Exploring Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - how Sandfall Interactive's debut game becomes an instant RPG and turn-based combat classic

The hype around Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the debut of the French studio Sandfall Interactive, did not appear out of nowhere. Everything is in place here: a bright and atypical fantasy world with hints of the French Belle Époque (but without clichés like berets and baguettes), a story about the cycle of death, from which even the main characters cannot escape, and the Reactive Turn-Based combat system, where you have to think quickly, not in two moves. All of this with 90+ ratings on Metacritic and recommendations from 97% of critics. Add to this the release directly to Game Pass on PC and Xbox, and we have a perfect storm for success at launch.

Fast forward

• The world under the Artist's shadow: setting and storyline
• Innovative combat: Game mechanics and systems
• From vision to realisation: the story of Sandfall Interactive
• World release, starred reviews, and Barbenheimer-style trolling
• In a nutshell: a landmark debut born in Lumiere

The launch of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a successful start for the indie RPG, but also a serious signal for the entire mid-range (so-called AA) segment of games. A great combination of factors: an independent studio, real gameplay innovation, high criticism at launch, and a Game Pass release - and voila, we have a game that beats big budgets without losing much. Sandfall Interactive has done everything right: the support of the publisher Kepler Interactive, development on Unreal Engine 5, not a "revolution", but a very accurate evolution of the genre - the same Reactive Combat that makes you count seconds in turn-based combat again. And most importantly, instead of fighting for players' attention because of the price tag, they simply appear in Game Pass - and on millions of screens at once.

Even more interestingly, Expedition 33 soared to 90+ scores immediately after release, becoming one of the best games of 2025 - and that was on the first try. For a debut game - without the traditional "well, it's the first attempt" - this is not just praise, but proof that Sandfall has not only ambition but also iron discipline. Where other projects fall apart on the balance sheet or polishing, here everything works from the first shot. And if you're looking for a case study of how an indie band can create a hit without an AAA label, here it is, with a medal for "classic from the first take".

The World Under the Artist's Shadow: Setting and Plot

The world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is Lumière, a place of beauty and constant extinction. Once a year, the Paintress wakes up here, a giant figure who approaches a monolith and carves a number on it. It's not just a symbol or an installation: it's a death sentence. Everyone who reaches this age simply dissolves into smoke. And every year the number decreases. Death marches down the age scale, without pause or regret. This time it's 33.

The player leads the Expedition 33 squad - six doomed people who have exactly one year left to reach the monolith, destroy the Artist, and break the cycle. Everything - literally everything - is played under this timer. This is not an "epic quest" where you can hang in your inventory for 40 minutes. This is a game where the ending breathes down your neck from the first minute. It's this "one-year perspective" that gives the game its nerve, pace, and sense of irreversibility, which you don't often find in RPGs where you can spend years wandering around dungeons for a magic wand.

Visually, Lumiere is Belle Époque at its best: elegance with a poisonous aftertaste.

A fantasy that seems to have been painted by an artist with panic in his eyes. Island of Visages, Forgotten Battlefield - even the names of the locations are disturbing. The main characters are Gustave and Maelle, assisted by Lune, Sciel, Monoco, and several intriguing characters such as Esquie, Verso, and Renoir.

Characters of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Illustration: Sandfall Interactive

All of them have their own history, temperament, and reasons for setting out on a journey that is unlikely to end in return. The player gets them in action, not in autobiographical monologues.

The developers of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 developers don't hide their reference points: Final Fantasy, Persona and other great Japanese RPGs are in their DNA. And it's not just about aesthetics - it's about characters who speak a lot, often emotionally, sometimes on the verge of melodrama, but always sincerely. It is ironic that the main antagonist here is not a villain in the classical sense, but a force of nature. The artist who carves another number on the monolith every year - and those who are that old disappear. She doesn't chase heroes - she just follows her schedule.

This is not a battle between good and evil, but a race with the calendar, where the key conflict is not with the enemy, but with your own fear. The player watches six characters live a year of their lives: with tension, loss, conflict, and attempts to find meaning in a situation where the end is already set.

This contrast - between beauty and doom - works to the fullest. Illustration: Sandfall Interactive

The choice of setting was equally apt: Belle Époque, a world of art, hope and technological progress, where the player searches for meaning in the shadows, between the filigree facades and engravings with the date of death. This contrast - between beauty and doom - works to the fullest. Here Art Nouveau is not just a style, but a part of the plot. And it is thanks to this that Clair Obscur is not just a beautifully designed RPG, but a game that really asks: can art save - when time is running backwards and you are already standing in line.

Innovative combat: Game mechanics and systems

At the heart of the gameplay of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the Reactive Turn-Based combat system, which has already been praised by critics and players alike. This is not an "attack queue" with an "attack" button on repeat. Here, each move is like a game of chess with a timer and a response. Everything is built on timing: when someone attacks you, dodge or parry at the right moment, and you'll get a chance to launch a powerful counterattack. If you miss, you have to take it in stride.

The player's attacks are not reckless either: you can put together combos if you hit the rhythm and manually aim at enemies' weak points - like a sniper in a turn-based game. This hybrid makes you keep your hands on the pulse - literally. You can't just pick a team and go for tea: the battle requires attention every second.

The battle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Illustration: Sandfall Interactive

This scheme is compared to Paper Mario or Super Mario RPG, where the outcome of an attack depends not on the leveling but on the timing of the presses. And here it is not a trifle - a successful parry is accompanied by explosive animations and a sound that makes you want to click again. But the complexity is also appropriate: you need to study enemy attacks, react to visual cues that are not always obvious, and take into account that each character works according to its own laws.

The character development is classic, but with nice hooks. A team can consist of six characters, each of which can be upgraded, dressed, customised, and combined for synergy. The main feature is thePictos system. These are activated artefacts that give bonuses - temporarily, until you "master" them. To master them, you need to win four battles with them. Then the buff goes into a common pool and becomes available to anyone in the team - provided that there is the required amount of Lumina (a resource that is obtained in battle and with levels).

This encourages the player to constantly experiment, change Pictos, look for new combinations, and not get stuck on a "favourite build".

The result is a combat system that works like a clock with a bomb inside: beautiful, accurate, but with a risk for those who did not have time to press it in time.

Combat in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is, of course, the heart of the game, but everything around it beats too. The world is open for exploration, and the world map immediately hints at classic JRPGs: large characters, stylised environments, and mysteries scattered across locations. Everything encourages you not to go in a straight line, but to dig in the bushes - literally. There may be hidden missions, rare items, or bonus characters, which are described in the game as "creatures of legend" or "lucky allies". They not only add colour, but also open up new ways to move around the map - and with them you can get to places that were previously "closed to mortals".

The battle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is, of course, the heart of the game. Illustration: Sandfall Interactive

The opponents in the game are another story. They've been described as surreal and dangerous, with a design that fits perfectly into a world where beauty borders on menace. They're not just fun to attack, they're fun to look at. But admiration does not last long: enemies force you to level up and improve your timing. Fortunately, after resting near the expedition flags, the enemies return - so there is grind here, but voluntary and not suffocating.

At the same time, the game does not punish excessively for defeat. If you die, you roll back a little. No "12 hours of progress lost".

This is not Soulslike, and it doesn't even try to be.

Here, you are taught the rhythm, not slapped on the wrist for every mistake.

And this is the key to why Reactive Turn-Based works. It combines the best of both worlds: strategic depth for fans of turn-based systems and dynamic participation for those who love action. You make decisions, but you also execute them with your hands, at the right second, with the right sound. This creates the feeling of a game that requires intelligence and reaction at the same time - and that's why it's so addictive. Because every fight is a small act: think, press, hit.

Every battle is a small act: think, press, hit. Illustration: Sandfall Interactive

The Pictos system is the case when an RPG doesn't force you to carry 47 amulets in your inventory "for later", but instead says: "Try it - it will be useful". Each Pictos is a buff that can be attached to a hero. Fight just four battles with it, and the effect will be unlocked for the entire team. After that, you can use them as you wish, combine them as you wish, as long as you have enough Lumina, which is obtained from battles and levels.

This approach saves you from accumulative paralysis, when a player is afraid to change something in their equipment because "maybe it's not the goal". On the contrary, the game encourages rotation, testing new Pictos, and building a collection of effects that can be strategically shuffled for specific battles. As a result, we have a lively progression system that works not instead of the classic leveling and equipment, but together with them to achieve a wider tactical depth.

Along with combat, the game reveals itself through exploration - and here the authors were clearly inspired not only by JRPGs. The world map, at first glance, refers to the classics with "big-headed" characters travelling between locations, but it has something of a Metroidvania feel to it: not all paths are open at once. Some zones can only be passed after you have special allies in your team - the same legendary creatures that open up new ways of moving.

In parallel with combat, the game unfolds through exploration. Illustration: Sandfall Interactive

This creates an additional layer of motivation to return to the places you've already visited. What at first seemed like a closed dead end suddenly becomes a new portal to a secret or quest. Such a structure rewards the player who does not run in the arrow, but explores, checks, tries to go around. And it's not just about collecting loot, it's about the feeling that the world is alive, changing with you and responding to your achievements.

From vision to realisation: the story of Sandfall Interactive

Sandfall Interactive is a young studio, but it has a lot of experience in its archives. Founded in France in 2020, it looks like a typical case study: a small team, big ambitions, a game that was supposed to be released "one day". And it did. Lead and creative director Guillaume Broche is a former narrative lead and associate producer at Ubisoft. CTO Tom Guillermin is also from Ubisoft and has worked on game code for several AAA titles. They were joined by COO François Meurisse, who is responsible for management and timing - everything that doesn't make it into trailers but saves deadlines.

Sandfall Interactive executives. Illustration: Sandfall Interactive

Beyond the founders, the Sandfall team has several other interesting names that set the tone for the game. The head writer is Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, who is not only a science fiction writer but also a former analogue astronaut (i.e. she literally prepared for life on Mars). The art director is Nicholas Maxson-Francombe, known for his steampunk illustrations. The music was composed by Lorien Testard, who is not a Spotify star, but he did his job very accurately.

The soundtrack consists of more than 150 tracks: from orchestral and choral themes to jazz and techno with French vocals. Tracks such as "Alicia" or "Une vie à peindre" can be heard in the camp if you find or buy the records. Sound effects are not a decoration, but a gameplay tool: parrying is often done through sound, not animation. And although there are occasional out-of-sync moments or music fades, in general, this is one of the best sound designs in RPGs in recent years.

The story of Sandfall is an example of a new trend in the industry.

When people from Ubisoft (and not only) leave the corporate pipeline to create something of their own. And yes, it is a risk. However, Expedition 33 shows that a small team + technology + a decent publisher = real competition for the AAA scene. This case has become an argument in favour of the "high-budget indie" or "boutique AAA" format - when a game looks like a big one, but is made faster, narrower, and sometimes more accurate.

Interestingly, according to one of the players (unofficially), almost half of the team left Ubisoft. There is no official confirmation, but when you look at the quality of the technical execution, it no longer looks like a fantasy.

The studio has a clear mission: to create single-player premium 3D games for PC and new consoles.

No multiplayer, no battle passes - just stories, characters, and a world. And all of this is powered by Unreal Engine 5, which, according to Brosch, gave the studio the opportunity to "chase the latest technology," although not without nuances: a new engine is always a compromise between freedom and headaches.

Sandfall started with six people, but grew with the game:

• 15 people in 2022
• 22 - у 2023
• 25 - у 2024
• approximately 34 people at the time of release

The growth of the studio - from six people to more than thirty - is no longer a romantic story of two in a garage. This is a large-scale project that received support at the start(Epic MegaGrant for $50,000, support from the French National Film Centre(CNC), and a little more from regional programmes), and after signing with Kepler Interactive in 2023, it seriously gained momentum. Unreal Engine 5 alone does not make a game beautiful - it requires a team that knows how to work with it and funding to cover everything from animations to optimisation.

And the studio managed to get all of this before the release, maintaining the vision, pace and quality. That's why Expedition 33 looks and sounds like a premium product - even though it's technically an indie. It's just with those who know how and are not afraid to make something difficult from scratch. If anyone in the industry still doubted whether it was possible to make a breakthrough without having an office for 300 people, here's the answer, already with a Metacritic score of 90+.

World release, star ratings, and Barbenheimer-style trolling

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launches globally on 24 April 2025, simultaneously on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S - synchronously worldwide, at exactly 8:00am UK Summer Time. No early access, no VIP versions, no deluxe packs. It's simple: here's the game - play it. And from day one, it's been on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, so the entry threshold was comfortable, to say the least.

Feedback. "Universal Admiration" is the official Metacritic score, with ratings ranging from 90 to 93 depending on the platform. OpenCritic added to the top: 97% of critics recommend it, with an average score of 91%. On Steam, it's consistently "Very Positive" (94% positive reviews since release).

And then - review after review:

• Polygon - "studio’s debut RPG that exceeds all expectations".
• Gamespot - 9/10
• IGN - 9/10
• RPG Site - 10/10
• Game Rant - 10/10
• The Gamer - 5/5
• DualShockers: 10/10
• Game Informer - 9/10
• Eurogamer - 4/5

They praised everything: the Reactive Turn-Based system that "holds your attention until the last hit", the emotional story without long introductions, characters that are not cardboard, the Belle Époque visual style, and the general feeling that an RPG can be modern, interesting, and not a clone of itself.

In addition, Bethesda's remaster of Oblivion accidentally arrived at the release. And instead of panicking, publisher Kepler Interactive switched on the troll mode: it published an art mix of Expedition 33 characters in front of the Oblivion Gate with the caption "omg it's like Barbenheimer".

omg its like barbenheimer pic.twitter.com/TN1AFzdggc

- Kepler Interactive (@Kepler_Interact) 22 April 2025

The gaming community appreciated it, and so did the press. And after the 10/10 wave, Kepler wrote a simple "teehee", and Sandfall studio reacted even shorter: "wow". Quietly, confidently - as befits those who have just broken into the club of the greats. The reaction of Kepler Interactive to the unexpected release of Oblivion Remastered in the same week as Expedition 33 is a separate lecture on modern marketing. Instead of hiding in the shadow of a big release, they made a proactive move: humour, cultural context ("Barbenheimer") and meme art are all in place. It's not just a joke for the sake of likes, but a confident "we know what we're doing", because they have 90+ on Metacritic and 97% of recommendations behind them. They knew that the product would stand up to any comparison. And it did.

And the fact that Expedition 33 is a debut game only emphasises the scale of the achievement.

RPG is a genre where nothing is forgiven: a weak plot, poor balance, tedious gameplay - any slump is immediately visible.

But here everything came together: a strong idea, high-quality implementation, technical stability, and a clear vision. All of this is the result of a team that has already undergone AAA production, but now had the freedom to do it "the right way".

The key role was played by the fact that Sandfall Interactive are not garage dreamers, but a narrow, experienced team that put together a project that can compete with industry leaders on the first try. They used Unreal Engine 5 not as a fashionable sticker, but as a tool that allowed them to achieve exactly the quality promised in the first trailers. And they have fulfilled this promise. Expedition 33 is not just luck. It's the result of a properly built process, experience and faith in the idea. And it seems that now faith in them is not a problem. But the games that will be released afterwards are a challenge for others.

To sum up: a landmark debut born in Lumiere

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a release that fell right into the genre void: where a fresh look at turn-based battles and dramatic plots has long been awaited. The game immediately made it clear that there would be depth, rhythm, and style. A story about a deadly timer, reflective characters, a combat system with real timing, not just a series of moves, Belle Époque visuals that do not pander to the player but create tension - everything works as a whole.

Sandfall Interactive has managed to realise an ambition that many people stop at the trailer stage. The team, which used to work on big AAA projects, gathered a compact but efficient team and made a game that everyone started talking about from the first week. No technical breakdowns, no unnecessary patches, with a clear vision and confidence. Unreal Engine 5 has become a tool, not a burden, and Game Pass has become the door through which the game instantly reached a large audience.

This release is a strong statement not only for the studio, but also for the entire "AA with brains" model: when you don't need hundreds of people to make a game that leaves a mark. We already have plans to expand the IP, even into a film. But the main thing has already happened: Sandfall now has its place in the conversation about the best RPGs of the year.

Expedition 33 is a start with a capital letter. And it looks like it will become a cult title.

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