Bridging Artistry and Adventure: Unveiling Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 by Sandfall Interactive

And their announcement at the Microsoft Xbox show this September is just another example of how a small studio can succeed in an industry obsessed with the new and the novel. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, set for release in 2025, will blend art, narrative and play into a captivating experience. Courtesy Sandfall Interactive & Microsoft From a creative point of view, Clair Obscur borrows from the world of fine art. It can also be seen as a reflection of the history of contemporary narrative and gameplay. But as an investor, it all started to make sense. In 2019, Microsoft joined forces with Sandfall Interactive to bring their ambitious first-person-shooter to Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC. It’s a huge milestone for the London and Montpellier-based developer.

A Glimpse into the Game: An Original IP Emerges

Fundamentally, however, ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’ is a video game, a truly progressive exercise in gaming that allows players to enter a world in which art is no mere accessory to the plot, but plot itself: the character you play as is a painter called the Paintress, whose canvas creations come to reality at the cost of dried blood: when a new painting is made, the people in the older images are killed, their flesh disappearing.

Breaking the Cycle of Despair

The compelling drama of Expedition 33, like that of the paintress herself, is one of inevitability and heartbreak. Each year, as the number on her monolith grows older, she paints it on to everyone’s back, dooming them to death. When you start playing, the number 33 is the next to be painted, and it’s up to you, with a band of plucky Expeditioners, to end the endless cycle of calamity.

A Journey Shaped by Art and Fantasy

While many games in the past decade or so brought their own spin to turn-based combat — Bejeweled (2001) replacing dice rolls with coloured gemstones, or the traditional board game Battlestar Galactica (2008) switching simplistic rock-paper-scissors mechanics to complex ship-to-ship combat — the traditional features of classical fantasy and action callbacks are not in freefall here. There’s still as much artistic gravitas in the classical astrolabe-inspired gameplay as there is in French or Parisienne aesthetics. The game promises a potentially immersive deeper dive, with reactive turn-based battles that offer equal parts tactical calculation and instant real-time reactions.

A Cast to Remember

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the game, though, is its emotionally rich and diverse cast. As Guillaume Broche, Founder of Sandfall Interactive and Creative Director of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 said: ‘Every inch of this game […] has been crafted with love and by hand. We have taken great effort to carve out our story and make it epic by creating amazing characters that all add a dimension of richness to the tale.

A Technological Marvel

‘Expedition 33’ is a technological marvel as much as it is a visual one, powered by Unreal Engine 5 and with an innovative combat system that mixes real-time manoeuvres like dodging, parrying and countering with a reactive, turn-based mechanic that will set new benchmarks of what battles in an RPG can be.

Customization at its Core

Its graphics are stunning, and the story is addictive, but the real depth of the game is in how much customisation it offers. From learnable passive skills (a skill tree system) and unique stat growth to the gear system and crafting, you can tailor characters to your heart’s desire.

A Word on Microsoft's Role

Microsoft dominates the developing and publishing platforms for video games, and supporting innovation in the community has clearly been a priority for the company. Microsoft’s influence in publishing the game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 clearly points to the potential of the game. Sandfall Interactive is going to continue to make unique treasures, and while they may be met with controversy in adventure gaming, their games will also be remembered for years to come.

It’s not long now. ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’ is scheduled for public release later this year from Microsoft and Sandfall Interactive. Mark my words: once you’ve played it, you’ll never want to return to this ‘real world’ again.