The director behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has given the first clue as to what the sequel will be and how it will follow on from the original.
Between widespread layoffs and concerns for the future of the games industry, the success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been a rare but important positive in 2025.
Developed by Sandfall Interactive, the French turn-based role-player has been one of the surprise hits of the year, both critically and commercially. It managed to sell one million copies within three days, and later hit 3.3 million copies sold after 33 days.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s success has led to inevitable talk around a possible sequel, and game director Guillaume Broche has indicated that’s very much on the cards.
Speaking in an interview with YouTuber MrMattyPlays, Broche was asked about the studio’s approach to a potential follow-up.
‘Clair Obscur is a franchise name,’ Broche replied. ‘Expedition 33 is one of the stories that we want to tell in this franchise. Exactly what it will look like and what the concept will be is still too soon to announce, but what is sure is that this is not the end of the Clair Obscur franchise.’
Thatconfirms some kind of sequel is on the way, whether a new game or DLC, although Broche appears to rule out the possibility of a direct sequel elsewhere in the interview.
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Speaking about the pressure to follow Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the director explained how they’re trying to ‘ignore’ what made that game successful in a follow-up.
‘I think what worked with Expedition 33 was that it was made with no compromise,’ Broche said. ‘It was just a singular vision and it was very true and very authentic.’
He added: ‘So I think we are all trying to find this back, to manage to ignore Expedition 33. It’s tough. Right now, we’re still in the hype moment of Expedition 33. It will go down at one point… but it’s a tough feeling to ignore Expedition 33.
‘But for me, we have to find this place of sincerity and authenticity again and just do what we love, and ignoring what made Expedition 33 so successful in a way.’
If Clair Obscur is the franchise name, it’s possible the series could take the Final Fantasy route by telling a new story with a new cast for a new entry – or even flip to another genre in the vein of the Persona spin-offs.
Last month, the lead developers behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 visited Square Enix’s offices, in what Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi described as a ‘creatively rich exchange of visions and ideas’.
Final Fantasy’s inspiration is all over Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but this exchange suggests the influence of each franchise will go both ways in the future.
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