I watched the recent reveal trailer for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and made it a top priority to find out exactly what was going on in the new RPG’s dark fantasy world, which is steeped in the kind of “end times” vibe you often find in Final Fantasy and Persona games because it’s, quite simply, a little bit crazy. So it was a real blessing to recently be able to sit down with the game’s creative director, Guillaume Broche, to see the game in action and ask him about it.
In Expedition 33’s city of Lumière, once a year the mysterious and seemingly all-powerful being known as the Painter awakens, approaches a large monolith in the center of everything, and paints on it a cursed number that she counts down. As soon as the Painter paints it, everyone of that age turns to smoke and instantly disappears.
Therefore, the maximum age of the population is decreasing. To solve this problem, every year an expedition from the city is commissioned to set off into the unknown to find and destroy this Painttress, thus ending their annual cull. However, so far, none of these expeditions have been successful, leading the members of Expedition 33, the next age group to “die” next, to embark on their desperate mission. Therefore, Expedition 33 is in a race against time to find and destroy the Painttress.
So how and why did Broche come up with the idea of an Expedition 33 that would venture into the unknown?
“I love that question,” Broche laughs, “because I don’t think it came to me one morning in particular like, ‘Oh, why don’t I do that?’ Basically, I love stories where you venture into the unknown and carry that fear with you, without having a clear idea of what the goal is, and without knowing what lies between you and that goal. You just go and hope for the best. You just walk around thinking, ‘What’s going to happen?’ (Those are) really the kind of stories I like.
“I like the group dynamic. You have a goal, but nothing is clear except the goal. And you think, ‘I don’t really know what to do or where to go.’ I think that sense of discovery is really something we wanted to bring here.”
I can also confirm this atmosphere of discovery after seeing the game in action. As for the plot, nothing is clear at first, neither the identity of the Painters, the fate of the other expeditions, why the population is being thinned out, nor reality itself – with environments full of surreal elements. But as Expedition 33’s journey progresses, the player begins to learn more and more about the world, the characters and the gameplay possibilities.
Watch on
If you haven’t seen the reveal trailer for Expedition 33 yet, you can watch it right above. The game is set to release sometime in 2025, so it’s something to keep an eye on as we get closer to next year, and especially if you’re a fan of turn-based RPGs like I am.
