Using Unreal Engine 5 “can be a trap”, says the dev behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obscur Expedition 33; fantasy characters float in a dark sky, a god-like creature is seen in the distance amidst lighting and flames.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 details

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 releases in 24th April, 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Microsoft Windows PCs (via Steam and Epic Games Store).

Sandfall Interactive had been working on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for a number of years before the release of Unreal Engine 5 in 2022, and the team leapt at the chance to upgrade from UE4. “It was a game changer for us,” says Tom Guillermin, CTO and co-founder of Sandfall, and lead programmer on the game. The engine provided powerful lighting and geometry tech in the form of Lumen and Nanite, he says, as well as easing a lot of pain points around things like character creation.