Clair Obscur Director Admits Players Are So Good They Broke His Speedrun Record in a Week, Also There Are Still Secrets

Turns out, giving players a complex combat system means they'll find ways to shatter it you never even dreamed of. The director of Clair Obscur is loving it.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been one of the year's biggest surprises. While most AAA games have been busy imploding, this indie JRPG quietly sold over 4.4 million copies and built a ravenous fanbase. In a recent interview with Eurogamer, the game's director, Guillaume Broche, talked about the community's wild reception, their impressive skills, and the fact that we're all still missing some things.

They Broke It, and He's Thrilled

Broche, a self-proclaimed Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice speedrunner, apparently had very high expectations for the community. He fully anticipated players to find "broken builds" and was looking forward to seeing no-hit runs of his own damn game.

He was not disappointed. "They destroyed the game very fast," Broche said. "My personal speedrun record was broken in one week, maybe even less."

The development team, Sandfall, only had to step in and nerf one particularly overpowered ability. Other than that, Broche is ecstatic that players found "crazy builds that even [he] didn't really think about." It's a refreshing change from developers who get pissy when players are too good at their game.

You Still Haven't Found Everything

While the community has been busy tearing the combat system to shreds, Broche confirmed that there are still secrets hidden in the game that, as far as he knows, no one has found and posted about online.

"There are, but I don't want to say them because they won't be secrets anymore," he said. He did confirm the intentional nod to Final Fantasy 8's Triple Triad card game found in Gestral Village, a nice little easter egg for fans of classic JRPGs and a genre we could always use more of, especially given the timelessness of games like Final Fantasy Tactics.

Hilariously, he also mentioned that fans have found "secrets" that the team never intended to be secrets at all. "We are just like, ok cool. I guess that's a secret!"

Underwear on the Internet

Perhaps the best part of the interview was Broche's reaction to the community digging up an ancient, pre-alpha trailer he had posted on Reddit years ago to find voice actors. The video showed the game in a hilariously rough, early prototype state.

"It was like everybody entered my room and saw my underwear," Broche joked, admitting he had completely forgotten the video was still public.

Lead programmer Tom Guillermin added that he thought the discovery was a good thing, as it helps to "demystify" the early stages of game development and show aspiring devs that "great games are not great from the beginning." It's a rare and honest look behind the curtain that you don't often get to see.

What's Next?

Sandfall Interactive is gearing up to release a new update for the game soon. It's set to include some quality-of-life improvements and new story scenes that will add, in Broche's words, "a bit of whee and a bit of whoo."

It's great to see a development team so engaged and genuinely delighted by their community. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go stare at every wall in Gestral Village for the next six hours. The secrets aren't going to find themselves.