The following contains major spoilers for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Judging by its success alone, there is little doubt that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is only the start of something big for Sandfall Interactive. It may only be the studio's debut game, but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has already proven that its world and ideas are too large to keep confined to one game. As such, it's likely the new IP's legacy has only just begun, and there is plenty more where Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 came from.
While it's still too soon to know where the hugely successful Clair Obscur might go from here, there is at least one confirmed element that Expedition 33's story left players with for the path forward. By introducing another faction in the real world apart from the Painters, as well as what is implied by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's subtitle, there seems to be more than one route Sanfall's new IP could go.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s Esquie Is the Game’s Breakout Star
Whether it's his adorable, lovable, and all-around good nature or that he is extremely useful, Clair Obscur's Esquie is the game's best character.
Clair Obscur's Future Is Wide Open
Clair Obscur Could Feature the Writers in Future Games
One of the biggest revelations in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is that the entire world is actually a world that has been painted onto a magical canvas by the late Verso, and the Paintress, his mother, later entered his canvas and reshaped it to preserve his memory. In the real world, Verso and the Paintress actually come from a group of talented individuals known as "Painters" who have the ability to bring whole worlds to life by painting them onto a canvas. It turns out they aren't the only ones with any talent either, as another group called the "Writers" seemingly oppose the Painters for some reason not yet fully disclosed.
Nevertheless, as a new IP, Clair Obscur could take its future in the direction of featuring the Writers in future games rather than the Painters alone. In the same way that Painters can bring worlds to life on a canvas, it would presumably work the same way with the Writers, only they would create these worlds by writing them into a book rather than painting them onto a canvas. A future game in the Clair Obscur series could see a brand-new world brought to life by the Writers, and potentially even show the ongoing conflict between the Painters and Writers taking place in the real world as well.
Clair Obscur Could Explore the Stories of Other Expeditions
Another direction Clair Obscur could go in as a series is in featuring the stories of other Expeditions. It's possible to acquire audio logs of previous Expeditions while exploring the world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but getting a firsthand look at their experiences would be an even greater way to tell their stories. After all, the fact that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 already uses the number of an Expedition in its subtitle suggests that it could easily be replaced by another Expedition in a future game.
The only problem with this direction is what is revealed in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's story. There are really not a lot of questions left without answers once Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's credits roll, and its conclusion is very finite. As such, if the series were to tell the story of another Expedition at some point, it might find some difficulty making it worth the investment with the way the current game ends. Instead, it might be more likely that the subtitle would simply be replaced altogether with a different concept that is more relevant to whatever original story it wants to tell.
In the same way that Painters can bring worlds to life on a canvas, it would presumably work the same way with the Writers, only they would create these worlds by writing them into a book rather than painting them onto a canvas.
In any case, the world that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has started is massive enough that this series could really go places. This is, of course, not to mention how unbelievably successful Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been, which means it has undoubtedly kickstarted something for Sandfall Interactive that is surely going to continue for the foreseeable future. Clair Obscur may go the direction of Final Fantasy and feature entirely different worlds and stories in every entry, but it seems likely that the Writers will be involved at some point, since Expedition 33 introduced them but never really explored them, nor their conflict with the Painters.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 92 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- April 24, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Sandfall Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- Kepler Interactive
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based RPG, JRPG, Fantasy
