Summary
- French President Macron praises Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for success in the gaming industry.
- The game sparked excitement at launch, sold out quickly, and gained popularity on Steam.
- Social media response praised Macron for supporting creative work and celebrating the game.
French President Emmanuel Macron publicly praised Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for its strong launch, noting it as a big achievement for France’s growing video game industry. Developed by Montpellier’s Sandfall Interactive, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 marks the studio’s first project and quickly caught attention for blending turn-based mechanics with a highly unique, artistic visual style.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was first revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase in June 2024, sparking great excitement among many players right away. By January 2025, the buzz grew even louder when the Collector’s Edition sold out just a week after its reveal, showing huge early interest. The game hit PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on April 24, and its hype kept climbing, hitting over 120,000 peak players on Steam and selling one million copies in three days. Within five days of launch, Expedition 33's physical copies sold out in several stores, leading Sandfall Interactive to say distributors were working on restocking to meet the unexpectedly high demand in several areas.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an RPG Prologue Done Right
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 manages to set up its world with finesse, drawing on the subtlety of its dialogue to sidestep direct exposition.
The Expedition 33 hype pulled in more than just gamers, even grabbing French President Emmanuel Macron’s attention. He posted on Instagram, giving Sandfall Interactive props for the game’s huge launch, saying it’s a “shining example of French audacity and creativity.” He pointed out its hot start, noting “a million copies” sold, and called it “one of the best-rated games in history.” His words, originally in French and run through Google Translate, show how the game’s a big deal for culture and a massive score for France’s gaming world.
President Macron Praises Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for Success
French President Emmanuel Macron’s message got a warm response on social media, with users cheering for both the game and his support. Many pointed out how rare it is for a president to celebrate a video game’s success, calling the post “influencer marketing you can’t buy.” Others valued Macron’s support for creative work, with one saying it showed his cultural awareness. It is worth noting that Baldur’s Gate 3 director Michael Douse also praised Expedition 33 and its cast, encouraging fans to check it out.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s devs keep grinding after the game’s big launch, pushing out patch 1.2.2 to fix pesky inventory bugs, soft lock issues, and other glitches messing with play. Looking ahead, the game’s writer dropped hints about possible DLC, saying more content might come soon. With steady updates and new stuff possibly on the way, Expedition 33 stays strong, setting a high standard for turn-based RPGs and pushing other devs to make better games.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 92 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- April 24, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Sandfall Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- Kepler Interactive
WHERE TO PLAY
Once a year, the Paintress wakes and paints upon her monolith. Paints her cursed number. And everyone of that age turns to smoke and fades away. Year by year, that number ticks down and more of us are erased. Tomorrow she’ll wake and paint “33.” And tomorrow we depart on our final mission - Destroy the Paintress, so she can never paint death again.
We are Expedition 33.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a ground-breaking turn-based RPG with unique real-time mechanics, making battles more immersive and addictive than ever. Explore a fantasy world inspired by Belle Époque France in which you battle devastating enemies.
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Playable
- PC Release Date
- April 24, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- April 24, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- April 24, 2025
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based RPG, JRPG, Fantasy
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 42.33 GB
- Wiki
