Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wears its influences openly, but the biggest one behind its story did not come from another RPG. Speaking at a postmortem event in Japan, Sandfall Interactive CEO and creative director Guillaume Broche pointed to Attack on Titan as a driving force behind the game’s narrative and, more surprisingly, its visual identity.
In Brief
- Broche named Attack on Titan as one of the anime that shaped Expedition 33’s story
- The appeal was a group of heroes fighting side by side against something far bigger than them
- The Survey Corps uniforms directly influenced how Sandfall approached its own character designs
- Broche is rewatching the series right now and is nearly finished with season four
Broche exclaimed that Attack on Titan was one of the anime that inspired Expedition 33’s story, and that he was drawn to the idea of a group of heroes fighting together. Anyone who has played the game will connect those dots immediately. The Expeditioners set out from Lumière knowing the odds are terrible, the same way the Survey Corps rides out past the walls with no guarantee anyone comes home. Both stories are built on volunteers walking toward something that has already killed everyone who tried before them.
Back in 2024, before the game launched, he mentioned that stories about heading into the unknown despite enormous risk had always appealed to him, and he name-checked Attack on Titan alongside the French novel La Horde du Contrevent.
Broche explained that when you see any character from Attack on Titan, you instantly know where they are from because of the uniform, and that recognisability was something he wanted Expedition 33 to have.
It worked. The Expedition uniform, with its coat, the number stitched on, and the whole Belle Époque silhouette, reads as Expedition 33 the second you see it. Fan art and cosplay have leaned on that instantly readable look ever since launch, which is exactly the outcome Sandfall was chasing.
Broche also mentioned he is working through Attack on Titan again after a gap of roughly six years, sitting near the end of season four, and he described it as a masterpiece. He credited Studio Ghibli as another formative influence in the same conversation, with Spirited Away singled out as a film he has watched dozens of times.
