Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Interview with Ben Starr and Jennifer English

About Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

• 🗺️ The game is an RPG set in an early 20th-century distorted version of Paris called Lumiere.
• ⏳ The core concept involves a giant monolith where a being called the Paintress repaints a number annually, causing people of that age to disappear.
• 🚀 Players are sent on an expedition to reach and destroy the Paintress to stop the disappearances.

Sandfall Interactive: A Small Team's Big Ambition

• 👥 Sandfall Interactive is a small team of around 30 people, primarily based in the South of France.
• 💡 They achieved the game's beautiful graphics through technological breakthroughs like Unreal Engine 5, MetaHuman, procedural generation, and mocap.
• 🤝 The team's success is also attributed to its talented and invested junior members who wear multiple hats and collaborate effectively.

Game Pricing and Accessibility

• 💰 Expedition 33 will be free on Game Pass and around £40 for the standard edition.
• 🎯 The studio aims to make the game accessible to as many people as possible, reflecting their values and the small team's efforts.
• 🎮 They acknowledge the ongoing debate about game pricing but emphasize their desire for broad player discovery.

Ben Starr's Singing Role

• 🎤 Ben Starr confirms he does some singing in the game, describing it as a loveable experience outside his comfort zone.
• 🎭 Starr's first professional job was in Les Misérables, and he found returning to singing for the game to be exciting and fitting for the project's artistic vision.

Actor Recognition and Dream Roles

• 🌟 Both Ben Starr and Jennifer English have noticed increased player recognition of actors in games.
• 🎮 They aim to be known not just for their iconic game roles (Clive and Shadow Heart) but also as performers who bring dynamism to their characters.
• 💖 Starr expresses a dream to play Zelda in a live-action adaptation, while English desires a dark, gritty, and terrifying film version of Batgirl.