Sandfall Interactive, a development team based in France, has finally unveiled their new game that was previously referred to as Project W at the Xbox Games Showcase 2024.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a lavishly-arted RPG where you play as Gustave and his fellow Expeditioners on an adventure. The game’s art is inspired by France’s Belle Époque period and is powered by Unreal Engine 5.
Though the most remarkable part of the Expedition 33’s reveal is the combat system.
The turn-based system’s influences are clear. The one-button-for-a-command ala Persona 5, the turn-order sidebar like in Final Fantasy X among others, a QTE when executing a move seen in the Paper Mario series and more recently the Like A Dragon games.
On the developer’s website, there’s a list of favourite games by the leads at the studio. For CEO and creative director Guillaume Broche, his favourites are Persona 3, Devil May Cry, Demon’s Souls, Journey, Final Fantasy VIII. The influences do show up in the game they are making here, for sure
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will be published by Kepler Interactive. It will be out in 2025 for the PS5, PC (Steam, Epic Games Store) and Xbox Series X|S.