There are such a lot of methods to explain Sandfall Interactive’s 2025 RPG Clair Obscur Expedition 33. Transferring, stunning, exhilarating. Recreation of the 12 months frontrunner. However, maybe most blatant, after a look at its mime enemies and characters clad in berets with baguettes at their again, is French. The sport is French AF, sporting its inspirations proudly, which is sensible; Sandfall was fashioned by French recreation builders.
“It has been an incredible journey,” CTO and lead programmer Tom Guillermin instructed me in a current video interview discussing what the previous few months have been like for Sandfall after the runaway success of Clair Obscur, which has offered 5 million copies and counting. Alongside COO and producer Francois Meurisse, we chatted in regards to the forthcoming replace that’ll add a brand new surroundings, difficult boss fights, and extra. We additionally mentioned absolutely the most essential facets of the sport.
Living proof: Was Francois the character named after Francois the developer?
“Oh, that is a extremely good query,” Meurisse stated. “I feel at the moment we’re primarily in search of French names that had been […] typical French names.” He famous there was no direct connection between Francois, who’s mates with fan-favorite Esquie within the recreation, and himself, “however I ended up actually a lot liking that particular character within the recreation. So I am a bit proud that Francois has such an essential position within the story.”
Francois doesn’t have a big position on the outset, and, till the post-game, is simply encountered when gamers meet Esquie. When Act 3 hits, and the secrets and techniques of Clair Obscur’s central Paintress-versus-expeditioners battle are revealed, gamers get to know Francois extra. Similar to Gustave, Maelle, Verso, and everybody else, he’s a tragic determine. Nonetheless, threaded between the tragedy and grief current in Clair Obscur are moments of lightheartedness and French particulars.
“Truly we went actually excessive, however in an surprising manner” with the sport’s Frenchness, Meurisse stated. He famous some folks “had been even pissed” that there wasn’t a French-language dub introduced alongside the English dub solid, and so in October 2024 the crew launched the Baguette Trailer asserting the French voice solid in a “type of self joking manner.” (Seeing all of the characters, even Renoir, in baguette costumes is kind of humorous, particularly figuring out what occurs within the emotional scenes the trailer showcases.)
“And this wasn’t even deliberate to be within the recreation at first. It was simply actually a joke after we’re discussing particular advertising,” Meurisse stated, referring to the “mimes and pink berets with baguettes.” As Guillermin succinctly said, “It will be more durable to embrace our Frenchness much more.”
“Might put snails and frogs all over the place within the subsequent recreation then,” Meurisse quipped.
The baguette costumes actually hit with gamers, as did the prologue’s trash-can man. The opening phase in Lumière has interactable trash cans scattered about, telling the participant there is likely to be greater than meets the attention to them. Considered one of Lumière’s residents hides in a trash can, and explains that is his manner of avoiding the Paintress, the mysterious deity chargeable for turning Lumière’s residents into flower petals. “I flip 33 immediately. Are you able to imagine my luck?” the trash-can man says, moments earlier than the Gommage happens and ostensibly takes his life.
“I feel it is such a staple in gaming to have hidden stuff whenever you work together X variety of instances,” Guillermin stated. “It is nice to see folks go loopy on the superbly regular trash can, nothing to see right here.”
Clair Obscur’s Lumière is clearly impressed by France, and even consists of its personal model of the Eiffel Tower, all damaged and malformed, bent at an unnatural angle. “We wished it to be in a French setting as a result of there have been some proximity with these references, clearly,” Meurisse stated. Sandfall’s artists had been “fairly free in regards to the references that they wished to make use of” in crafting Lumière. “We had been additionally underneath some technical constraints, so we could not do Lumière as huge as a metropolis as we may have accomplished or including an excessive amount of city density to the sport,” Meurisse added.
The Lumière-set prologue is immediately compelling and establishes the stakes at play within the story. You possibly can management early protagonist Gustave or his former lover, Sophie. The sport doesn’t straight state Sophie is on her option to being Gommaged, however dialogue and environmental cues permit the gamers to piece this collectively on their very own. Clair Obscur’s prologue is among the recreation’s strongest storytelling sections, however that wasn’t all the time the case, based on Sandfall.
“It is a part of the [development] story that sooner or later we had been a bit skeptical in regards to the intro, the prologue of the sport,” Meurisse stated. “Lumière was feeling a bit empty at the moment, and it needed to be narratively participating to create one thing from the very starting of the sport.” He famous how essential it’s to get gamers invested instantly, and that CEO and inventive director Guillaume Broche took time to “rethink the narrative path and the prologue and the environmental storytelling and so as to add plenty of NPCs, small gameplay parts” to make the opening really feel “alive.”
“Additionally having the ability to management Sophie, which was not the case,” Guillermin added. He defined that making her playable “actually helps create a connection to her. And whenever you attain the harbor, then it is even more durable.” Calling the opening “robust” is likely to be a little bit of an understatement — I may barely watch the scene by means of tear-filled eyes, and I doubt I’m alone there.
“It is likely to be just a little bit sadistic,” Guillermin stated, “but it surely’s essential to construct a real connection to the characters.”
After masking among the extra emotional components of the sport, our dialogue ended on a extra light-hearted and gracious notice. We talked about Expedition 60, the well-known bare expedition, and Meurisse commented on how “it is cool to have had this house to place many little tales like that.
“I take this chance to present a shout out to the cosplayers that did Expedition 60 [at Dragon Con] in Atlanta. [We] weren’t even conscious there can be some Expedition 33 cosplayers.” The crew discovered social media posts of “200 folks dressed with pink berets and that particular group making expedition 60 cosplay,” with Meurisse saying, “this is among the picture[s] I shared probably the most with different folks. That is actually an ideal achievement with reference to cosplay.”
Gamers study Expedition 60 by means of Clair Obscur’s collectible journals. They provide lots perception into what life was like for earlier expeditions, just like the one which acquired sick from consuming Nevrons. I couldn’t assist however marvel if there have been any off-the-wall concepts for journal entries that didn’t make it into the sport.
“I imply,” Guillermin stated, “as quickly as you have got a unadorned expedition, I feel that is as loopy as you will get.”
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