Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 writer says one actor's "charisma" did "some heavy lifting in helping us get the players over the hurdle of accepting Verso" and moving on from the RPG's big early twist

If you've played through Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, you'll know there's a certain twist that happens that leads to Verso becoming part of your team. It's a pretty heavy moment that could easily sour you on the narrative early, but it works, and Sandfall Interactive puts it down to Verso's voice actor, Ben Starr.

"It's a fine line," Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, lead writer, voice and localization producer on Clair Obscur, tells GamesRadar+. "Because you want players to embrace bim, because now he's part of your team, and you have to fight with him. And also now it's like this stranger just came in, right?"

Characters joining your party is one thing, but doing so on the back of something that properly shook you as a player is something else. Emotions are high, and handled wrongly, players could just bench this wannabe hero or check out of the story entirely, at least to an extent. But luckily, Sandfall had cast someone who's got a very easy magnetism to him.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Launch Trailer | PS5 Games - YouTube

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"He's so charismatic, and he's able to deliver this very layered, nuanced performance where you feel the charisma," she continues. "Where you want to like him, you want to be his friend, and also you're like, 'Hmm, can I trust him? I don't know. There's definitely more layers to him.'"

She calls Starr's approach a "masterclass" in balancing making Vesto likable and maintaining some level of healthy wariness from the player. The plot-point works, in her mind, in large part because of what Starr brought.

"Ben definitely did some heavy lifting in helping us get the players over the hurdle of accepting Verso," she finishes. Voice acting is something that can't go understated, especially when it comes to games like Clair Obscur that have these long, winding plots where we spend hours upon hours with the cast, and Starr's shout-out only exemplifies that.

Baldur's Gate 3 performance director knew Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 would be a hit, and even took a bet "to win 33 baguettes"