Between its main author as originally auditioning for a voice actor and its first composer was discovered on Soundcloud, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Has a remarkably unconventional development history. The game's core studio itself, Sandfall, has only a fraction of internal employees compared to the large external work that was outsourced, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the golden standard for AA development because of what was achieved in almost all aspects of game design, which competes with AAA games in their turn-based RPG ILK.
A skeletal tram has been placed if sandfall wanted to develop a Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Sequels, but it can also choose to close the book – or retire its color brush, so to speak – if it had another original IP concept in mind. Either way, it will be extremely exciting to see what Sandfall works next time, and the same AA style game with AAA levels of luster will probably be what players expect. Interestingly, Sandfall has since taken up if it would like to “expand the development scale in the future”, and which direction it eventually goes eventually having meaningful repercussions.
CLAIR OBSCUR: Expedition 33 is at a crossroads in terms of its future development methodology
Since so much of its development was outsourced, it is not worrying to believe that sandfall can consider expansion at any time in the future. That said, in an interview with Automaton, Sandfall CTO and lead programmer Tom Guillermin talked about the possibility of the studio's expansion:
“At the moment I think a small team size is good. I don't know what the perfect team size would be (laughs). But if we were to do another full-price-based RPG, I think the current size would be right.”
This comment suggests that Guillermin and the team are satisfied with the process they have established with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33Development, but that another genre or style of play may require some kind of reconsideration when or if sandfall crosses the bridge. If Sandfall can continue outsourcing help in the same quality, its studio may not have to flourish and have potential advice to stay tight.
Depending on how friendly and effective it thought its work with the game would be, perhaps a smaller internal staff is not “ideal”, but it obviously resulted in a undoubtedly astonishing product with outsourced development that is focused on the equation.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will surely be an inspiration for AA games
When it comes to concern for rising development costs and the future of game development, Sandfall CEO and creative manager Guillaume Broche seems to be sure of the AA class output:
“As costs continue to grow, I think we will see more and more companies that create AA-class games like ours. Thanks to Unreal Engine, it is now easier to understand the amount of resources we need to allocate to the production scale, and we can now develop interesting games effectively with a relatively small number of people.”
So at least with Unreal Engine as a background or security network, it seems that Sandfall is perfectly satisfied where it is without having massive AAA budgets that come over their projects. Although a sandfall game with an AAA budget may be spectacular, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33Success history is proof that a larger pool of money to withdraw was not necessary to create a visually fantastic game, and it also did not need a larger staff at Sandfall to achieve what it did with additional funds.
Not every AA or even indie games can strive to be next Clair Obscur: Expedition 33to be fair. But if nothing else, Sandfall has specifically argued the competence in the AA development during a polarizing moment in the industry where the AAA development can be very dangerous.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Published
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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
- Engine
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Unreal Engine 5
