Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead says the secret of the J'RPG's success is to "not care too much about the players" – "if you care about your game, it means you care about the players ultimately"

Clair Obscure Expedition 33 — (Image credit: Xbox/Sandfall Interactive)

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's leads explain their thoughts on why Sandfall Interactive's debut game was such a success, and it's to do with making a game for you.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a game where the more you learn about the developers, the more its identity makes sense. Hearing the devs were big fans of Final Fantasy X and Lost Odyssey makes a whole lot of sense, and seeing the game director, Guillaume Broche's Devil May Cry challenge runs Verso's entire moveset being one big love letter to the series – with the style meter and pretty much every move being taken from Vergil's kit – also tracks.

Speaking to Edge's Knowledge newsletter, Broche was asked about the secret of the game's success, saying, "I think the secret is to adapt the game to the team you have, and not the other way around." He explains, "it's not about processes, it's making a game that you want to play. It's contradictory, but [try to] not care too much about the players, because if you care about your game, it means you care about the players ultimately."

Lead writer Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, adds, "I think the pieces really work together, because we really let ourselves be influenced by each other. Art influenced story, story influenced art, music influenced story and art – there's a lot of cross-pollination of ideas." She continues that through "a lot of back and forth" between different segments of the development team, "we elevated each other," adding, "I really feel that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts."

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead writer "didn't think of it as writing an RPG" – "I thought of it almost like writing an HBO drama."