Former PlayStation Exec Praises Upcoming Indie Game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Gaming industry veteran Shuhei Yoshida has shared high praise for the upcoming indie game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, calling it an extraordinary achievement that "could inspire other developers and publishers.'

During a recent appearance on the Easy Allies podcast, Yoshida highlighted how the small development team at Sandfall Interactive has created a game that rivals major studio productions in both scope and quality. This endorsement carries significant weight coming from someone with nearly 30 years of experience in the industry.

"The game looks beautiful and it has a main story of 30 hours with additional 30 hours of side missions but made by a team of 30 people," Yoshida remarked during the podcast. "Unbelievably productive compared to all these 'AAA' RPG developers."

The former Sony executive's comments emphasize how the relatively small team has accomplished something remarkable in the gaming world. With just 30 developers, Sandfall Interactive has created a game that offers comparable content to much larger productions that typically involve hundreds of staff members.

Yoshida revealed that he first encountered Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a few years ago at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) when the team was seeking publisher funding. Even at that early stage, he was impressed by the game's visual quality and its reactive turn-based combat system.

"I saw it presented when I was with Sony two years ago or three years ago... at GDC when they were pitching to get the funding for publishers," Yoshida explained. "They already had the game working... and it looked beautiful."

According to Yoshida, he provided feedback to the developers, suggesting they highlight their unique real-time interaction system. He noted that while many RPGs have moved toward real-time action gameplay, Clair Obscur's innovative approach to turn-based combat deserved special attention.

The game has a personal connection for Yoshida, who shared that its battle system reminded him of Legend of Dragoon, a PlayStation RPG he produced earlier in his career. "I loved it because I was a producer of Legend of Dragoon. And if you remember, it has that reactive button input during battles," he said.

This connection goes deeper, as Yoshida explained that both games share creative DNA. "They [both] are inspired by Mario RPG. And the game director of Legend of Dragoon was the battle director of Mario RPG," he noted, establishing an interesting lineage between these titles.

The game's visual style has been particularly praised for its use of light and shadow effects, embodying the "clair-obscur" artistic technique from which it takes part of its name. Many observers have compared its aesthetic and gameplay elements to a blend between Persona and Final Fantasy, two iconic RPG franchises.

Yoshida's comments come at a challenging time for mid-tier game development. During the podcast, he expressed concern about the current state of the industry: "For the last couple of years, because of the downturn of the industry, the publishers are not funding as many AA games."

He believes this reduction in support for mid-sized games is unfortunate, as there's significant potential and consumer demand for these experiences. "It's a pity for me because there are lots of potential for this kind of games. And I think people want smaller games than big AAA open world action RPG," Yoshida stated.

The podcast hosts also noted a trend of French development teams creating Japanese-style RPGs, mentioning other titles like Sea of Stars, Edge of Eternity, Threads of Time, and Alzara Radiant Echoes. When asked about this phenomenon, Yoshida suggested cultural influences might play a role: "What I know is that in France, the Japanese anime have been very big. So they must be more familiar with Japanese cultures."

Yoshida's endorsement is particularly meaningful given his role in leading the PlayStation Indies initiative. In his final days at Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, he supported independent developers and helped them gain visibility on PlayStation platforms. This support enabled games like Stellar Blade and Black Myth: Wukong to gain massive success.

Gamers interested in experiencing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won't have to wait too long. The game is scheduled for worldwide release on April 24 and will be available on most modern platforms like PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Sadly, it won't be released on previous generation consoles like PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch.