Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 devs are the brand new in style youngsters on the RPG block, visiting each Hideo Kojima and Ultimate Fantasy creators Sq. Enix for 'a creatively wealthy change of visions and concepts'
When you take heed to the punters, you may imagine that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33—a moderately actually superb videogame from Sandfall Interactive—moderately embarrassed the trendy RPG megastudios of right now. How might this group of 30 (a bit greater than that, truly) outdo the giants of the trade? For disgrace! Disgrace! (Simply ignore the truth that Metaphor Re:Fantazio was wonderful, it would not swimsuit this narrative).
Essentially, I’ve all the time seen Obscur as a love letter to those studios, no matter my opinions on whether or not they’ve gone a contact wayward. Whereas it is good for engagement to get of us invested in a conflict, I’ve by no means had the sense that director Guillaume Broche was something apart from a superfan of the video games that very clearly fused themselves to his DNA, DNA which cast 2025’s greatest Je-RPG.
It is good to have that hunch confirmed but once more—Sandfall Interactive devs, together with Broche himself, not too long ago visited Sq. Enix’s workplaces for “a creatively wealthy change of visions and concepts”.
As seen within the X put up (shared beneath), Broche was accompanied by lead programmer Tom Guillermin and co-founder and producer Francois Meurisse in a go to to the creators of Ultimate Fantasy. You may as well see Naoki Hamaguchi, the director of Ultimate Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and Ultimate Fantasy collection producer Yoshinori Kitas within the photograph.
Guillaume Broche, Francois Meurisse, Tom Guillermin from Sandfall, and Alexis Garavaryan from Kepler—creators of EXPEDITION 33—visited the Sq. Enix workplace for a creatively wealthy change of visions and concepts.-EXPEDITION 33のクリエイターであるSandfallのGuillaume… pic.twitter.com/hIhMNYZJ8cJuly 24, 2025
It is a good reminder—that I am perhaps just a little cynical about individuals heeding—that recreation builders do not have a tendency to have interaction in console-esque slap fights with one another, particularly in the event that they’re making good video games. If the adage “good artists borrow, nice artists steal” is true, then you definately completely should be a fan of the businesses that impressed you—and I do not assume I’ve seen a recreation that extra lovingly mixed its darlings than Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
On the flipside, it is good to see Sq. Enix taking inspiration from its sprog rivals—although Sq.’s not the one one to provide them an invitation. Hideo Kojima of Metallic Gear and Dying Stranding fame additionally had them over to speak store, which is beautiful to see.
From the studio that introduced us “EXPEDITION 33,” with Guillaume Broche, Francois Meurisse, and Tom Guillermin of Sandfall and Alexis Garavaryan of Kepler. pic.twitter.com/ut18fkGnGsJuly 24, 2025
Sandfall builders have properly and actually established themselves as the favored new youngsters of the trade—a title I am very a lot sure they deserve, even when their recreation endings must cease ripping my coronary heart out of my chest.
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