Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is undoubtedly the breakout hit of the year. Reaching a million copies sold on day-one, becoming the highest rated game in 2025, and even becoming the highest player rated game in Metacritic history is no small task. Even French president Emmanuel Macron congratulated the studio on its success.
So much death... so much giggling.
But how did Sandfall Interactive gain this unprecedented success with its debut game? We know that the studio took its time and the game saw multiple iterations before launch and looked wildly different from the final product. But, in director Guillaume Broche's own words, the devs weren't afraid to think of stupid ideas.
Just think about the first time you met Fracois. A literal rock whose only attack is called 'World's Strongest Ice Attack'. That sounds like a stupid idea on paper, but it's exactly the kind of thinking that the devs strived for. "Our best way of making cool content is just, we think about stupid ideas," explained Broche in a conversation with Pirate Software (via GamesRadar).
"And we have a ton of stupid ideas. Every lunch, we just imagine stupid stuff that makes no sense and [is] very silly,...
