Sandfall Interactive, the studio responsible for the newly launched turn-based title Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, has been candid about its strong influences from legendary JRPGs, particularly several titles from the Final Fantasy franchise along with Atlus’ Persona series. Remarkably, the game has emerged as a significant success, even eclipsing some of the major players that inspired it.
As of this writing, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has attracted over 87,000 concurrent users on Steam, and the numbers are likely to rise as the weekend progresses (we expect more growth), based on data from SteamDB. This performance is commendable for a debut series from a new developer, particularly in a subgenre that was once thought to have stagnated in earlier console generations.
For context, Expedition 33 has reached a higher peak in concurrent players than any game from Atlus on the platform, almost doubling Persona 3 Reload’s 45,000 peak and, more importantly, slightly surpassing Metaphor: ReFantazio’s 85,961 peak.
Being in such exceptional company early in the developer’s journey is quite an achievement (notably, Clair Obscur is their inaugural title), and it must feel rewarding to stand alongside the giants that served as inspiration.
What stands out even more is Sandfall Interactive’s accomplishment of launching the game amidst the surprise release of Oblivion Remastered, while also making it available on Game Pass from day one; they successfully sold over 500,000 copies within the first 24 hours.
Here are nine tips for taking on the Paintress in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.