Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 writer warns against a classic game hangup: "deus ex machina" power creep that makes you wonder "why didn't they just do this from the beginning"

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"We did have quite a lot of discussion around that"

A screenshot from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 showing Maelle fighting an enemy.
(Image credit: Sandfall Interactive)

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's lead writer Jennifer Svedberg-Yen explained that the developers at Sandfall Interactive were careful not to (sand)fall into a common trap with "deus ex machina" situations.

Deus ex machinas, characters solving unsolvable problems using - surprise! - a secret trick you never knew about before, prop up fairly often in games everywhere (looking at you, Kingdom Hearts 3). But it's particularly noticeable in RPGs where characters are constantly becoming more powerful in-combat, capable of dealing big damage with increasingly flashy abilities every time they level up.

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"We did have quite a lot of discussion around that," she explained of Expedition 33's development, "but I think in part because A) it's a game and abilities and skills are part of gameplay, and we really wanted gameplay to be able to have full freedom on how that would work. And I think the gameplay team did a fantastic job."

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead says the RPG went up against "one of the biggest remasters" with Oblivion Remastered – but it worked out: "I feel like it makes us even more deserving in a way"

Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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