has some very creative combat mechanics. Each of your party members has their own, very interesting, methods of fighting.

Btw, a lot more than 30 people were involved in making the game. That's more marketing buzz than reality.

 

[JDR13]

I didn't find the combat mechanics that creative. It plays like a JRPG, and they threw in some timed button pressing which has been done before. They did a good job of making each character feel unique in what they can do, but I think I would have preferred turn-based without the additional action inputs.

 

[JFarrell71]

I didn't find the combat mechanics that creative. It plays like a JRPG, and they threw in some timed button pressing which has been done before. They did a good job of making each character feel unique in what they can do, but I think I would have preferred turn-based without the additional action inputs.

Have you played it?

I'm talking about the individual mechanics the party members all have. Maelle with her stance switching, Luna with her stains, etc, and how much synergy there is between them. I've played more than my share of JRPGs, far more than you have, and it's not like any of them.

 

[JDR13]

Have you played it?

I'm talking about the individual mechanics the party members all have. Maelle with her stance switching, Luna with her stains, etc, and how much synergy there is between them. I've played more than my share of JRPGs, far more than you have, and it's not like any of them.

Yes, I played a decent chunk. I've talked about several times in other threads. I've also played a lot of other JRPGs, so please don't pretend to know what I've played.

I mean, did you really even read my post, or were you in too much of a hurry to come at me with your kneejerk fanboy reaction? I specifically mentioned that they did a good job of making each characters feel unique in combat. I'm sorry if I wasn't as impressed by the game as you obviously are.

 

[JFarrell71]

Yes, I played a decent chunk. I've talked about several times in other threads. I've also played a lot of other JRPGs, so please don't pretend to know what I've played.

I mean, did you really even read my post, or were you in too much of a hurry to come at me with your kneejerk fanboy reaction? I specifically mentioned that they did a good job of making each characters feel unique in combat. I'm sorry if I wasn't as impressed by the game as you obviously are.

I did read it, yes. My question was an actual question. I didn't assume you hadn't.

I also have seen you say that JRPGs aren't a subgenre you enjoy or play much, so I think it's safe to say I've played a lot more of them, considering I've played 100+.

JRPGs play differently from each other, and the things you tend to find in a lot of them (like elemental affinities and use of items) aren't handled the same way in Expedition 33. Very few JRPGs have any action mechanics mixed with turn based combat (Shadow Hearts is an exception), and almost none of them have separate mechanics for each character. I can't think of any other game that has a system like the pictos/lumina system in Expedition 33.

So yeah, we'll have to disagree, but it's not just a matter of impressed or not, it's you lumping it in with a lot of games it only superficially resembles.

 

[JDR13]

I did read it, yes. My question was an actual question. I didn't assume you hadn't.

I also have seen you say that JRPGs aren't a subgenre you enjoy or play much, so I think it's safe to say I've played a lot more of them, considering I've played 100+.

JRPGs play differently from each other, and the things you tend to find in a lot of them (like elemental affinities and use of items) aren't handled the same way in Expedition 33. Very few JRPGs have any action mechanics mixed with turn based combat (Shadow Hearts is an exception), and almost none of them have separate mechanics for each character. I can't think of any other game that has a system like the pictos/lumina system in Expedition 33.

So yeah, we'll have to disagree, but it's not just a matter of impressed or not, it's you lumping it in with a lot of games it only superficially resembles.

I started the post you quoted with "I didn't find the combat mechanics that creative", so it should be obvious I played it.

No, I don't find JRPGs as a whole to be very good, and I rarely play them now. However, I started with JRPGs when I was younger because that's mostly what I had available before I switched to PC gaming, and I played them almost exclusively from the NES era to the PS2. I'll still play one occasionally if there's a lot of hype but usually not to completion.

Clair Obscur isn't a JRPG anyways imo. I was referring to the combat mechanics when I said it plays like a JRPG. The fact that it has some things that sets it apart from most other JRPGs is irrelevant. It still "feels" like a JRPG in that category. If it didn't, every review wouldn't be mentioning it.

 

[Vaelith]

It's true, the combat mechanics are not that creative they just do this number of creative and innovative things that no other RPG has ever done before, especially in combination with each other; like free shots, enemy weak points, stun/break counters, AP+turn economy, perfect dodges, perfect parry counters, jump counters, Gradient attacks, Gradient counters, Maelle's Stance dance, Lune's Stains, Verso's Perfection, Sciel's Foretell, Monoco's Bestial Wheel, Picto/Lumina active/passive power synergy which can completely shift the way you approach encounters, dozens of unique weapons that are more than just stat sticks and also shift each character's playstyle and combat focus, etc.

Bot other than all of that, it's the same as always. You have characters who attack enemies until their HP hits 0s, duh. I don't see what's creative about that.

 

[JFarrell71]

... dozens of unique weapons that are more than just stat sticks and also shift each character's playstyle and combat focus, etc.

They nailed the loot, imo. It borrows from souls games to some degree, finding items that upgrade your flasks, and there are the items (colors of something) that give you a lumina point. And you find chroma. All that is standard. Useful, but nothing special.

But you also find new pictos often, and they never duplicate. A dizzying array of combinations of passives, all feeding into the webs of synergy with weapon passives and active abilities. And you find new weapons fairly often too. I love how the better weapons have 3 tiers of passives you can unlock. That all has made optional bosses and exploring those nooks and crannies totally worth it for me.

 

[JDR13]

Yes, they gave each character different abilities in combat. Final Fantasy VI did that back in 1994.

I'm glad that some people find the combat enjoyable. To me, it's very much a story-first game. Unfortunately, I didn't find the gameplay very compelling, and I'm not much of a story guy.

 

[Vaelith]

They nailed the loot, imo. It borrows from souls games to some degree, finding items that upgrade your flasks, and there are the items (colors of something) that give you a lumina point. And you find chroma. All that is standard. Useful, but nothing special.

But you also find new pictos often, and they never duplicate. A dizzying array of combinations of passives, all feeding into the webs of synergy with weapon passives and active abilities. And you find new weapons fairly often too. I love how the better weapons have 3 tiers of passives you can unlock. That all has made optional bosses and exploring those nooks and crannies totally worth it for me.

Just to put some emphasis on this, I made a build for Maelle based solely around free shots, something that usually is just a side feature meant mostly to "pop" weak spots or take out shields, with the right pictos, passives and weapon, she can go solo (ie, she being the only active party member) and decimate challenging encounters on her own on the hardest difficulty, just by shooting enemies down with all her AP. If you do well with counters, you can even take down high-level optional Chromatic bosses with that setup.

It's just wickedly fun what you can do with a little creativity.