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The Latest Breaking News from Jennifer SvedbergYen

Clair Obscur: how an indie game about loss became the biggest success story of 2025

Ahead of the BAFTAs, lead writer Jennifer Svedberg-Yen breaks down the biggest twists of Sandfall’s runaway success story

Evening Standard

'We are not going to pick one': Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 dev confirms there's no canon ending, instead opting for a more elusive 'Schrodinger's ending'

If you don't finish the game, no one can get hurt.

PC Gamer

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 makes you "complicit" in moments like the RPG's first big twist, lead writer says, so you can "experience what grief feels like in this world"

"We really wanted the player to feel that loss"

GamesRadar

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read the most diverse news in one place.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's lead writer "never even considered" a true, happy ending for the hit RPG

Whichever one you prefer, you are correct

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 devs bet on the RPG's Metacritic score, but bet so low that "everybody lost," resulting in forfeits like gobbling whole roast chickens

"One person had to eat a chicken, a roast chicken in one sitting within a certain amount of time while another person beatboxes"

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur's narrative lead says while it's 'a painful process' to write, AI has never tempted her: 'The whole point of writing is to express what I have in my head'

Too right.

PC Gamer

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead writer doesn't use AI for work because "writing is part of the joy," and "it's also part of the pain"

"It is not really something that I find useful in my personal work"

GamesRadar

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"If I told you, I'd have to kill you": Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 writer can't say where she wants the series to go next, even though she'd "love to"

Jennifer Svedberg-Yen "cannot keep a secret," but she's making an exception this one time

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 writer says picking an ending is like choosing "my favorite child," but ultimately the finales are "two sides of the same coin"

"And the question we want to ask is, in the end, whose happiness do we prioritize?"

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead writer says it's "crazy" to see Final Fantasy legends who are "essentially our heroes" praising Sandfall's game after the JRPG series was such a "huge influence"

"It still feels quite surreal"

GamesRadar

'There is a bit of pressure': Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 devs will stay true to themselves for their next game despite expectations—'we need to trust our instincts'

I'd be excited no matter what happens, honestly.

PC Gamer

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead writer "didn't think of it as writing an RPG" – "I thought of it almost like writing an HBO drama"

"A lot of times, we didn't know what we didn't know."

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – how a tiny studio developed the Belle Époque-set gaming blockbuster

What started as Guillaume Broche’s personal project has been nominated for 12 Game awards, sold more than 2m copies and been praised by Emmanuel Macron as a ‘shining example of French audacity’

The Guardian - AU

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead writer "did not play any video games" before joining the hit French JRPG, but now she's speedrunning the hits: "I have Platinumed Elden Ring, God of War, God of War Ragnarok"

Making up for lost time

GamesRadar

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GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 writer warns against a classic game hangup: "deus ex machina" power creep that makes you wonder "why didn't they just do this from the beginning"

"We did have quite a lot of discussion around that"

GamesRadar

One of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's funniest moments was actually "random improv"

Sometimes the best things happen in the moment

GamesRadar

A vital piece of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's story literally came to the RPG's lead writer in a dream: "I realized, 'Oh actually, this story might work'"

The "final piece" of the story was then given to the team from the creative director's mother

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 started as a "completely different game set in Victorian England," not the French turn-based RPG we now know and love

It was originally called "We Lost"

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GamesRadar

"That was me at three in the morning trying to come up with something": Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's silliest moment came to its writer when she was very, very tired

Sometimes you just put something on the page and in the morning you realize it's actually pretty good

Creative Bloq

Fans are surprised by the early concept trailer for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

You won't believe how different the year's best video game could have looked.

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 draft trailer from 5 years ago surfaces online, and it looks like a completely different RPG with no final visuals and "terrible robotic voices"

It's come a long way since then

PC Gamer

'He's very good at finding really cool people': Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's director found its composer on Soundcloud and lead writer on Reddit

Soundcloud is pretty goated to be honest.

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead writer was first hired as a voice actor after she "saw a post on Reddit" calling for auditions: "I've never done that, it sounds kinda cool"

Jennifer Svedberg-Yen was originally set to play a "major" character

PC Gamer

'I'd say chances are good': While the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 team is still figuring out where to go next, DLC is likely

Sandfall's not out of paint just yet.

GamesRadar

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead writer says "chances are good" that the JRPG banger gets DLC at some point

"Based on the responses so far, I'd say the chances are good"

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