Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 studio Sandfall Interactive has a real shot at taking home Game of the Year in 2025, and yet it isn't resting on its laurels, pledging to make a new game completely unrestrained by genre expectations.
Talking to the Washington Post (paywalled), creative director Guillaume Broche didn't rule out making another RPG like Clair Obscur, but he also made it clear that Sandfall isn't ready to be confined to any one genre, art style, gameplay systems, nothin'.
"We don't want to be constrained by story, art style or gameplay in whatever we want to make next, so nothing to say," Broche said. "We just want it to feel authentic, and made with love."
Of course, it's far too early to start talking about what's next for Sandfall when Clair Obscur just launched a few months ago. It's also worth noting that Sandfall is a relatively small studio with only about 30 employees, so the turnaround in projects is going to be inherently limited in terms of resources compared to AAA studios.
Furthermore, it was recently announced that Clair Obscur is getting a whole new location, extra late-game bosses, and more to celebrate five million copies sold, so that's also been keeping them busy.
Still, I'm encouraged to hear that Broche and co. aren't closing themselves off to anything just yet. I would imagine developers are at their most creative when they aren't working from within a pre-defined rulebook, and especially for an independent studio like Sandfall, that's when we players get some really special stuff, like Clair Obscur!
I don't think I'm good enough at Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to contend with the new update, so I'm heading back into the JRPG to face my biggest fear
