In a recent interview, Guillaume Broche, Sandfall Interactive‘s founder and creative director indicated a very real possibility of a sequel to the smash hit action-adventure title Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Broche confirmed that the game only marked the beginning of the franchise, and after its overwhelming success, fans will likely be met with even more wonder and excitement than before.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was an ambitious project for a relatively small team of developers, but the undertaking was treated with care and respect, and the final project was barely short of a masterpiece in the modern age of gaming. With turn-based combat, RPG mechanics, a truly mysterious and engaging narrative, and some of the most realistically written characters I’ve ever seen in a game of the genre. The team proved that not only were they up to the task of delivering such an ambitious title, but talented enough to succeed where even many AAA titles couldn’t.
Featuring a masterclass in visual presentation and graphical fidelity, coupled with stellar performances, an unbelievably varied soundtrack that perfectly set the tone for each new area and encounter, and a story that slapped me across the face more than once, Clair Obscur set itself apart from other titles in the turn-based RPG genre and transcended into the mainstream for all of the reasons I’ve mentioned and more. The wildest thing about the game to many was the mystifying meta around its rise to commercial greatness. The team was made up of 33 people, the game was titled Expedition 33, and it managed to sell 3.3 million copies in 33 days… it was fate, destiny, or perhaps a marketing miracle that worked in the game’s favor for sure!
During a recent interview with YouTuber MrMattyPlays, Sandfall Interactive’s CEO Guillaume Broche was asked if he could share any of the studio’s plans for an upcoming sequel. “Clair Obscur is a franchise name,” Broche explained, “and Expedition 33 is only one of the stories we want to tell in this franchise.” Though he didn’t include any sort of release window or specific details, he went on to add that “it is still too early to reveal exactly what the next installment will look like,” but that they are “trying to write the sequel,” meaning the next entry in the franchise may be here sooner than expected.
Broche also mentioned that the is trying his best to “ignore Expedition 33” during the writing process for the next title, as he wants it to be its own singular experience that isn’t influenced by the other stories. Though many fans will likely be disappointed by the lack of returning beloved characters, though the wealth of material the team has to work with is so vast thanks to the many expeditions that came before… and perhaps see what’s in store for the ones who come after. However, Broche did mention that he’s finding it more difficult to write a story from a “new place of joy and sincerity.”
He also said that he wants to keep the team “small and agile,” by continuing to use powerful tools like Unreal Engine 5 to compete with AAA studios without having to grow the team’s size rather than their skills. He clarified that bigger isn’t always better in terms of studio size and game size, and that 30-hour games of replayable content are much more enjoyable and easily digested by the majority of gamers than other 200-hour long RPGs that very few people have the time or drive to play through.
He further clarified that the $50 price tag on the first game was thanks to the game’s surprisingly low development costs which were on the “lower end of AA games.” With the lack of interest in growing the studio size, it seems reasonable to assume the following title will be much the same, and it’s looking like this great group of game devs are going to enjoy a lot of good fortune as the franchise grows.
