Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Just finished it. I think this is top 10 game of all time material. It's that good.

That final section. What a spectacle! They went HARD with the music. And out of nowhere comes a face melting guitar solo! I had a shit eating grin on my face the entire time.

They also stuck the landing. Very emotional and thought provoking ending. And the cinematography of it all. Just A+ all around.

Protip for others who haven't beat it yet. Skip all the side stuff in the final act and go straight to the main objective. Also remove the painted power pictos. Otherwise you will be waaay overpowered and just one shot everything. Unfortunately I wasn't aware of this and I ended up missing a majority of the final boss attacks, including some dialogue during those attacks.

Also check out this gorgeous collection of photos from the game (not mine). Just be careful, some spoilers within!
 
Some of the side content is ridiculous, I did a last lap around the world fighting some shit, had my fair share of kicking some ass and getting my ass kicked - think I'm ready to do the final section now.

Feels like I need an order of magnitude more _something_ to eek my way through some of the optional content. Are you even supposed to fight some of this until like NG+?

I think I'm already overprepared for the finale, and some of this stuff stomps the absolute shit out of me.

Also LOL
The Expedition 60 journal had me rolling, this was probably my favorite journal in the game.

I hope they make a DLC for these dudes haha
 
socK said:
Are you even supposed to fight some of this until like NG+?
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Yeah you are. You can earn all the achievements in one playthrough without doing NG+

It includes some very difficult things like doing all the Endless Tower fights and
Defeating Simon to get the last journal, which IMHO is the hardest boss in the game but
with this build
 
Imagine how good the game awards orchestra is going to be this year. Flute guy is gonna go full on fucko mode during the Expedition 33 section.

flute_guy.png
 
I don't agree with Asmon calling all the painted people AI and saying they have no souls. I think if you have thoughts, feelings, and consciousness you are real.
 
cvinh said:
I don't agree with Asmon calling all the painted people AI and saying they have no souls. I think if you have thoughts, feelings, and consciousness you are real.
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+1

If you consider the canvas to be nothing more than a VR experience then the game loses a lot of emotional impact. After all, why should I care about these characters if they're just programs?

I consider the canvas more as a portal to another plane of existence. A parallel universe or whatever you want to call it. Where the world and its inhabitants are just as real as they are here on earth.
 
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This game is so good. First hour or so I was neutral on it, but it picks up really quick. The story, characters and music are great. Fleshed out characters are really missing from games lately. Why I loved FF7 Rebirth, felt they turned the characters into actual people. And that's exactly what they did here.

Love the battles too, minus ranged only battles.

Almost through act ii and I just figured out you have Pictos and then can equip passive with Luminas.
 
The success of Expedition 33 and other smaller studios is really shaking up the industry, causing some to try to continue propping up over-bloated AAA studios and punching down by criticizing their formula for success by calling it "deprofessionalism".

As one commenter rightly points out, deprofessionalism is a made-up word intended to imply negative connotations when they really should be saying decorporatization...which I'd argue is exactly what the industry needs more of at this point.


View: https://youtu.be/X6-C2H74jak?si=-cvcx0POx7Kedp35

I was going to summarize the video by quoting some key points, but it's just one truth bomb after another so if you're a fan of what Sandfall Interactive has accomplished with CO: E33 and want to see how it's upsetting some folks then you should give it a watch.
 
That seem a strange take to a prediction.

If Manor Lords level of success (and money) become common, why would it not convince people to take the jump and realize their dreams of making their own games instead of staying at a large studio jobs ? Or why turn it as if it was a bad things the the person is saying ?

It is a bit of a misunderstanding of the term to call deprofessionalisation, or at least in some often use term for the word, the more in control of your own time and decision, the more you are a professional (like wikipedia entry say: In some cultures, the term is used as shorthand to describe a particular social stratum of well-educated workers who enjoy considerable work autonomy and who are commonly engaged in creative and intellectually challenging work), making your own game on your own being the ultimate professional endeavor in that field in that regard.

A decay in union like jobs security from large institution, silo role-job title is maybe more what being said, which seem a case of, of course that could be a probable and logical consequence on an indie boom in countries with zero sector/industry-wide labor bargaining.

People started to make the same amount of cars using way less people, people working for big carmakers had some emotions, fear for their living and reaction to it, that just normal.

As for indie games is gameplay first art second, ... maybe in general, but really not for clair obscur which is more the opposite, game play is nothing special at all, all the success come from art design, music, story, etc.. world building.
 
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btw those on nvidia 5000 series card - smooth motion works fantastically in this game. Using it with the game maxed out (post processing on high vs epic as it causes severe blurring on epic), dlss quality and i went from 100fps at 4k to 150-18fps. visually and latency wise, no impact to having smooth motion on.
 
got to the paintress fight just now.... fuck me. that'll take a few tries i reckon
 
mQzz said:
got to the paintress fight just now.... fuck me. that'll take a few tries i reckon
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Yeah it took me a few tries and I felt like I was pretty strong going into it. It's badass as fuck though - one of the coolest RPG boss fights I've played.

Don't forget to use your gradient attacks. Debuff her and buff your party, then swing for the fences with one that hits a lot of times. Needless to say it helps a lot if you suddenly dump like 100,000 damage on her in one turn.
 
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LukeTbk said:
That seem a strange take to a prediction.

If Manor Lords level of success (and money) become common, why would it not convince people to take the jump and realize their dreams of making their own games instead of staying at a large studio jobs ? Or why turn it as if it was a bad things the the person is saying ?

It is a bit of a misunderstanding of the term to call deprofessionalisation, or at least in some often use term for the word, the more in control of your own time and decision, the more you are a professional (like wikipedia entry say: In some cultures, the term is used as shorthand to describe a particular social stratum of well-educated workers who enjoy considerable work autonomy and who are commonly engaged in creative and intellectually challenging work), making your own game on your own being the ultimate professional endeavor in that field in that regard.

A decay in union like jobs security from large institution, silo role-job title is maybe more what being said, which seem a case of, of course that could be a probable and logical consequence on an indie boom in countries with zero sector/industry-wide labor bargaining.

People started to make the same amount of cars using way less people, people working for big carmakers had some emotions, fear for their living and reaction to it, that just normal.

As for indie games is gameplay first art second, ... maybe in general, but really not for clair obscur which is more the opposite, game play is nothing special at all, all the success come from art design, music, story, etc.. world building.
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Because you need investors if you want to start your own studio and can't lean on your own finances. I would not be surprised if that is why something like MindsEye looks so stale and borin in comparison to some of the things being done at other startup AA studios.

On that subject, it was implied that Clair Obscur cost less than $2 million to make, though an exact figure wasn't given. AAA execs could not fathom making an epic game on such a tight budget these days.

https://www.thegamer.com/sandfall-interactive-gives-indication-on-games-development-budget/
 
"best reviewed game of 2025" ummmm its best of all time afaik, and only a $2M budget for what they did is insane.
 
pendragon1 said:
"best reviewed game of 2025" ummmm its best of all time afaik, and only a $2M budget for what they did is insane.
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Multiple articles place the estimated budget around 15-20 million depending whom you ask. They had not only 5 years in development but also outsourced some work to foreign studios and teams. Yes it's a phenomenal game and I'm super happy for its success, but the "small indie studio on a shoestring budget" narrative that's being thrown around is not accurate. Yes it's still doubleA but it's still very much a fairly decently funded title with backing from established investors.
 
Armenius said:
Because you need investors if you want to start your own studio and can't lean on your own finances. I would not be surprised if that is why something like MindsEye looks so stale and borin in comparison to some of the things being done at other startup AA studios.
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Soon you will not need to laucnh your own studio (not sure if banished or manor lords effort before the money started to get in could be called a studio)

If you can with just 2 millions and a small group of people make a clair obscur level of game and success... of course that would shook an large workforce of an traditionnaly human labours heavy industry that show sign to just disappear, imagine compete with Fords and selling similar amount of cars with 10 time less resource than they did.... car labor unions would sound worried, thats just normal human nature, it is rare people to happily see their jobs go away.

BNut not sure how that article imply 2 millions , 10-30 up to 40 people involved, 30 people being called core team, game that started on Unreal 4 (plan started early covid in 2020) so I imagine a good while back ago, 20 people for 3-4 years, that will tend to be at least 1 million per year
 
Drexion said:
Multiple articles place the estimated budget around 15-20 million depending whom you ask. They had not only 5 years in development but also outsourced some work to foreign studios and teams. Yes it's a phenomenal game and I'm super happy for its success, but the "small indie studio on a shoestring budget" narrative that's being thrown around is not accurate. Yes it's still doubleA but it's still very much a fairly decently funded title with backing from established investors.
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the lead dev COO is the one saying it, not me....
($2M)
 
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Armenius said:
Because you need investors if you want to start your own studio and can't lean on your own finances. I would not be surprised if that is why something like MindsEye looks so stale and borin in comparison to some of the things being done at other startup AA studios.

On that subject, it was implied that Clair Obscur cost less than $2 million to make, though an exact figure wasn't given. AAA execs could not fathom making an epic game on such a tight budget these days.

https://www.thegamer.com/sandfall-interactive-gives-indication-on-games-development-budget/
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I mean there is no way that is cost less than 2 million.

That's probably under minimum wage across the entire dev team JUST for salaries.
 
socK said:
I mean there is no way that is cost less than 2 million.

That's probably under minimum wage across the entire dev team JUST for salaries.
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the COO is the one saying it
the math is close but i guess that depends on where people are working. france's min wage is 21K/yr...
 
Just finished the game. Honestly, don't remember the last game (or new franchise that is) that left this impression on me. Certain things could use fixing, like the platform elements, some menu UI, but overall, probably the most engaged I've been with a game since FF7 Rebirth and that says alot.

And FF7 Rebirth is a completely different category since I grew up on Final Fantasy, starting in FF2 on SNES.

To add. That soundtrack goes hard.
 
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I think I'm in the final few hours of the game. Will try to finish this weekend I think.

My total playtime for the campaign is going to land around 40 hours I guess.

I didn't do all the side content because I figured I'd basically ruin the final dungeon, but I'm pretty beefcaked.

This is probably my game of the year so far unless it totally wiffs the ending somehow.
 
This game was such a total surprise. Honestly wasn't expecting to like it going in, but gave it a chance based on the hype and now it's one of my all time favorites. Thought I'd become so jaded I wouldn't be interested in a new game. Even my wife is interested in the game. Just passed the 20 hour mark. Really interested into where the story is going, and I usually DGAF about story in games. The one thing I can't get consistently is dodging and parrying still, and I beat all the bosses in Sekiro. Maybe I'll get the hang of it right at the end hah.
 
Bop said:
This game was such a total surprise. Honestly wasn't expecting to like it going in, but gave it a chance based on the hype and now it's one of my all time favorites. Thought I'd become so jaded I wouldn't be interested in a new game. Even my wife is interested in the game. Just passed the 20 hour mark. Really interested into where the story is going, and I usually DGAF about story in games. The one thing I can't get consistently is dodging and parrying still, and I beat all the bosses in Sekiro. Maybe I'll get the hang of it right at the end hah.
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Same here. Really surprised by this title, which is not in my typical wheel house. About 45 mins in I was hooked.
 
pendragon1 said:
the lead dev COO is the one saying it, not me....
($2M)
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that rare they go in that level of detail, source ? cannot find it. (i can only find interview where he is clear that he will not say.. .Everybody's desperate to know what the budget is, and I won't tell them)
 
LukeTbk said:
that rare they go in that level of detail, source ? cannot find it. (i can only find interview where he is clear that he will not say.. .Everybody's desperate to know what the budget is, and I won't tell them)
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you read the source, which i didnt post...
"it cost less than this game or this game" hence "$2M".... if thats not good enough for you, go talk to him, not me.
 
pendragon1 said:
"it cost less than this game or this game" hence "$2M".... if thats not good enough for you, go talk to him, not me.
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well we do not know how those case did cost either.,. (we almost never do leak aside), so that not clear, googling tell me around $15-$25 millions cost for mirror edge, but no one seem to know.
 
The COO did not indicate the budget at all, just said he thinks* it was less than other games which he himself did not know the budget of. No one outside the studio knows the exact budget at the moment, though the 15mil guesstimate I'm seeing on other articles is probably closer to the truth. Hell they outsourced to foreign studios alone which is something actual 2Mil budget games can't do. 2M was prob the food and snack budget alone for 5 years of development.

*Some of the articles about this game were translated from french so the minor tweaks of the language does not translate properly. He did not say 2M and he guessed it was less than other games he name dropped.
 
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