Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 writer says picking an ending is like choosing "my favorite child," but ultimately the finales are "two sides of the same coin"

Picking between Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's two endings is gut-wrenching enough as a player, but for the acclaimed game's lead writer, Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, it's akin to choosing a "favorite child."

Asked if she had a preferred ending in an interview with GamesRadar+ at the Game Developers Conference 2026, Svedberg-Yen jokes that the question is "like asking me to choose my favorite child" between Verso and Maelle, and that's partly because the team "wrote these endings in tandem."

"They are meant to be understood together," she explains. "And that's why we actually made it the way it was. So the two actually need to be understood and experienced in tandem with each other. They are a contrast, they are a pair, and they are the two sides of the same coin – the recto verso, if you will."

Svedberg-Yen acknowledges that her answer might not be "quite as satisfying for people" who maybe want their decisions validated, but "each one represents something different for each of the characters."

"It represents something different for the outcome of the world, and there is a philosophical aspect to it and an emotional aspect to it," she adds. "And the question we want to ask is, in the end, whose happiness do we prioritize? And when we pursue happiness for somebody, what is the cost, and do we fully consider the cost to the other folks, the other characters? What does that mean? And so we really have to understand all of that together as a package."

Elsewhere, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is on track to match Baldur's Gate 3's Game of the Year record as it secures another GOTY trophy at GDC and a whopping 12 BAFTA nominations.

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