Expedition 33 Devs ‘Exchange Ideas’ with Final Fantasy Team

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 would not exist without Final Fantasy.

While that may read like an alarming opening salvo, it’s true – we doubt the team at Sandfall Interactive would even try to deny it. The comparatively low-budget RPG has taken the PS5 by storm this year, but it plays like a modern evolution of a classic Final Fantasy game.

Considering how divisive the Square Enix series can be, it’s actually pretty cool to see the studio invite Expedition 33’s developers on a pilgrimage to headquarters in Tokyo. (The team also stopped by at Kojima Productions while they were in the area.)

While we don’t know exactly what was discussed, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s director Naoki Hamaguchi seemed hyped about the visit.

“Guillaume Broche, Francois Meurisse, Tom Guillermin from Sandfall Interactive, and Alexis Garavaryan from Kepler Interactive – creators of Expedition 33 – visited the Square Enix office for a creatively rich exchange of visions and ideas,” he wrote on X (or Twitter).

It’s always worth remembering that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was a Game of the Year candidate last year, so it’s not like Square Enix has completely lost its way.

But Expedition 33’s return to classic turn-based combat and world maps did scratch an itch that Final Fantasy hasn’t touched in quite some time, so it’s quite exciting to see the teams share ideas and values like this.

To be fair, Square Enix hasn’t abandoned turn-based titles entirely. For example, its excellent Octopath Traveler series has retro-style battles, and while it’s not available on PS5, so does its Bravely Default franchise.

Recently, Final Fantasy 16 director Naoki Yoshida touched on the topic of Expedition 33’s success, and said there’s “not a clear cut answer” as to whether future Final Fantasy games will feature turn-based combat or not.

He told the Anime News Network:

“With this question of turn-based versus action, it tends to isolate the gameplay to just the battle system. That doesn’t take into account what kind of game the creators want to deliver to players. For example, based on a certain graphical quality we want to present to our players, or the narrative we want to deliver to our players, it relates to how we set up the game’s systems around it. This includes the battle system, game design, and gameplay feel. It’s not a clear-cut answer, whether it will become all turn-based, or if it’s going to become more action-based.”

What do you think of the current direction of Final Fantasy, and what kind of lessons do you want Square Enix to learn from Expedition 33? Queue up your next move in the comments section below.