Sun, Apr 27, 2025 page9

• Independent studio’s debut game shines

  The video game has unpredictable twists, said its creators, who did not add an on-screen map to the post-apocalyptic world

  • By Philippe Siuberski / AFP, MONTPELLIER, France
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  Independent French studio Sandfall Interactive’s first video game, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, launched worldwide on Thursday, but has already built up a solid community of fans eager to discover its post-apocalyptic fantasy world.

  According to Metacritic, which aggregates video games reviews, it had a 92 out of 100 “universal acclaim” score — the highest so far this year.

  More than 1 million players have also added the “turn-based” role-playing game to their wish list, said the company, which was set up in 2020 in Montpellier.

  

  Sandfall Interactive chief technical officer and lead programmer Tom Guillermin works on Clair Obscur, Expedition 33 at the company’s headquarters in Montpellier, France, on April 10.

  Photo: AFP

  One of the studio’s three cofounders said that the high numbers — rare for a game developed by an independent studio — were “extremely encouraging.”

  “We are coming to the end of four years of production and even longer for some of us,” Francois Meurisse told reporters a few days before the game’s release.

  “We’re now at a crucial moment,” he added calmly.

  

  From left, Sandfall Interactive chief technical officer and lead programmer Tom Guillermin, chief operating officer and producer Francois Meurisse, chief executive officer and creative director Guillaume Broche and art director Nicholas Maxson-Francombe sit on a bench at the company’s headquarters in Montpellier, France, on April 10.

  Photo: AFP

  Sandfall Interactive’s 20 or so employees sit serenely behind a bank of screens on the first floor of an Art Deco-style mansion in the southern coastal city.

  The building’s high ceilings, marble-accented bathroom and large garden ideal for drinks fits perfectly with the fantasy “Belle Epoque” spirit of the game.

  For players, Expedition 33 starts in Lumiere, a city on an island whose iconic buildings recall the real-life City of Light — Paris.

  However, while passers-by are dressed in 1900s fashion, most of the buildings barely remain standing after a disaster whose nature is gradually revealed.

  Just as intriguing is a gigantic monolith that displays the number “34,” corresponding to the age at which the city’s inhabitants “fade away” and turn into flowers.

  Worse still, an enigmatic “Paintress” lowers this age every year, cutting life expectancy accordingly.

  As characters Gustave, Maelle, Lune, Sciel or Monaco, players must leave the island and explore a vast continent across the sea where, among forests and ruins, the heavily armed minions of the Paintress await.

  Between cinematic sequences, the player-explorer must fight fierce battles to try to reach level 33, which should take at least 30 hours, and twice as long to explore the entire universe and solve side puzzles.

  The story also provides its share of “unpredictable” twists and turns, according to its creators, who chose not to display an on-screen map allowing players to locate themselves.

  At the studio, Guillaume Broche holds the key role of “creative director” for the game, which he has overseen from start to finish and is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

  He conceived the adventure more than five years ago and wanted it to be a “role-playing” game, inspired by the Final Fantasy series, but in an environment resembling late 19th, early 20th-century France.

  Broche was working in Sweden for French gaming giant Ubisoft and spoke to a colleague, Tom Guillermin, about the project.

  At the end of the first COVID-19 lockdown, they teamed up with Meurisse and founded Sandfall Interactive in Montpellier, which has a long-established video game industry.

  In 2022, the three young entrepreneurs were at a specialized trade show in San Francisco, where they met London-based publisher Kepler Interactive.

  Kepler provided them with funding and took charge of marketing and distribution — and also helped them gain international recognition.

  In June last year, Microsoft announced that Expedition 33 would also be included on the release date in its Game Pass subscription service.

  Since then, interest and anticipation have grown.
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