Expedition 33’s origin story is better than you expect

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a dark fantasy RPG developed by the French studio Sandfall Interactive. Set in the Belle Époque-inspired world of Lumière, the game explores themes of mortality, memory, and artistic creation through a richly layered narrative. The concept for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 originated with Guillaume Broche during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Inspired by classic JRPGs like Final Fantasy, Broche began developing a demo, which garnered attention and funding from Kepler Interactive.

This support led to the formation of Sandfall Interactive, a team comprising former Ubisoft developers and other talents. The game draws inspiration from titles such as Persona, Lost Odyssey, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and especially The Legend of Dragoon (PS1), combining turn-based combat with real-time mechanics.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s origin is a series of miracles

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director Guillaume Broche revealed in an interview with the BBC that he decided to leave Ubisoft and create a GOTY contender purely because he was “bored” working at Ubisoft and wanted to try something new. He and the game's writer, Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, both spoke with the BBC about the topic, revealing that the process of getting the team together was even more unlikely than people initially realized. Before they secured funding for the project, Broche was securing dev talent and making a pitch deck by putting out posts on Reddit and putting a team together through online forums.

Svedberg-Yen had never even voice-acted in a game before; she just thought it sounded like a fun idea and decided to submit a voice demo and throw her hat in the ring. “I was like: ‘I’ve never done that, it sounds kinda cool’, so I sent him an audition,” she explained. One thing led to another, and she ended up becoming the lead writer of a story that is, in large part, praised because of how strong its core narrative is.

Lorien Testard, the Expedition 33’s composer, got recruited by Broche thanks to interactions in Soundcloud comments. The director attributed his unnatural penchant for recruitment to “massive luck” paired with people being in lockdown at the time and wanting some new creative outlets.  When Guillaume Broche founded Sandfall and made a site in 2020, he started with a simple blog post: “Well, we don’t have much to share now, other than what we shared on the main page, it’s the very beginning, you know. But rest assured, this blog will be oh so amazing soon. Stay tuned.” Almost 5 years later, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has become his amazing promise for the gaming world.

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