Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's director got on the RPG train early, playing FF8 'when my brother and I could barely read'

Monoco from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 stares with an unassailable masked expression. — (Image credit: Kepler / Sandfall Interactive)

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 feels like a love letter to JRPGs—and that's because it pretty much is. Director Guillaume Broche has a long-lasting history with the genre, including an ill-fated attempt to play Final Fantasy 8 before he and his brother could actually read.

That's per a recent interview with The Washington Post, wherein Guillaume recounts some of his earliest gaming memories: "[FF8] came out at a time where my brother and I could barely read." Guillaume is, fittingly, 33 years old—which would've made him around 7 at the time. That does indeed put him within developmental striking distance of being able to barely read the reams of text in your average RPG.

It's nice—and a little reassuring, given how cynical the industry has become—to see a game so clearly forged out of passion and appreciation for its contemporaries. Guillaume sums it up well at the tail-end of the interview: "There is a lot of joy and sincerity in how we made the game, and I think it’s something players can connect with … We are emptied out. There is all of us in the game, nothing left."

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

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