“Clair Obscur. Expedition 33”, a French creative success

Much has been written about the fact that the latest hit of the year—that unique role-playing game, called Clair Obscur. Expedition 33 —was made by a tiny team. It must be said that the story is compelling: at a time when video game blockbusters are being met with resounding failures, games "as a service" (constantly updated with monetized content) are on the rise , and production budgets are exploding, a small team of resourceful creators has produced an atypical, outsized, and magnificent masterpiece. Selling for less than 50 euros, this game is a winner, even if a few points should be clarified.

The French studio Sandfall Interactive [based in Montpellier] may only have around thirty employees, but, as the [UK] specialist site Rock Paper Shotgun points out , the list of credits is much longer. These include a South Korean animation team, a quality control contractor, and the teams responsible for localization and interpretation [i.e. translation and dubbing] – all people whose work gives Clair Obscur its emotional depth and credibility.

Compared to the armada of professionals who produce the Final Fantasy franchise [from Japanese giant Square Enix] – from which the French clearly drew inspiration – the Sandfall studio is tiny. Except that the most admirable thing about this whole thing isn't that a small team was able to create such a successful game, it's that it produced the most furiously French game you'll ever play. Much to the chagrin of the person I share my life with, I'm playing it in the French version with English subtitles, just to enhance the immersion effect [even though the original English version already contains many French expressions in the text].

In the world of Clair Obscur, straight out of the Belle Époque, an evil entity called the Painter traces every year on