Latest news with #ClairObscur:Expedition33
ABC News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Nothing held back: Lorien Testard's music for Clair Obscur
On this episode of the Game Show, Meena Shamaly explores the massive game score of the 2025 smash hit, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, in addition to an extended conversation with the composer Lorien Testard, beyond the broadcast, that explores the stories behind the music, the collaborations that bring it to life, and how he created the soundtrack of his dreams When finally presented with the opportunity to write his first ever game score, composer Lorien Testard grabbed on with both hands to take players on the ride of their lives. Across a soundtrack album of more than eight hours, Testard put his heart and soul into every inch of this score, with themes and compositions that explore every possible emotional element of this story. His numerous melodies accompany the titular expedition, as they travel from their French-inspired city of Lumière to try and stop a creature known as The Paintress from enacting her annual erasure of souls, known as the Gommage. The first part of the title, Clair Obscur , takes its name from chiaroscuro - the contrast of light and darkness in visual art, especially painting. This concept is at the heart of the game's story, characterisation, and visual style, driving every composition by Testard. As dark, heavy, and heartbreaking as some moments can be (the "obscur"), there is always lightness and levity to be found (the "clair"). Joining the composer on this score is vocalist and co-composer Alice Duport-Percier, who becomes a central voice to the score as she brings the lyrics of this world to life. Testard also features the Orchestre Curieux (the Curious Orchestra), a chamber ensemble led by Daniel Sicard, as well as several guest musicians to expand the score's sonic palette. Actor Ben Starr also makes his tender singing debut in this story, and vocalists Victor Borba and Axelle Verner bringing the heat to some of its biggest confrontations. With Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 , Lorien Testard has cemented himself as a talent impossible to ignore.
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
From revenue struggles to now rivaling AA and AAA titles on Steam, what made Indie Games climb to the top of gaming revenue charts?
The gaming landscape has transformed, and its revolution continues to be in full swing in 2025. Once that remained overshadowed by the massive AAA budgets, now, the Indie games are rivaling and, at times, surpassing big-budget Steam counterparts. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now With humble beginnings, Indie developers climbed up the incredible revenue mountain. This mountain has been driven by shifting preferences of players, some unique strengths of Indie games and more. The journey of Indie games from niche to mainstream dominance is a testament to resilience and creativity. Let us discuss more about it and its journey up to top. Indie Games are now rivaling AA and AAA titles on Steam 2025 has been a watershed moment for Indie games. Indie and small-scale AA titles now account for a huge portion of the top-performing games on Steam. With still five and a half months left before 2025 ends, there are 4600 Indie games that have already been published on Steam. For independent developers, 2025 has been one of the biggest years yet. The data shows a huge leap from 2024. Indie Games Are BEATING Triple A Studios in 2025, Here's How A decade ago, Indie games were struggling to compete with the AAA giants. But today, some titles like, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Schedule 1, Bongo Cat, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, etc., are rivaling AAA blockbusters in terms of Steam revenue and player engagement. The surge is built on the foundation of 2024, where the Indie games performed well. As per VG Insights, Indie games in 2024 generated $4 billion in revenue till September 2024. It made up to 48% of the full-game sales of Steam. The growth is not accidental but is the result of creative innovation, evolving trends and even strategic advantages which Indie developers now have mastered. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Foundation for Indie games growth before 2025 The indie ascent was not overnight. Steam for long has been a haven for Indie games. It in 2024 hosted 12,000 games from the Indie studios alone. Quite crucially, Indie games made up 98.9% of Steam releases by September 2024, showing a sheer volume of creativity hitting the platform. Indie Games are SAVING Gaming from Terrible AAA Trash. While the AAA release did dominate headlines, Indie games revenue shares climbed up steadily, doubling up since 2018. Palworld (sold 25 million units), like the title's success and breakout potential that was seen during a pandemic, laid the groundwork and introduced a wider audience to Indie's charm and innovation. Top reasons why Indie Games are Progressing to the top Affordability and accessibility AA and Indie games' inherent advantage is that they run smoothly on modest hardware at a lower price. They are budget-friendly games for developers and players, resonating quite powerfully when the players watch their expenses, offering high-value entertainment without demanding premium price tags or cutting-edge rigs. As per VG Insights, 585 of the total copies sold by Steam by September 2024 were Indie titles. This proves that affordability does drive mass adoption. Fresh ideas are filling the void Indie Games vs AAA Games: The REAL Battle of Creativity and Innovation While the big studios do often play safer with sequels, Indies thrive on creative freedom and innovation. These games, like Lethal Company, Palword, etc., explore experimental gameplay, unique concepts and also niche genres that get avoided by AAA. This thereby leads to delivering fresh and unexpected experiences that the players crave increasingly. Note: Indie games are now matching AAA titles. Steam ratings are 72 to 74% as compared to up to 74% of the AAA titles. Streamers and influencers are amplifying Indie games reach Influencer marketing in gaming has been vital for Indies that lack big marketing budgets. Streamers like caseoh_, generating 8.7 million hours that watched with the Indie titles, champion quirky and unique games. Even Vtubers like Sakura Miko have helped to amplify the Indie game hits. It offers massive visibility and drives discoverability via authentic engagement. It's due to it all that titles like Chained Together and Buckshot Roulette gained needed traction and generated millions of watch hours. Note: As per live streaming viewership analysis by Stream Hatchet, in the 2025 first quarter, 10.3% of hours watched amidst the top 500 titles were for Indie games. Stronger niche appeal Indie games are known to dominate some genres like survival, horror and co-op, wherein creativity outweighs the graphical polish. Rust, Lethal Company and other games succeeded with their focus on engaging loops and not bloated budgets. They provide unpredictable and stream-friendly content. The genres even foster shared experiences and community and quite often lower production barriers for the smaller teams. Digital distribution and support from Steam The indie-friendly ecosystem of Steam allows small indies to thrive fully. In 2024, by September, 98.9% of the releases made on Steam were Indie games. Platforms like even democratized access. In 2025, up till mid of July, 4,600 Indie games already launched, making Steam a go-to marketplace for the breakout hits. What is the future of Indie games? The indie game's future on Steam seems to be exceptionally bright. Convergence of player ratings between 72% of Indie and 74% of AAA show a shift wherein innovation and quality are in triumph over sheer budget size. In simpler terms, Indie games are not competing, they are leading. With Triple-I indies like Black Myth: Wukong, that's blurring the lines between AAA and Indie; the market is now evolving. With 2025 unfolding, as per trends, Indie games will continue to have success. As the players continue to prioritize affordability, innovation and experiences that are community-driven, Indie games will continue to shape the future of gaming with one creative risk at a time.
Newsweek
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
The Best Games of 2025 So Far, According to Critics
Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors We're officially past the halfway point of the year, and 2025 has been an incredible year for high-quality video games — though less so for the games industry itself, especially after Microsoft's mass layoffs in Xbox studios. 2025 has brought us a glut of incredible games from teams of all sizes and projects of all budgets — from tiny two-person teams to billion dollar mega blockbusters. With so many incredible games to play, it might be a bit of a struggle to pick out which ones are worth playing, which is why we've put together this list of the best games of 2025 so far. These rankings are decided by Metacritic, where an aggregate of review scores from professional critics is applied to each game, and the Metascore is listed next to the game's name in our list. We've also excluded remasters and re-releases, and picked the highest scoring platform for each game, as scores tend to shift a bit depending on the hardware it's being played on. 1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – 93 Maelle slashing at an enemy in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Maelle slashing at an enemy in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Sandfall Interactive Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an incredible turn-based RPG that's well deserving of the top spot on the list. A fantastic story is paired with a top-notch combat system and gorgeous artwork and execution to make a game that has to be seen to be believed. In our Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review we called the game a phenomenal piece of art, and it really is. It's going to be hard to top this one. Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC 2. Split Fiction – 93 Split Fiction is the latest game from Hazelight Studios, best known for its prior work on award-winning games like It Takes Two and A Way Out. Like those games, Split Fiction is an exclusively co-op affair, filled with a lovely story of overcoming differences, accepting the past, and embracing the future. You can play solo on a single screen in the same room, or use the free friend pass to play over the internet, which is also a huge plus. Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC 3. Blue Prince – 92 Indie roguelike puzzle game Blue Prince was a surprise smash hit when it released earlier this year, nearly instantly taking over the free time of anyone who caught wind of it. It's a fascinating game that has players exploring a mansion that changes every day, which can be influenced by drafting certain cards and rooms. Just about everyone who played Blue Prince absolutely fell in love with it, so just be aware that if you pick it up, you may lose weeks of your life to it. Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC 4. Death Stranding 2: On The Beach – 90 Hideo Kojima and the team at Kojima Productions have done it again. Death Stranding 2 is a sight to behold, and it's one of the best-looking games on the PS5. It's got a bonkers story, as you'd expect from Kojima, and a whole host of gameplay improvements over the first game, and both make it worth checking out, even if you weren't super keen on the first game. Available on: PS5 5. Monster Hunter Wilds – 90 The Monster Hunter series has been rapidly growing in popularity since the release of Monster Hunter World back in 2018. Monster Hunter Wilds took the lessons learned from World and its follow-up Monster Hunter Rise to create a story-driven, fast-paced game with some of the best combat in the series' history. Some players have been mixed on the game's difficulty – or lack thereof – and PC optimization could certainly be better, but nobody has any complaints about the gameplay itself. It's phenomenal. Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC 6. Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector – 90 Citizen Sleeper was a huge leap forward for the RPG genre, and Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector took it even further. It's filled with tension, incredible world-building and character writing, and a whisper of tabletop gaming that made it feel both familiar and fresh. It's best played after its predecessor, and there's no better opportunity to play both games than right now. Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC 7. Despelote – 89 Despelote came out of seemingly nowhere to become one of the most fascinating and beautiful games of the year. It's an autobiographical slice-of-life adventure game set in Ecuador in 2002 when the country qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. As a player you'll explore the city through the eyes of an eight-year-old boy, connecting with others and yourself through soccer, video games, and shared national pride. It's got an entirely unique art style that captures the fuzzy memories of a simpler life, and you owe it to yourself to play it. Available on: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC 8. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 – 88 As much a medieval life simulator as it is a video game, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 takes a system-heavy, immersive approach to storytelling and gameplay. You'll step back into the shoes of Henry of Skalitz, who'll need to fulfil the role of a soldier, a spy, a blacksmith, or so much more to make his way through medieval Bohemia. It's an incredibly ambitious game that sticks the landing more often than not, and it's been highly praised by press and critics alike. Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC 9. Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo – 88 Pipistrello is a delightful indie game from Brazil that is heavily inspired by some of the best games of yesteryear, including The Legend of Zelda. It's got some gorgeous pixel art, a great mix of puzzling and adventure exploration, and a brilliant soundtrack featuring a guest track from Kingdom Hearts composer Yoko Shimomura. If you miss adventure games from the GBA era, Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo is for you. Available on: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC 10. Monster Train 2 – 87 Sometimes you just need a rock-solid deck-building roguelike to get you through the day, and Monster Train 2 does exactly that, building on the incredible foundation that the first Monster Train laid. There's a truckload of new content, some incredible tweaks to the first game's formula, fantastic quality of life additions, in addition to everything people loved about the first game. Some fans are calling it the greatest deck-building roguelike of all time, and it's not hard to see why. Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC
Boston Globe
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
This album has been on top of the classical music Billboard charts for weeks, and it's from a video game
From "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33." Sandfall Interactive But my mind was made up when the screen brightened after a battle versus one of the mysterious, spindly creatures that populate the world of 'Clair Obscur,' and I heard singing. Several unaccompanied voices braided, separated, weaved back together in a fashion that sounded like it could have come straight from the pen of Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Pretty much the whole world, as it turned out. 'Expedition 33,' developed by the small French studio Sandfall Interactive, had broken containment. Even French President Advertisement Founder, CEO, and creative director of Sandfall Interactive Guillaume Broche works on the newly developed video game "Clair Obscur, Expedition 33" at the Sandfall Interactive headquarters. GABRIEL BOUYS/Getty Advertisement The composer behind most of the music is French guitarist Lorien Testard, a self-professed game music fanatic who had never created music for a major game before, and joined the project after lead writer Guillaume Broche stumbled across his music on an online forum and reached out. Testard didn't respond to an interview request, but in a video featurette the studio released earlier this year, the composer said he'd wanted to create an 'entire sound universe,' and he'd taken much inspiration from art director Nicholas Maxson-Francombe's 'evocative and stunning' concept illustrations. Concept art from "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33." Sandfall Interactive But just as important was Testard's collaboration with singer Alice Duport-Percier, former singer of the polished nerdy-classical fusion group Grissini Project as well as a core member of several early music ensembles, including Les Kapsber'girls, a clever allusion to the 15th-century Italian lutenist and composer Kapsberger. (Their 2021 album ' After Testard invited Duport-Percier to sing on the soundtrack, she initially thought she'd just be working off the score. Instead, Testard invited her to compose and improvise her own vocal lines over his instrumentals. The first day they collaborated, they created one of the major themes for the game, which they said made it into the final cut almost unaltered. 'It felt like beginner's luck, like winning a board game the first time you play,' Duport-Percier said in the featurette. Advertisement From "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33." Sandfall Interactive Conductor and arranger Daniel Sicard, who led the sessions for the music that was recorded live, was similarly enchanted. 'This isn't some big production making just another game,' he said. 'There's a genuine emotional connection.' In video games, as in so much popular entertainment, we are living in the age of franchise dominance. Unsurprisingly, this year so far, most of the hype and press have gone to major players in the industry releasing new installments based on existing intellectual properties: for example, 'Sid Meier's Civilization VII,' 'Monster Hunter Wilds,' and 'The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered,' each of which has roots going back decades. By contrast, 'Clair Obscur' features a totally original narrative. It feels apt that it released just a few days after the US theatrical debut of Ryan Coogler's ' The same goes for listening to the soundtrack. You'll probably pick up on a theme — perhaps the sweet and sad melody for the ruined city of Advertisement From "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33." Sandfall Interactive Which is to say, there are classical pieces on the 'Clair Obscur' soundtrack, but the eight-hour album also contains jazz, symphonic rock, ambient, dance, chanson-esque chamber pop, and more classifications than this article can hold. I'm not sure if I'd personally label the entire eight-hour soundtrack as 'classical,' but there is certainly a critical mass of pieces that I'm dying to hear from live musicians, whether that's a solo cellist or guitarist, a chamber choir, or a full orchestra. And if the powers that be at Billboard deem it's classical, I won't complain. Andrea Bocelli will probably be back up there soon enough. A.Z. Madonna can be reached at
Engadget
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
The Steam Summer Sale is live with a fresh batch of big discounts
Get ready for your game library to grow, because the Steam Summer Sale is open and ready for business. The promotion runs through July 11, so you've got plenty of time to peruse all of the available deals, but there are a couple fun highlights in this season's selections. For starters, two likely contenders for 2025 game of the year are on sale. You can pick up the spectacular puzzle game Blue Prince for 15 percent off or about $25, and the lush Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has a slight discount of 10 percent, which puts it at $45. I'm sad they didn't go thematic and make it $33, but even a small price cut is nice for games this recent. A couple other newish releases are available at smaller discounts. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is 20 percent off, as is Black Myth: Wukong , while Civilization VII is 15 percent off. The Silent Hill 2 remake is down to $42 thanks to a 40 percent cut. Most of the biggest deals are on older titles. For instance, if you don't already own the excellent Doom (2016), it's only $4 with an 80 percent off discount. Or pick up Death Stranding Director's Cut for just $16. Steam sales are also a prime chance to add more indies to your library. For multiplayer mayhem, Human Fall Flat and Overcooked 2 are each $6. You can explore the beautiful underwater world of Abzu for just $5. Chicory: A Colorful Tale is half off at $10 and Slime Rancher 2 is down to $20. Those are just a few of the highlights. Now you just have to find the time to play everything you buy.
