After a pretty successful night at The Game Awards, sweeping almost every category it was nominated in along with the big prize, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 developer Sandfall Games took to the stage to announce that its big Thank You update is now live, adding a whole new level to the game called Verso's Drafts. It's a massive new area inspired by Verso's childhood and features new bosses, weapons and clothing.
It also contains some cheeky little references to other JRPGs that have undoubtedly shaped Expedition 33 into the game it is today. As Sandfall demonstrated on stage at The Game Awards last night, the game wouldn't exist without the likes of Final Fantasy as inspiration, and Sandfall have decided to use Versos Drafts to pay homage to some of their favorites.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's new update references FF14, Persona and more
First shared by a Twitter user named Bainonis, it seems like one fight in particular can't help itself from making a cute little reference to other fairly famous JRPGs, and they come in the form of mid-battle taunts. As you can see in the video shared by Bainoni, one of those “you'll never see it coming” is one that Persona 5 fans should immediately recognize as the game's iconic Last Surprise battle theme.
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There are a couple more battle taunts like this, another being “a test of your reflexes”. It's probably not immediately obvious to the average JRPG fan, but Final Fantasy 14 fans should get a chuckle out of it, as it's a very well-known quote from the game's fight with the overdramatic, blonde-haired villain Zenos yae Galvus in Endwalker (or Zenos viator Galvus if you want to be really picky).
Having already given Sega and Square Enix some love, Clair Obscur then goes to Nintendo, as the last line Bainoni shares is “I'm really feeling it”, a very obvious reference to Xenoblade protagonist Shulk. Heck, even Super Smash Bros. fans should be familiar with that very series, which Shulk brought to his Super Smash Bros. Wii U reveal.
Of course, it's just silly little lines in a certain battle, but it's nice to see Sandfall acknowledge some games that inspired Expedition 33. It's really obvious that modern Persona helped shape the game's style and UI, while we've already seen a bunch of Xenoblade references in the main game as well. It's just a masterpiece of a JRPG that pays homage to a couple of other JRPG masterpieces, which I think is pretty neat. At least it's better than a Shrek reference.
- Released
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April 24, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer
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Sandfall Interactive
- Publisher
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Kepler Interactive
