Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33 needs no introduction at this point, and developer Sandfall Interactive’s journey through its creation has been extremely well documented. This breathtaking and surreal adventure will long be remembered thanks to its gloriously executed narrative (and my clumsily executed parades). But after five million copies sold, is there anything the team would have liked to do differently? We spoke with CEO and creative director Guillaume Broche and COO François Meurisse to find out.
“I think we had this discussion with the team,” Broche tells us. “I think we’re about 85% of my original vision with the final game, which is a very impressive number compared to what usually happens in games.” I first encountered Broche at Gamescom 2024, where I was captivated by the style of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, as well as its parry system. I haven’t seen enough of it to be fully prepared for its growth into one of the best RPGs in years, but this little glimpse really demonstrated the firm direction the team had established.
“Even as a developer, playing the game after it was finished, I felt that it exceeded what I had planned as a producer – what I expected from it,” adds Meurisse. “Over the course of four or five years of production, you see a lot of distinct elements of the game and everything is still a work in progress. You don’t know how players will react to it.
“Even the emotional moments, like the scrub in the prologue, you see it hundreds of times, you know. So you can’t even know what it feels like anymore,” he explains. “Having that ability to release the game, play it fully, and see how people experience it and react to it, and how much they love the characters and the story and the music and everything, has given us a second wind as developers.”
Meurisse addresses Broche specifically: “It made me realize that, I think it’s 85% of your vision, but for me it’s 120% of everything I could have dreamed of as a game designer.” Broche says he doesn’t have “any big regrets” regarding the game’s development, but there is one fan-favorite character he keeps in mind that deserves special attention.
“I would have loved to do a bit more with Esquie personally, but it’s something we might want to do later,” reveals Broche. “But overall I think we’re all pretty, pretty happy with the result we got.” Sandfall recently announced plans to launch a major update, which will take us to a whole new location with new enemy encounters, additional late-game boss fights, and more costumes. I certainly don’t think anyone would complain if we added a little more Esquie history to it.
Have you already overcome the most difficult tests of Clair Obscur? Otherwise, we’ve rounded up the best Expedition 33 builds to help you do just that, and selected the best gaming monitor in 2025 to make sure it’ll look spectacular all the way through.
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Additional reporting by Lauren Bergin for PCGamesN.
