Expedition 33 is the biggest surprise success of 2025 so far. But outside of the sales and player numbers, its origin is a surprise too.

Clair Obscur Expedition 33’s director revealed that most of his team had never even made a game before dropping a 2025 GOTY contender.

Expedition 33 is set in Lumiere, a fictional world overshadowed by a huge monolith bearing a glowing numeral on its face. Each year an entity known as The Paintress emerges and lowers the number by one, causing everyone of that age to vanish, and the game follows a group on a quest to destroy the mysterious being.