The Xbox Developer Direct made it clear that four games would be revealed for the presentation, and one of the ones confirmed early for the presentation was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 by Sandfall Interactive. This title is the inaugural game by the crew, and in the developer showcase, the team broke down the many elements of the title, including new things that hadn’t been revealed before. The game takes place in a world where a “paintress” writes a number on a tree, and anyone who is that age or beyond dies, with each year, the number getting lower.
With each cycle, new “expedition” teams emerge to try to stop her, but they all fail. You play “Expedition 33,” a group of four people who must come together to stop this ancient threat so that life can truly move on. At first, the game sounds like your standard “save the world” fare, but the team at Sandfall made it clear to one another early that they didn’t want that to be the central theme.
The four main characters have different reasons for being on the expedition and for wanting to have it succeed. Some are doing it to honor lost loved ones, and others are doing it to truly experience life itself by venturing out into the wide world.
Speaking of which, the team at Sandfall revealed interesting creatures named Gestrals that will occasionally help you on your journey. One can be used in battle and can act as a kind of shapeshifter who takes on the forms of enemies they defeat. The other will act as a kind of ship, opening up new parts of the world and allowing players to venture deeper into places where deep secrets are being held.
As for the combat, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 mixes JRPG turn-based elements with real-time strategy and reactions. The team said they spent a LONG time reiterating things so that they could find the proper flow while also giving lots of options to players. To that end, there are numerous ways you can build the characters via their skill trees, including shaping the team exactly how you want, even if it’s completely counter to how another person does it. You’ll have plenty of options between that and the passive skills you can equip.
Sandfall Interactive is excited for fans to take a glimpse as this unique world, and you’ll be able to do that on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox Game Pass on April 24th.
