Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Creative Director Guillaume Broche has revealed that Sandfall Interactive was repeatedly warned against one of the RPG’s defining gameplay features before launch. Despite concerns that players would reject its blend of turn-based combat and real-time action mechanics, the studio chose to stick with its original vision.
The comments were shared during an appearance on Konbini’s Video Game Club on YouTube, where Broche reflected on the game’s development following its award-winning success.
Hybrid Combat Was Considered a Risk
According to Broche, many people believed combining action mechanics such as dodging and parrying with traditional turn-based combat would fail to attract either audience.
“What we heard a lot before we released the game was: ‘You’re making a game that mixes the challenging aspects of an action game—with dodging and parrying—with turn-based gameplay. No one’s going to like it. Turn-based players like turn-based games, and action players like action games,'”
Broche said during the interview.
Rather than changing course, the team remained confident in its design philosophy.
Broche explained that the studio ignored the criticism because the developers genuinely enjoyed the gameplay they had created.
“We didn’t care. We think it’s cool, we play it, and it’s fun. We combined the two, and it worked,”
he said. He also acknowledged that several of the game’s design choices may not have made sense from a traditional business perspective but believed creative decisions should come first.
That confidence ultimately paid off. Following its release, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 received widespread critical acclaim and became one of the industry’s most celebrated RPGs, earning multiple Game of the Year honors.
Broche’s comments offer a look into the creative process behind one of recent years’ biggest role-playing successes, showing that taking calculated design risks can sometimes lead to standout experiences.
