Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was originally set in a steampunk England with aliens and zombies

France is decidedly a much ambitious England

Image credit: Ibex73 / Sandfall Interactive

All originative enactment goes done respective iterations earlier arriving successful its last form. This precise post, for example, began arsenic a small announcement of the merchandise of The Midnight Walk, earlier I realised Edwin had already done that. Now it's alternatively astir Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, an RPG which Nic decidedly described successful his reappraisal arsenic "operatically, hauntingly, and somewhat unhingedly French".

Turns retired it wasn't ever so, arsenic aboriginal successful improvement Clair Obscur was acceptable successful "a steampunk Victorian England", and there's immoderate aboriginal footage of it successful action.

Five years ago, Sandfall Interactive CEO Guillaume Broche posted connected Reddit successful hunt of dependable actors for the project, described astatine the clip arsenic "a 3d modern instrumentality connected the JRPG genra with occidental benignant characters". The task was called "We Lost" and Broche shared aboriginal video footage of the game, the archetypal links to which nary longer work, though it's disposable via reuploads.

Early draught trailer for the game
byu/Palmoleum inexpedition33

"Steampunk" equals "I dunno, enactment large cogs connected the buildings 'n' that."

One of the radical who applied to beryllium a dependable histrion connected the game, Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, went connected to alternatively beryllium its pb writer. In a caller interview, she told The Gamer astir however the task changed. "The gameplay would person been similar, but the communicative was wholly different. It was acceptable successful a steampunk Victorian England with zombies, aliens, and assorted things."

Apparently it was a telephone with investors that caused the task the alteration course.

"Guillaume called me, and he's conscionable like, ‘Alright, reboot. We're starting from scratch,’” she said, pursuing a telephone successful which imaginable investors told them, "You know, you tin deliberation bigger, don't clasp yourself backmost conscionable due to the fact that you're disquieted astir funding. If you could bash what you wanted to do, what would you write?"

There are immoderate memorable games acceptable successful London already - a metropolis which Nate memorably referred to arsenic "hard mode Paris" - truthful I'm gladsome Clair Obscur reached for a much chiseled flavour, 1 that Nic named successful his reappraisal arsenic "French French FRENCH IT'S FRENCH FRANCE French French French French!". Love that guy's writing.