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One of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's earliest and most gut-wrenching twists started out as a joke, though I can't say I'm laughing, thank you very much, Sandfall.
Before we continue, take this as your spoiler warning! If you haven't cleared Act 1 of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 yet, I'd bookmark this story and come back later. Once you've pieced yourself back together, that is.
Still here? Wonderful. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 kicks things off by having you play as an engineer called Gustave. He looks like Robert Pattinson – by coincidence – and sounds like Charlie Cox – that's intentional. He's a great character and a great lead, but not one who sticks around for long. Act 1 ends with big bad Renoir taking him out. I can't put into words how dead he is. No wonder Charlie Cox feels so awkward getting praise for Clair Obscur's success, hm?
While Final Fantasy 7 teaches us no one is sacred when it comes to getting got, regardless of whether they're in your party or not, it's still shocking! Putting time into someone's skill tree often leads you to believe they're safe, and unlike Aerith, Gustave is the game's lead. Given that one of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's core themes is loss, though, it makes sense.
As such, now that the game has been out for a few months, members of Clair Obscur's development team are starting to open up about various creative choices, so it was only a matter of time before someone asked about poor Gustave.
Speaking to Behind the Voice, game director Guillaume Broche reveals that the choice to kill Gustave was not only a remnant of an older project called 'We Lost,' but was initially intended as a joke. Broche says he was brainstorming with lead writer Jennifer Svedberg-Yen when she quipped, "What if we kill him? What if we kill the main character?"
Broche, however, was not joking in his reply. "Yeah, that's a good idea," he said. "Let's do it."
"I think it's very important for the themes of the game," Broche explains, all these years later. "That we invite the player to feel loss, and there's nothing that transmits this message more than just killing off the main character."
Much like Aerith, Broche explains the move works because you feel like you've lost something, both through the gameplay as you've built experience and put work into their skill tree, but also from a story point of view as you've spent time with them.
That makes enough sense, but still. Dang.
