Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Was Meant To Be An ‘Intense And Brief’ Expertise, Producer Says

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has made some vital waves within the gaming area. And a type of key differentiators, as explored in a brand new interview, is the scope of Clair Obscur in comparison with most huge video games these days.

In a brand new interview with GamesIndustry.biz, among the heads at Kepler Interactive — the writer of Clair Obscur developer Sandfall Interactive — talked concerning the success behind Expedition 33 and its place within the trade. In some methods, it is simpler to notice the methods Clair Obscur is completely different from the standard AAA blockbuster, and one notable distinction identified by Kepler portfolio director Matthew Handrahan is the sport’s size.

“Brevity needs to be extra of a advantage in gaming,” mentioned Handrahan. “One thing could be higher by being shorter — one thing that is being mentioned in movie for the time being. Each movie appears to be two-and-a-half hours lengthy, and I believe most individuals are like, ‘Can all of them be a bit shorter, please? As a result of we have now different issues to do with our lives.'”

Sandfall’s COO and producer François Meurisse instructed GI.biz that, from the start, the workforce needed Clair Obscur to be an “intense and brief” expertise.

“The primary size estimates of the sport had been nearer to twenty hours for the primary quest,” mentioned Meurisse. “I believe we ended up nearer to 30, even 40 hours when you take a little bit of time. As a participant, there are such a lot of nice video games on the market that I wish to expertise, [and] what’s essential to me is the extent of pleasure and enjoyable I get from a recreation, slightly than how lengthy it’s.”

Present ballpark estimates from HowLongToBeat place a primary story runthrough of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at about 27 hours, with 41 hours for the Foremost + Sides and a completionist playthrough at about 61.5 hours. It might probably nonetheless be a bit longer than a short-form indie recreation, however nonetheless is available in at a a lot decrease hour depend than some huge AAA video games, and even different lengthy RPGs.

As Handrahan put it, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 “actually respects the participant’s time.” He famous that Clair Obscur would not supply any “sense of bloat or extranous issues which are put there simply to make it bigger and bigger and bigger.” And for Meurisse, he questioned whether or not there was a hyperlink between the hour depend of a recreation and its worth proposition.

“The worth that gamers get from video games doesn’t align systematically with the size of the sport,” mentioned Meurisse. “For instance, certainly one of my favorite video games of all time is Inside, which lasts about two hours, but it surely’s probably the most polished, and intense [experiences] — and even life altering for some folks.”

In IGN’s 9/10 assessment of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, our reviewer famous the hour depend as nicely: “I completed the primary story and an honest quantity of facet content material in about 35 hours, and that size speaks to how Clair Obscur doesn’t waste a second — there isn’t actually any filler alongside the important path and it doesn’t get slowed down in drawn-out exposition.”

There are lots of elements that set Clair Obscur aside from the standard gaming blockbuster, in ways in which really feel like an indication of the altering occasions within the video games trade. You possibly can learn extra about these elements within the full interview over at GI.biz. But it surely definitely looks like Clair Obscur has set an fascinating precedent for large video games with out huge bloat.

Eric is a contract author for IGN.