Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Developer Reveals Which JRPGs Inspired Its New Title

The past few years has offered a nice forecast of JRPGs from the likes of Sega & Square Enix. Entering 2025, things are shifting with the launch of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. When showcased at the Xbox Developer_Direct this January, many were instantly attached to the new release set for this year. And when officially paved for an April launch date, the countdown for many were a prime focus.

Now available on all modern platforms and Xbox Game Pass, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been showered with praise and reception continues to climb. Within the first day of release, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 already exceeded 500,000 in sales. Developer Sandfall Interactive revealed that the game went on to exceed 1 million copies sold by the third day of release.

Exploring the core foundation that created Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the French developer sat down with PlayStation Blog to share what went to define its new title. “At Sandfall Interactive we all have a love for JRPGs like Final Fantasy, the Tales series, Lost Odyssey, and Persona with its awesome UI, rhythm, and dynamic camera. We all have a lot of nostalgia and love for these kinds of games, but also want to see something fresh done with the genre.”

Guillaume Broche, Sandfall Interactive founder & creative director continues: “We were inspired by action games like the Souls series, Devil May Cry, and NieR, and their rewarding gameplay was something we wanted to bring into a turn-based setting. When you play those games, you have to learn the attacks, timings, and weaknesses for each enemy encounter, and we wanted to translate that challenge into a new genre.”

Broche goes on to share the inspirations for the game from French history & literature:” Clair Obscur’ refers to the real-world artistic and cultural movement in France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It influenced the game’s artistic direction, and also refers to the overarching world of the game. […] We also took inspiration from a French novel called La Horde du Contrevent, which is a fantasy novel about a group of explorers traveling the world.”

Are you surprised by the games that breathed inspiration towards Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is out now for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC.

Source: PlayStation Blog