Unveiling the Early Steampunk Trailer of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 with Robots and a Twisted Narrative

The creative director of  Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Guillaume Broche, previously mentioned that he had gathered his team through forums and social media. He was also searching for volunteers to voice characters for the demo of this turn-based RPG. Attached to the announcement was a clip featuring footage from an earlier version of «Expedition.» Remarkably, after five years, users managed to unearth it.

A post related to this from the RecordThisForFree community on Reddit is still available— it was shared by Broche on April 21, 2020. The message indicated that at that time, Guillaume and a small team were working on an «ambitious AA game for PC, and possibly PS4 and Xbox One.» The team at Sandfall Interactive needed individuals to voice five main characters—two adult women, two men, and one girl. Initially, the project was being developed on Unreal Engine 4, but in 2021 it was shifted to UE5.

The two-minute trailer is far from complete. Characters are voiced by a robotic voice, and there are numerous black screen gaps where cutscenes were intended to be featured but weren’t ready yet. Nonetheless, the video is still quite striking, showcasing a significantly different setting.

In a recent interview with TheGamer, narrative lead Jennifer Svedberg-Yen shared that the game was originally set to take place in a steampunk version of Victorian England. Furthermore, the world would have included zombies, aliens, and other peculiar beings.

This initial concept for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was developed for six months, but after discussions with a few investors, the team decided to revise their approach. «[They told us], you can think bigger, so don’t hold back just because you’re worried about funding. If you could create what you want, what would you make?» shared the writer, recalling that it was around this time Broche chose to start anew.

Ideas were drawn from various sources. For instance, Broche was intrigued by a short story from Jennifer about an artist entering her own paintings. He also asked his mother what the worst thing that could happen to her was, to which she replied that it would be losing Guillaume or any of her other children. This fear became a core theme in the story of «Expedition.»

Ultimately, Sandfall Interactive shifted towards a narrative that was more familiar and resonant with their French roots, crafting a story about an Artist who engraves numbers on her monolith, thereby bringing destruction to humanity.