Expedition 33 devs always wanted combat to be ‘hard but juicy’

Fight in Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33One of the most compelling and divisive features of this year's runaway hit didn't always look the way it does in the game today.

Developed by Sandfall Interactive, Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33 is an adventure role-playing game inspired by the JRPG genre. With 12 nominations across Game Awards 2025 categories, she also holds the current record for the most nominations in a single year, a feat like no other.

Combat is certainly a feat. Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33too much. Turn-based combat, flexible combat formations, and resource management are familiar elements that are almost expected in a game with a strong JRPG influence. What's even more unusual is the implementation of real-time parrying and dodging in addition to the turn-based mechanics. Their participation in hostilities Chiaroscuro has earned flattering, but perhaps inappropriate, comparisons to the game Dark souls and no less complex games of the Soulslike genre.

However, it is true that numerous merciless boss battles and precise timing are required to perfectly execute the defensive moves at the player's disposal. Chiaroscuro can be a challenge even for more experienced players. For beginners not used to fast events and split-second precision? The fight can be downright overwhelming.

Michelle Nora, lead game designer at Sandfall Interactive, notes that combat Expedition 33 The game was always intended to be much more demanding than “regular RPGs”. In his recent speech at MIGShe detailed the evolution of the combat mechanics and the many iterations the team went through to achieve a memorable combat experience. Chiaroscuro delivers today.

Turn-based combat was initially overhyped

Step-by-step component Chiaroscuro Combat has evolved most from its earliest form. Instead of AP, the initial source of power for each character's turn was mana. It also buffed up magical attacks and defenses before being removed from gameplay entirely.

In early versions of the game, there were over a hundred consumables for managing health, helping teammates, and spending energy. If you played Expedition 33You wouldn't know it because there are now three and only three consumables called tints that heal, revive, or give AP, making it much easier for companions to survive.

Nora admits that the initial step-by-step setup was too complex to be fun or even manageable overall. In addition to consumables and mana, each character had 40 unlockable skills (compared to the existing 25) and numerous stats to track, including mastery, accuracy, magic attack, and magic defense. Additionally, the potential army of enemies you could be fighting at any given time included four opponents (now reduced to three). Put it all together and you have the perfect storm of sensory overload before the real-time elements even come into play during each encounter.

Parrying and dodging were too overwhelming in early tests.

The real-time mechanics have certainly seen plenty of changes as well, although in their case more have been added rather than removed to reduce frustration and increase the variety of combat in the game. Chiaroscuro.

The favorite (or hated) parry didn't exist in the early game at all. Evasion served as the primary defensive mechanic, and enemies had their own evasion mechanisms as well. Once implemented, the parry system was “stolen directly from AxeFromSoftware's acclaimed action game from 2019, which gives a good idea of ​​the level of challenge it can present.

The real-time element was crucial to combat, but early playtests quickly showed that it was overwhelming for players who found it difficult to keep up while simultaneously employing complex tactics due to the abundance of character skills, stats, and consumables. Given that the game was short by JRPG standards (approximately 30 hours to complete the main story), players also complained about the lack of time and practice to learn the systems and be able to apply them in various combat situations.

Helping the player concentrate

Combat in early development was difficult, but it also wasn't well-balanced or satisfying. For Sandfall, it was clear at that stage that they needed to build turn-based mechanics around real-time elements and keep the player's attention at all costs: “We wanted the player to be involved in the turn-based element because real-time is more demanding,” Nora said.

The ultimate goal will combine real-time combat mechanics with the classic turn-based component in a fun and interesting way that will be both a challenge and a sense of triumph for the player.

The first key step was to reduce the “noise” in what was and still is a core part of the game. The decision to not introduce a “look at the enemy” button, limit the available actions on each turn, and remove the character's initially enabled stats all helped the player become locked in and effectively complete the task at hand. Jump and Epic Gradient Counter, “much easier than a normal parry”, have been added to the real-time arsenal of moves to further reduce player frustration.

We pay attention to the quality of animation

The animation team used a variety of tools to make the combat exciting and keep the combat varied and relevant. Time slowing, focal length, camera shake and movement highlight important moments and give players clues on how to react. The strike animation during an enemy's turn stands out from other moves, pushing players toward the parry button.

Playing ChiaroscuroYou'll quickly notice that paying attention to your opponent's attack animation is key to timing your parry or dodge correctly. Initially, many of these animations were difficult to read and therefore difficult to protect. Nora had an example of enemies attacking with 6-hit combos that had to be parried in quick succession, often leading to a cascade of failures: the player would miss one, then two, then three, and so on, increasing the damage taken and the feeling of frustration.

Seeing this in playtests, Nora admits, was a “wake-up call” that they had to simplify some of the animations to help players get at least one parry at the end of a combo and make them “feel good about being in control of something.” Moreover, if a particular enemy's attack was difficult to read, less damage was awarded. If they landed more hits, they dealt more total damage. However, if the player successfully defended a combo and followed it up with a counterattack, the reward was massive damage and a satisfying animation.

For players who struggled to parry, non-combat options or “parry helpers” were introduced, including defensive skills and Luminae, and eventually different difficulty modes to help everyone get through the game. The concept of “beating the challenge” rewarded players who persevered through every hit, parry, attack combo, and overall encounter, providing satisfying material rewards for each victory, as well as an epic “juicy freeze-frame” victory screen.

Balancing combat difficulty

Balancing combat involved a lot of conversations, playtesting, and feedback. Some of these were done by hand on an Excel sheet for maximum detail. Each combat encounter in the game has a damage level and progression. The damage dealt and received is proportional to the character's level. The combat HUD is minimalistic and focused. Each encounter has a multiplier per level, per archetype, per enemy, and finally per attack. Like most players Chiaroscuro Be aware that even Simon, the super-difficult secret boss, doesn't deal the same amount of damage every time – some attack sequences are definitely tougher than others.

Ultimately, when it came to fighting in Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33The developers aimed for a combination of “challenging but rich real-time gameplay and simple but turn-based gameplay.” Good internal tools and constant play testing have made it easy to add content and manually balance each element when needed. A lot of attention was paid to all this. Like, very, very much.

“Combat was important to how we wanted players to feel,” says Nora.

Image credit: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (screenshots)