The Ultimate Indie: How Clair Obscur Swept the Awards and Beat the AAA Giants?

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a rare case where an indie-scale RPG hit the emotional depth, visual style, and mechanical polish of a prestige AAA game, then turned that into a record-breaking awards run and millions of sales in under a year. For indie teams, its story is basically a playbook on how tight creative focus, strong branding, and smart community-building can punch way above budget, especially when paired with modern creator tools like Wallafan that give you direct control over your audience and revenue.

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a third-person, turn-based RPG with real-time elements set in a Belle Époque–inspired dark fantasy world. Once a year, an entity known as the Paintress paints a number on a monolith, and everyone of that age vanishes, with the number counting down toward “33” as the game begins.

Players lead a group of Expeditioners leaving the island city of Lumière—clearly inspired by early-1900s Paris—to cross The Continent and stop the Paintress before she erases an entire generation. Combat blends classic turn-based choices with real-time dodges, blocks, and timing-based reactions that let you reduce damage or counterattack, making battles feel both strategic and kinetic.

Exploration is structured around a series of handcrafted story levels and optional zones accessed via a world map, packed with side quests, secret bosses, and cosmetic rewards that reinforce the game’s lush painterly aesthetic. The result is a game that looks like a moving illustration but plays like a robust, systems-heavy RPG that still feels approachable to players who normally lean toward action games.

Sandfall Interactive is a studio based in Montpellier, France, founded in 2020 by creative director Guillaume Broche, programmer Tom Guillermin, and producer François Meurisse, all former Ubisoft developers. Broche conceived the idea for Clair Obscur more than five years before launch, wanting a narrative-driven RPG inspired by Final Fantasy but rooted in late-19th–early-20th-century France instead of typical medieval or sci-fi settings.

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After the first COVID-19 lockdown, Broche left Ubisoft, teamed up with Guillermin and Meurisse, and created Sandfall to develop Expedition 33 full-time in Montpellier’s growing game-dev ecosystem. The team grew from about 15 people in 2021 to around 30–33 in 2025, mixing core staff and contractors, while collaborating with a London-based publisher, Kepler Interactive, which helped bring the game to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

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In a neat bit of brand coherence, the studio works out of an Art Deco/Belle Époque-style mansion whose high ceilings, marble details, and gardens mirror the fantasy world they created. That physical environment, plus a small, tight-knit team structure, reinforced their commitment to a unified artistic direction and to staying relatively small even after success.

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• A bold, painterly identity: Clair Obscur’s visual style leans into dreamy, theatrical lighting, flowing fabrics, and architecture inspired by Belle Époque Paris, making every frame feel like an illustration. Major awards for Best Visual Design and Game of the Year show that a cohesive, recognizable aesthetic can be a growth engine, not just an artistic indulgence.
• ​Narrative and performances as the “core system” :The game was repeatedly recognized for Best Storytelling and narrative, while its cast, ncluding Jennifer English and Ben Starr, won performance awards for bringing its characters to life. This positioned Clair Obscur less as “just another indie RPG” and more as a premium narrative experience on par with TV dramas and big-budget story games.​
• Hybrid combat with a twist: By combining turn-based planning with real-time reaction checks, the combat appeals both to classic JRPG fans and players used to more action-heavy titles. That “familiar but fresh” feeling is a recurring pattern in award-winning indies: something recognizable with a clear, modern twist.​
• Small team, strong focus: Even as they scaled to a few dozen people, Sandfall chose not to balloon into a large studio after Clair Obscur’s success, emphasizing that they “love making games more than managing.” That mindset helped keep the vision sharp and the production culture centered on craftsmanship rather than hierarchy.
• Transparent handling of controversy: When an indie awards body revoked Clair Obscur’s honors over the use of generative AI in early development, Sandfall clarified that AI had been tested but that all final content in the game is human-made. The situation underscored how crucial clear communication and trust are for any studio marketing itself as artisanal or creator-first.

• Build around one unmistakable pillar
• Choose a single signature pillar—art style, storytelling angle, or mechanical twist—and make it the spine of your project, as Sandfall did with painterly Belle Époque RPG drama.
• Ensure your thumbnail, trailer, and first ten seconds of gameplay communicate that pillar instantly.
• Treat writing and voice as production priorities
• Story-led indies like Disco Elysium, Hades, and Celeste show that unforgettable writing and performances can win awards and fan loyalty even without blockbuster budgets.​
• Budget time and money for at least one editor-level writer and a small cast of standout voices, rather than spreading resources across dozens of forgettable characters.
• Scope with a “sustainable hit” mindset
• Sandfall took several years to ship one polished project rather than juggling multiple prototypes, aligning team size to a game that could be profitable at moderate sales and explosive at higher tiers.
• For your studio, design a scope that survives at 50–100k sales but scales beautifully if you cross 500k–1M.
• Lean into authenticity and transparency
• Publish devlogs about your tools, technical challenges, and artistic decisions, including clear boundaries around anything AI-related.
• When mistakes or controversies arise, respond quickly, own what happened, and explain how you’re adjusting, like Sandfall did.
• Use awards and festivals as marketing milestones
• Target key beats—demo releases, trailers, vertical slices—around major showcases, Steam festivals, and award submission deadlines.
• Build press kits and creator asset packs (screenshots, GIFs, b-roll) that make it easy for journalists and streamers to cover you.

Studying their postmortems, GDC talks, and making-of pieces gives you a fast track to understanding how small teams consistently hit above their weight.

• Keep more revenue
• Wallafan lets you keep 100% of what your fans pay you, so subscriptions, tips, and digital sales go straight into your next milestone instead of being eaten by platform fees.
• Turn fans into backers
• You can offer early builds, dev diaries, OST downloads, and “name in the credits” tiers, turning your most engaged players into a recurring funding source between launches.
• Centralize your community
• Built-in tools for bio links, email collection, and social posts give you a single hub for updates, launches, and campaigns, so you keep control of your audience instead of relying on algorithms.



Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 proves that a small, focused team with a clear artistic identity can stand shoulder to shoulder with the biggest names in games. For indie creators, the real lesson is that success comes from owning your vision, owning your audience, and building sustainable support systems, whether that’s through festival buzz, dedicated communities, or platforms like Wallafan that let you turn passion into a long-term studio, not a one-off miracle.

Sources Cited

BBC : coverage of Clair Obscur’s awards run.

Polygon: breakdown of its Golden Joystick sweep.​

Epic Games Store feature on the game’s awards and reception.

CNC :“The story behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.”

French Tech Journal : profile of Sandfall Interactive and their mansion studio.

About the Author

Nikki Lopez is a seasoned professional with over a decade of experience in the startup world, specializing in leveraging creative content and community building to empower content creators. Known for a strategic approach and a deep understanding of audience needs, Nikki has a proven track record of leading the development of engaging content strategies and guiding the growth of thriving communities. Her leadership focuses on fostering meaningful interactions and impactful journeys for both creators and their audiences.