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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
Metro
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Square Enix should hire the Expedition 33 team for Final Fantasy 17
A reader imagines what would happen if Sandfall Interactive made the next mainline Final Fantasy game and created a more old school experience. It's always sad when you feel yourself losing touch with something you used to love. Whether it's a film series or a hobby, sometimes you grow out of the thing or sometimes it evolves in a way that no longer interests you. That's where I am with Final Fantasy at the moment, at least in terms of the mainline games. If I'm honest with myself, I haven't truly enjoyed any of them since Final Fantasy 12 and it's only the surprisingly good Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy that hasn't made me completely cynical about the whole series. The final straw, so to speak, for me was Final Fantasy 16, which was the first one I actively hated and never finished. I do not want my Final Fantasy games to be some weird attempt to copy Games Of Thrones. These are Japanese games, and I'd like them to reflect that. If I wanted to play The Witcher 3 I'd go ahead and do so, not put up with a bad copy. It's not even a question of whether 16 is a good game or not, it's just not a Final Fantasy game, in my opinion. And what's worse is that they've stripped so much out of what makes the series unique that I worry they're going to go even further with the next one, so that it's totally unrecognisable as being part of the franchise. That's why I'd like to see Sandfall Interactive, the people behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, make the next Final Fantasy. I realise they're not Japanese, but I feel we'd get a more authentic experience if we let them make Final Fantasy 17 then if we had Square Enix do it. You'd get a game that had a strong Western influence, probably lots of new and original ideas, but also a team that appreciate the older Final Fantasy games. One of the reasons I love Expedition 33 is that it has an old school overworld map and turn-based battles. Square Enix would never do that and yet Expedition 33 will probably end up outselling Final Fantasy 16 in the end. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. That alone is crazy to me and all the reason Square Enix needs to talk to them. After all, if they don't they could end up becoming close competition. I think it's probably unlikely to happen though, because Sandfall (kind of a boring name, don't you think?) will want to make their own games now. I imagine they'll want to have a career like Larian Studios but remember that their biggest hit was Baldur's Gate 3, a licensed game, so maybe Sandfall would be interested in making a Final Fantasy at least once, just to get some money rolling in. Of course, Square Enix could just do it themselves, take Expedition 33 as proof that an older school approach can work and make it internally, but I'm just not sure they have the nerve. Final Fantasy 16 was their big experiment and as much as I'm enjoying the Final Fantasy 7 remakes they're not turn-based at all really. More Trending But I do think that the answer for most of these big franchises, that are getting too expensive to make nowadays, is to go back to what they used to be, just with modernised graphics and features. Not only would it give fans what they want but they'd be cheaper to make and more profitable. After the failure of Final Fantasy 16, what have they go to lose? By reader Lusk The reader's features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@ or use our Submit Stuff page and you won't need to send an email. MORE: I bought GTA 5 for the third time and it's still one of the best games ever - Reader's Feature MORE: We have to accept the Nintendo Switch 2 is not for hardcore gamers - Reader's Feature MORE: The 90s and 2000s were the best time for video game creativity – Reader's Feature
Digital Trends
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Can we all just be normal about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for a second?
Whether or not it actually wins the award come December, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the Game of the Year. No 2025 release has sparked so many long-lasting conversations usually reserved for tentpole releases like Grand Theft Auto or Zelda. It has been gaming's main character for months, standing in as a shining example of what a modern video game should rise to. Yet for all the mainstream conversations that it has generated, so few of them actually seem interested in Clair Obscur. Instead, Sandfall Interactive's critically acclaimed RPG has been submitted as evidence in on-going litigations against what gamers paint as a stale industry in need of new blood. While there are meaningful conversations to have about what game studios can learn from Clair Obscur's success, the way that it has been weaponized and reduced to a piece of confirmation bias in any landscape-shaping argument it fits into leaves me hungry for more substantial dissections of the games we love. Recommended Videos It was clear that Clair Obscur was going to be a big talking point when it launched in April to a wave of glowing reviews. Critics and fans hailed it as a generational RPG that revitalized turn-based combat, delivered an emotional story, and crafted an astonishing original world. 'Game of the Year' talk came fast, which is par for the course when a new game breaks the 90 mark on Metacritic. But the watercooler chats didn't stop there. Soon, mainstream conversations yearned to place it in a broader gaming landscape. Its originality was painted as a shining light in a sea of perceived 'AAA slop.' It wasn't just a good game, but a blueprint for how a boring industry could be saved. Even this very site opined about that immediately following its release. That over-the-top idea only ballooned as the months went on. Sandfall Interactive's slim team size became a talking point. Articles popped up that praised the studio for creating such an accomplishment with only 30 people — a figure that was quickly debunked once critics started adding up all the external developers involved. That didn't stop the disingenuous factoid from setting the stage at Summer Game Fest, where host Geoff Keighly used the number to sell the idea that he was presenting viewers the future of video games. Tons of trailers for smaller games followed, with Keighly often pointing out how many people made them as an indication of quality. My growing frustration with that trend reached a boil this week thanks to a different debate that Clair Obscur has been unwittingly roped into. For years now, some RPG enthusiasts have lamented the death of turn-based games. That anxiety seemed to come most from franchises like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest experimenting with real-time action. Clair Obscur is a loud and proud turn-based game, which made it the perfect spoiler candidate for an industry abandoning a classic way of play. Never mind the fact that turn-based gaming hasn't gone away. Octopath Traveller 2, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and Metaphor: ReFantazio (a game that released just last year to similar praise) have all proved that major studios are still very much invested in the subgenre. And yet, the narrative persisted. It all came to a head during a Square Enix investors call, in which the company reaffirmed its commitment to turn-based games and acknowledged Clair Obscur's existence in the process. According to Automaton, those typical business responses were mistranslated and blown out into a larger story: Clair Obscur's success had convinced Square Enix to start making more turn-based games. Finally, the video game industry was saved. Mission accomplished! Every conversation like this is so riddled with holes that you couldn't get them across a puddle, yet they are inescapable. Fans want it to prove their long-standing theories about the video game industry right and treat its success like an irrefutable data point in every argument. It's not a new phenomenon either; this cycle tends to happen with lots of both successes and failures. Baldur's Gate 3 inspired a wave of talking points about what players actually wanted from games. That line of thinking was met with backlash from developers who cautioned against using a very specific win as a crusade. Black Myth: Wukong became a rejection of Western ideology. Concord was viewed as proof that live service games are dead. I both understand where this comes from, because I'm as guilty of it as anyone. It's fun to search for meta-narratives in the things we care about. I'm a football fan (go Pats) and I love nothing more than creating a story out of a Super Bowl matchup. This year's clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles became more exciting to me when I viewed it as the Chiefs needing the win to finally prove they were every bit as good as the Tom Brady era Patriots, but they'd have to beat the giant killers who previously thwarted Bill Belichick at the big game. That added stakes to a matchup I wasn't invested in, even if it was imaginary. This sort of meta-breakdown of video games follows a similar line of thinking. Sandfall Interactive becomes the Eagles circa 2018 in this story. As harmless as that can be in small quantities, its forced nature has become unbearable when trying to navigate conversations around Clair Obscur. It's not enough for it to be a great game. It has to be a masterpiece. It has to be a counterpoint to everything we don't like. It has to be the savior of the RPG genre. What's ironic is that none of those hollow platitudes actually tell us anything about the game itself. Engagement with what Clair Obscur actually has to tell us has taken a backseat to imperfect armchair analysis. That's a shame, because there's meat on that bone. Clair Obscur asks us to think about how we, as a species, push on in the face of mass grief. It's a story of sacrifice, where expedition after expedition fights in the face of extinction. Many die for that cause, but their sacrifices aren't in vain. Each one helps the next party get a little closer, asking us to rethink success and failure in the context of long-term collective action. It's a thematic cousin to Death Stranding and its sequel, games that stress the importance of human connection as a means of making the world easier to navigate in times of crisis. Perhaps that's just as much a reason why Clair Obscur is resonating with players as the fact that it's turn-based or made by an indie studio. There's a familiar trauma in it, as the fictional Gommage and its impact on the world can be connected to the Covid-19 pandemic. We just went through – and are still going through – a period of mass suffering. Those wounds are fresh. I still remember seeing the pop-up morgues on the streets of Brooklyn. I remember watching the infection rates fall and then spike again, ripping any hope I had for an ending from me. I remember how hopeless it all felt. But I also remember how many people put in hard work to stop it together. Even if some people refused to do their part, many masked, stayed home, kept six feet apart, and anything else they could to stop the spread. It was a collective effort built on selfless sacrifice. I feel all that fueling Clair Obscur's emotional resonance. It begs to be discussed, because what is the point of something being a generational classic if we take nothing else from it? One of the only meaningful conversations I've had about Clair Obscur came before it was out. I had been playing it alongside our reviewer, Tomas Franzese, at the time and we dissected its themes together in isolation. We both cooled on it significantly in Act 3, taking issue with its sudden pivot into a meta-reflection on the nature of art and its role as an escape from grief. It felt like a betrayal on its more human focus earlier on; a needless swerve into a piece of art evaluating its own importance. It was a memorable discussion that helped crystallize where I felt Clair Obscur worked best and where it ultimately fell apart. I hope that discussions like that become more common as the hype settles down. Just as I felt turned off by the 'art about art' pivot in Act 3, I am similarly bored by the tedious talk about how Clair Obscur is changing the industry. None of it does anything to honor Sandfall Interactive's vision, even if it is designed to gas the studio up. Real engagement comes from critics like Ian Walker and Kenneth Shepard, who respect the game enough to interpret what it has to say. It comes like podcasts like Girl Mode that aren't afraid to criticize where the story is ineffective. If you love Clair Obscur, really talk about it. Not what it represents, but the actual game in front of you. If you find that you don't have nearly as much to say about it as you do its influence, maybe it's worth questioning whether you love the game or just the idea of it.
Metro
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 climbs chart after 'unusual' sales boost
One of the breakout games of 2025 is soaring up the charts even a month after launch, surpassing Doom: The Dark Ages in revenue. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 surprised everyone by being an early contender for game of the year, but its sales have also surpassed expectations. Developed by Sandfall Interactive, the French turn-based role-player managed to sell one million units within three days following its launch on April 24. Since then, in very apt timing, the studio announced it had surpassed 3.3 million copies after 33 days. The success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has now taken an 'unusual' turn, as despite coming out in April, it has ascended on Newzoo's revenue chart for May. As reported by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 moved up five places to number eight on the chart, which lists the top 20 games by revenue in the US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy across PC and consoles. Newzoo described this movement as 'unusual for a premium title' as they usually drop in sales after their release month. As for the reason behind the increase, the firm believes it is 'a showcase of the strength of a high-quality game and continued word-of-mouth marketing'. Along with these factors, the mid-range £44.99 price of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has also likely contributed to its success – at a time when many new games cost £70. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Notably, the game managed to beat Doom: The Dark Ages, which debuted at number nine. According to Newzoo, the shooter's placement was due to 'a big portion of revenues being tied to Xbox Game Pass'. More Trending While over 95% of full sales for Doom: The Dark Ages came from PlayStation and Steam, Xbox players accounted for 72% of monthly active users on Newzoo's engagement chart. In other words, only a small portion of players actually bought the full game. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 also launched on Xbox Game Pass, but considering Doom: The Dark Ages is significantly more expensive to buy at £69.99, it's perhaps unsurprising that the majority of players went down the Game Pass route instead. The other new addition on the chart was Elden Ring Nightreign, which managed to hit the number four spot despite being released on May 30, 2025. You can check out the top 10 of Newzoo's revenue chart for May below. Fortnite EA Sports (up two places) Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2/3/Warzone/Black Ops 6 Elden Ring Nightreign NBA 2K25 (up two places) Counter-Strike 2 & Go Forza Horizon 5 (up two places) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (up five places) Doom: The Dark Ages Minecraft (down two places) Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Time Crisis and Point Blank lightgun console smashes Kickstarter goal within hours MORE: EA Sports FC 26 cover star leaks and they've been on before MORE: The Alters review – send in the clones
Fashion United
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Fashion United
Hannah Martin unveils video game jewellery collection
British jewellery designer Hannah Martin has teamed up with French independent video game developer Sandfall Interactive and video game publisher Kepler Interactive to create conceptual digital jewellery pieces inspired by the character of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 role-playing video game. Martin has designed five digital jewellery creations inspired by the in-game characters of Gustave, Lune, Sciel, Maelle, and Verso, which fuse classic metal craftsmanship and delicate fine art. Hannah Martin creates digital jewellery in collaboration with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Credits: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Each of the pieces has been envisioned to be crafted with 18-carat gold and jet-black obsidian to reflect Martin's interpretation of the rich aesthetic of Expedition 33, merging the fantasy game setting and characters with real-life contemporary art and high-fashion elegance. The developers at Sandfall Interactive then took the digital jewellery designs and intricately modelled them in Unreal Engine 5 to create a series of in-engine images that fully blend the digital and physical worlds. Hannah Martin creates digital jewellery in collaboration with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Credits: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Commenting on the collaboration, Martin said in a statement: 'It is totally new territory for me, and I have loved being able to explore and push the boundaries between reality and unreality. It has been a constant dance between real world and fantasy.' Additionally, Martin has created 33 real-life necklaces inspired by the design representing Verso, meticulously hand-crafting each piece in sterling silver. These pieces are not for sale and were created as a celebration of the game's beauty in an extremely limited quantity as a 'thank you' to community members and artists who have supported the game and its creation. Hannah Martin creates digital jewellery in collaboration with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Credits: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Hannah Martin creates digital jewellery in collaboration with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Credits: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
