Expediton 33 Won’t Have One Staple Of The Genre, So Players Can Explore More

Summary

• Game won’t feature a mini map to encourage exploration, with a compass aiding navigation.
• Inspired by classic JRPGs and Souls-like games, expect challenging combat and level design.
• Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 combines real-time and turn-based mechanics.

While Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 looks like a modern game, its roots are that of classical JRPGs. Don’t expect the game to feature one staple of the genre, and it’s not because of any technical reason, but an intentional gameplay design.

I’m referring to a mini map, which developer Sandfall Interactive has confirmed won’t be featured in the game.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Won’t Have a Mini Map And Sandfall Explains Why

Why won’t Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 feature a mini map? Producer and COO Francois Meurisse explained this in a chat with at an Xbox event held during the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC).

Meurisse explains, “There won’t be mini maps in the levels. When there’s a mini map, you can end up relying on it. And we want players to discover the world as the expedition does it. They don’t have a map because every previous expedition failed. So yes, sometimes it can be difficult to find their way.”

However, players won’t be left groping in the dark, as Meurisse confirms they added a compass to help players. “What we added on the world map that wasn’t in the preview demo is just a compass, so you can find north easily and get your direction more easily,” the producer notes. At the very least, the RPG will feature an overview map of the entire game world, though it remains to be seen whether this will focus on the area you’re in or just the game world all the time.

Aside from the game not featuring a mini map, expect it to be a bit challenging as well. Sandfall has mentioned before that not only is the game inspired by classic JRPGs like Final Fantasy 7, FF8 and the like, played a role in inspiring the game.

Some of the parallels to the Souls-like to Sandfall’s turn-based RPGs include having a successful parry by which the player will have the camera zoom in for a big slow-motion hit and weapon attribute scaling based on character stats. Even the level design has some heavy influences to Souls-likes. While Clair Obscur is more linear than FromSoftware’s games, it draws inspiration; it still has that sense of a player getting lost in a dangerous world.

Meurisse explained, “The design approach has some links with FromSoftware games, where it’s very linear levels but really intense ones. We don’t have the mastery of ideas that they have, but it was part of the inspiration.” The slant to include Souls-like influence comes from the game’s director, Guillaume Broche, who’s not just a big fan of FromSoftware’s games but was even a Sekiro speedrunner.

Meurisse hopes they get some good feedback from the Souls community with Clair Obscur, and he can’t wait to see some “no damage runs,” because “technically it’s achievable.” Given how insanely skilled Souls-like speedrunners are, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this feat pulled off within the game’s first three months. I mean, some Elden Ring players manage to get through the game without getting hit; surely they can do that in an RPG, right?

If you’re curious about the RPG, go and see why we’re excited to get our hands on this JRPG from a French development team.

While this is from a small studio, don’t expect a delay to be part of the equation, as Sandfall revealed this weekend that , and they are just polishing the game now leading up to its April 24 release on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.