Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 could have been a completely different project, and we don’t have to introduce it ourselves — fans have discovered an early trailer.
Back then, the game was called We Lost, and the video itself was recorded five years ago. The early build of the project was much less polished and resembled a steampunk London with aliens and zombies. The video, which was leaked on Redditshows the characters Freya, Luna and Maël. In the final version, Freya was replaced by Gustave, but the names of Luna and Mael were retained. Most of the events take place against the backdrop of a steampunk industrial city, which was mentioned by screenwriter Jennifer Svedberg-Yen.
Four screenshots from the early version of the game were published by the user Sekirodubiand the trailer itself, which became private, was saved by another fan — Palmoleum. It is thanks to him that we can see how it all began. Despite its technical simplicity, the trailer was already filled with the familiar existential charm that eventually became the hallmark of Expedition 33.
In the draft version, it’s noticeable that the game had more classic JRPG mechanics: no Paper Mario-style QTEs, no parrying or dodging. Instead of a picturesque arthouse, there were futuristic and gloomy scenes from an industrial city. And instead of a polished fight game, we have quite basic ideas.
Another artifact from the past — concept art from the game’s art director Nicholas Maxon-Francombe. It shows the familiar monolith, four giant Neurons, and a group of four characters. This art is closer to the final style of the game as we know it now.
But in this form, you can see the ambitions that eventually turned into the final version of the game. Today’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — is the game that won the hearts of players at the start and got one of the highest press ratings. In three days, the project had one million sales and more than 115 thousand active players.
Source: The Gamer
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