It’s fair to say Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 caught the eyes of many – myself included – when it was revealed during the Summer Game Fest Xbox Showcase. Here, among the multiple sequels and remakes of familiar franchises, was something completely fresh: a turn-based RPG in a Belle Epoch setting to pull the genre into a modern era.
“It was very overwhelming,” creative director Guillaume Broche tells me of the attention the game has received. “I was expecting turn-based fans to stand up and say ‘oh this looks cool’, but I wasn’t expecting this community to be that excited actually. It’s like we awakened a sleeping dragon.”
Indeed, it’s the game’s turn-based combat with action elements that’s turned heads most of all. Not since Xbox 360 exclusive Lost Odyssey has there been a “big realistic” AAA turn-based game, says Broche. And while Sandfall Interactive’s game isn’t AAA in budget, it’s certainly aspiring to that look and feel.
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