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YOU WONT BELIEVE: Guillaume broche | Mind Blowing Facts

Clair Obscur: how an indie game about loss became the biggest success story of 2025

Ahead of the BAFTAs, lead writer Jennifer Svedberg-Yen breaks down the biggest twists of Sandfall’s runaway success story

Evening Standard

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 devs never imagined to achieve the kind of massive success it did: 'Our official goal towards the end of production was to reach for 85 in Metacritic'

Shoot for the moon and you'll land among the stars.

PC Gamer

Metaphor ReFantazio director is "delighted to see Japanese-style RPGs being born" around the world as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 joins the 2024 GOTY in a deep discount Steam bundle

"Expedition 33 is a work that conveys a deep understanding of and sincere dedication to the JRPG genre"

GamesRadar

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 leads say "our vision is to ship quality games," and "we don't believe you need to have a lot of people to do that"

"Expanding for the sake of expanding is not our vision"

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director says the French RPG's success was "completely unexpected from pretty much everybody" at the studio

"This is one hundred times what we were expecting"

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director praises the RPG sicko who managed to beat the most infamous boss by taking every hit without cheesing: "I tried to do it before release and I couldn't manage it"

Even the game's director was surprised someone bested Simon in a fair fight

GamesRadar

"We were a nobody company": Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 studio says it had to hire young because it had no money, but it all turned out ok because new devs "brought fresh ideas"

"It's almost impossible to hire any senior people if you don't have the money, which wasn't there at the beginning."

GamesRadar

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Before winning both indie awards at The Game Awards, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's lead said "we'd rather this category went to a smaller studio"

"I don't think we really needed this [nomination], even if it's appreciated"

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director blames Final Fantasy 10 for letting you nuke the RPG's final boss, but admits it might have been "a little bit too easy to get overpowered"

"We think it's OK – more or less what we wanted"

GamesRadar

‘It’s good to have limitations’: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's creative director says Sandfall Interactive's next game won’t on a bigger scale despite huge success

Sandfall Interactive's CEO and creative director, Guillaume Broche, has said the studio won't be expanding the scale of its next game, despite Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's success, because it loves "making games more than we love managing."

TechRadar

Expedition 33 devs won't "scale up" for their next game because they embrace "limitations," want to create — "We love making games more than we love managing"

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 developer Sandfall is looking ahead to future projects, but doesn't intend to "scale up" for them despite their huge success.

Windows Central

Clair Obscur's famously small (but not that small) developer isn't interested in becoming less not-that-small: 'I think it's good to have limitations when you are creative'

"We love making games more than we love managing, so we want to keep doing that."

PC Gamer

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead says the secret of the J'RPG's success is to "not care too much about the players" – "if you care about your game, it means you care about the players ultimately"

"The best way for me to care about people is to make something that is sincere"

GamesRadar

"We love making games more than we love managing": Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead says "it's good to have limitations," so the RPG studio won't "scale up" for any future projects

"It's not tempting for us"

GamesRadar

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GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director says the award-sweeping hit is "very different from traditional JRPGs": "Currently, in France there's a movement to make FRPGs"

Sandfall Interactive had "absolutely no intention" making a JRPG

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director says the J'RPG has "very Japanese" gameplay, which makes it possible to play "without taking a single hit": "Even if I'm told it's impossible, I want to keep trying"

Unleash the no-hit runs

Dot Esports

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 AI usage admission resurfaces amid Larian Studios backlash

Conflicting quotes from Sandfall leadership have sparked fresh controversy.

Radio France Internationale

French video game Clair Obscur sweeps LA Game Awards with record nine wins

The French video game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has swept the annual Game Awards in Los Angeles, dominating the ceremony with a record-breaking nine wins, including for best video game of the year.

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GamesRadar

Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi shouts out Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 after its director said the JRPG icon "inspired me to become a game dev"

The JRPG-inspired game just swept up at The Game Awards 2025

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 gets free update to ring in record-breaking The Game Awards GOTY win: "New weapons, new quest, new boss"

There's yer new content

GamesRadar

For the price of one Marvel's Spider-Man 2, you could make roughly 30 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33s, as developer reveals 2025's indie darling cost less than $10 million to make

I mean, it's one AAA quality turn-based RPG Michael. What could it cost?

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead says "anyone who's a fan of our story" should check out one of the RPG's biggest inspirations, but you're gonna have to learn French first

He also reveals "I didn't play Legend of Dragoon before coming up with the QTEs"

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's director reveals it isn't just the fans arguing over which is the "good" ending: "That’s something we've had a lot of arguments about in the team too!"

He thinks your preference is "related to your own personal experiences in real life"

The Guardian - AU

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – how a tiny studio developed the Belle Époque-set gaming blockbuster

What started as Guillaume Broche’s personal project has been nominated for 12 Game awards, sold more than 2m copies and been praised by Emmanuel Macron as a ‘shining example of French audacity’

GamesRadar

"The real reward in our heart is the emotional response": As Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 continues its GOTY domination, the devs and actors are still reeling from its success

Year in Review 2025 | The JRPG wasn't supposed to be "big," it was supposed to be "cool" – and 7 months later, it's officially both

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