According to Guillaume Broche, Atlus’s game excelled in these areas and served as inspiration for his own project.

Following the massive success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Guillaume Broche shared insights in multiple interviews about how the game’s development took shape. He revealed that he found himself bored while working at Ubisoft, which prompted him to start this new project. He also noted that he might port one of this year’s standout titles to the Nintendo Switch 2. In an interview with the Japanese site Denfaminicogamer, Broche spoke about the influence of past JRPG classics, singling out Persona 5 as the best example of combat visuals and user interface design.

“I grew up playing games, especially JRPGs, so it’s hard to say which titles influenced me the most. After playing countless games, I formed my own ideas about what makes a turn-based RPG truly engaging. That became my final vision. I wanted to focus on refining my childhood impressions of JRPGs and adding my own originality. The list of titles that influenced me is endless: from Final Fantasy VI to X, to Shadow Hearts, Suikoden, the Atelier series, Lost Odyssey, and the Persona series.”

“In particular, I think Persona 5 is the best game in the world when it comes to combat visuals and UI design. The dramatic camera shifts whenever the player acts had a huge impact on me, and the whole production feels like watching a movie. I further modified the camera work to fit my own project and added my personal touches, as I did with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I haven’t fully incorporated all of Persona 5’s best elements yet, so I’m still working on refining the UI. By the way, while the gameplay is definitely influenced by JRPGs, the story was heavily inspired by French novels I’ve read, so it has a distinctly French atmosphere,” Broche explained.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 could also be a strong contender for Game of the Year now that Grand Theft Auto VI has been delayed to 2026.

Source : WCCFTech, Denfaminicogamer