"Clair obscur: Expedition 33" is something as unusual as a Japanese role-playing game, which, for lack of a better term, is very French. There are basques, twisted Eiffel towers and broken triumphal gates. The main characters occasionally utter a "merde".
- It's uncompromisingly French, even though I'm not French myself and the script is written in English, says Jennifer Yen with a smile, and continues:
- There are a lot of lovely subtle – and obvious – French influences.
She is the lead writer of the game, which she started writing in Australia before she and her Swedish husband moved to Östersund.
A thought experiment
The initial hours of "Clair obscur" take place in a fantasy world inspired by la belle époque. But unlike the carefree era, the world is shattered. Everyone of a certain age dies in an annual ceremony. This means that everyone is young and beautiful – and knows that their time is counted.
- Those who live in this world react in different ways. For some, it's liberating and they become fearless, while others are consumed by fear and focus on what they're losing, says Jennifer Svedberg-Yen.
That she got drawn into the gaming industry was a coincidence. During Australia's draconian covid lockdown, she got bored and stumbled upon a Reddit thread where Guillaume Broche, then employed by gaming giant Ubisoft, was looking for voice actors.
- I don't think he got many interested, so he gave me two roles. And when we discussed the characters and lines, I told him I wrote a bit on the side and could help him polish the dialogue.
- Soon we were discussing the story, and then he invited me to join as a writer.
Five years of development
Svedberg-Yen grew up in a "strict, Chinese household" in California and had hardly played video games before joining the newly formed French game studio Sandfall.
- I thought: I'm going to work with games. I need to understand what it's about. So I started playing and got hooked. Now I'm a hardcore gamer.
In December 2020, the gaming industry was doing well, and investors encouraged the fresh studio to think big". Barely five years later, "Clair obscur" was released.
The game has sold quickly, with two million copies sold. It left the studio, which saw the title as quite niche, in awe.
- We gave everything for this game, and seeing people's response is very emotional, says Jennifer Svedberg-Yen.
"Clair obscur: Expedition 33" is the debut game from French studio Sandfall.
It's a Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) with turn-based battles, but with elements of button-mashing timing to perform powerful attacks, counterattacks, or defend.
The game has a high 92/100 on Metacritic, which collects critic scores.
The game is available on Xbox Series, PS5, and PC and was released on April 24.
