The award-winning writer of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, has explained that she didn't approach the game as if she were writing a RPG.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is undoubtedly the biggest game of 2025, so much so that its award show sweeps are becoming a meme in itself. And a huge part of the reason it's such a massive game is thanks to its fantastic story, which has already taken home awards at the Golden Joysticks and The Game Awards. However, that may be partly down to the game's lead writer not approaching it in that way.
Svedberg-Yen was asked by Edge's Knowledge newsletter if the fact that many members of the Expedition 33 team didn't come from a game development background helped it turn out the way it did. She responded, "I think it obviously has challenges, because we're new. [But] we were able to bring in our own tastes and our own perspectives that we'd built up through life outside of gaming, and bring the best of other worlds into the game."
She continued, "a lot of times, we didn't know what we didn't know. There are some things that [other] people wouldn't even think about, but for us we can just [say], 'Yeah, why not?' and challenge each other." Svedberg-Yen explains she "never really played videogames" and instead took inspiration from the likes of TV series and books. "I love science-fiction and fantasy epics which have massive, immersive worlds and vibrant societies, so I took a lot of that and put that into the backdrop of the game." She explains, "I didn't think of it as writing an RPG. I thought of it almost like writing an HBO drama."
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead says "anyone who's a fan of our story" should check out one of the RPG's biggest inspirations, but you're gonna have to learn French first.
