You know what, I’m going to bare all: I’ve still yet to play Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 beyond the hour or so I played at a preview event, during which I approximately deemed it “a pretty tidy slice of RPG with some cheeky QTEs on the side”, but certainly not the diamond-plated GOTY candidate described by Nic in his review. As is my rotten nature, my desire to see what all the fuss is about is proportionately lower for knowing that they’re going to make a sequel – or at least, some rather substantial-sounding DLC. Ugh, I have even more to catch up on now. Why do the gods mock me.
That’s according to creative director Guillaume Broche, following on from lead writer Jennifer Svedberg-Yen’s remarks in May that “chances are good” that Expedition 33 will have some kind of successor.
“Clair Obscur is the franchise name,” said Broche to Youtuber MrMattyPlays this week, as detected by The Gamer. “Expedition 33 is one of the stories that we want to tell in this franchise. Exactly what it will look like and what the concept will be is still too soon to announce, but what is sure is that this is not the end of the Clair Obscur franchise.”
For context, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 takes place in a society that is being gradually obliterated by an all-powerful Paintress. Every year, she paints a number on her canvas, and everybody that age or older is wiped from existence. The titular expedition 33 are the latest in a series of increasingly junior warriors who set forth each year to slay the mad artiste. I don’t know any of the story’s endings, but I imagine there’s scope, at least, for some melancholy prequel stories involving expeditions 34-75.
I know far more about the kerfuffle surrounding Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s development team size than I do the plot of the game. It’s been repeatedly enshrined as evidence that smaller outfits are the magical panacea for an industry currently prone to laying thousands of people off. As Nic wrote last year, the much-quoted figure of 30 or so core developers is rather disingenuous – it ignores an external animation team, many of the musicians who worked on the killer soundtrack, and dozens of localisation, QA and voice production staff.
Geez fine, I’ll play it already. It’s not that long, right? Brisk little 30 hour campaign, yes? Nothing I need to take time off for?
