Daredevil lead Charlie Cox can't really comprehend the excitement about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, despite playing its tousled engineer Gustave, but he is happy for you. Verso actor Ben Starr can relate. He didn't expect Clair Obscur to go supernova, either.
"I didn't expect it to be this big," says Starr, whose breakout role as Final Fantasy 16 protagonist Clive made him a certified video games spokesperson, on a recent episode of the Kit & Krysta podcast. "So [Charlie Cox is] not going to expect it to be this big."
According to Cox, he only worked on Clair Obscur for a total of four hours, "maybe." When was the last time something you tinkered on for four hours received a record-breaking number of The Game Awards nominations?
"I do sympathize with Charlie a lot, actually," says Starr. "It can't be underestimated the speed and efficiency with which Expedition 33 was made."
"I think it's so funny now," he continues, "him just constantly being asked about this video game that he's going, 'I-I-I don't know.' I don't think he needs to play the game; I hope that he does. I hope that, maybe, someone just shows him how good he is in this game."
Starr knows that "Charlie's unbelievable in this game. I think he brings such a humility to Gustave." But humility can be a lonely quality to have when unaccompanied by love. It's a good thing, then, that "Gustave is rightly loved by the fanbase, and I have been very vocal about how much I love the Verstave fanfiction."
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead says "cult classic" Xbox 360 JRPG from Final Fantasy creator is "one of the best games of its kind" and "the last game that made me cry."
