Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 says the secret of the J'RPG's success is to "not care too much about the players" – "if you care about your game, it means you care about the players ultimately"

Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33The hosts explain their thoughts on why Sandfall Interactive's debut game was such a success and what it has to do with making the game for you.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a game where the more you learn about the developers, the more its personality becomes clear. Hearing that the developers were big fans of Final Fantasy X and Lost Odyssey makes a lot of sense, and seeing Game Director, Devil May Cry Challenge Launch Guillaume Broche Verso's entire moveset is one big love letter to the series – with a style meter and virtually every move taken from Vergil's set – also tracked.

Talking to Edge's Knowledge Newsletter, When asked by Brosh about the secret to the game's success, he replied: “I think the secret is to tailor the game to your team, not the other way around.” He explains: “It's not about processes, it's about creating a game that you want to play. It's contradictory, but [try to] don’t care too much about the players, because if you care about your game, that means you end up caring about the players.”

Lead writer Jennifer Swedberg-Yen adds, “I think these pieces really work together because we really allow ourselves to be influenced by each other. Art has influenced history, history has influenced art, music has influenced history and art—there’s a lot of cross-pollination of ideas.” She continues that “by going back and forth a lot” between different segments of the development team, “we elevated each other,” adding, “I really feel like the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”

Claire Obscure: Expedition 33's lead writer “didn't think of it as writing an RPG” – “I thought of it almost as writing an HBO drama.”