Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Exceeds Expectations

Despite being a multi-time game of the year winner and one of the top-rated titles of 2025, Sandfall Interactive had modest expectations for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Producer Francois Meurisse shared that they anticipated a Metacritic score in the 80s. In a chat with Edge, he explained, “We conducted some mock reviews six months to a year before release, ending up with expected scores around 80. Our official target at the end was to reach 85 on Metacritic. Thanks to some focused effort in the final months, we pushed the quality higher.” He added, “Hitting that 85 was the goal, but surpassing the 90 barrier was a great reward for the team. That’s when things started to get a bit wild.”

Art director Nicholas Maxson-Francombe chimed in, revealing, “We were taking bets on the Metacritic score. Most of us were shooting for around 80. We thought it was a decent game; we were proud of our work. Even if sales were low, we would have been content.”

While everyone might find it surprising that the team didn’t expect greater success based on the game’s current status, lead programmer Tom Guillermin explained, “It’s tough to gauge how good [the game] is based on the initial rough versions we saw—full of robotic text-to-speech and other elements that weren’t quite polished.”

Meurisse further elaborated, “Part of my role is to always ‘plan for the worst, hope for the best,’ so I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much. Managing expectations for the team was crucial, so we were always coming up with worst-case scenarios. But in the end, it was worth it, as we exceeded our highest expectations.”

In other news, Famitsu recently surveyed 191 Japanese developers and celebrities for their Game of the Year, and yep, you guessed it—it was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Platforms

• Xbox Series X
• PS5
• PC Gaming